Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

The Evidence for Evolution02:55

The Evidence for Evolution

40.1K
Genetic variations accumulating within populations over generations give rise to biological evolution. Evolutionary changes can result in the formation of novel varieties and entire new species. These changes are responsible for the diverse forms of life inhabiting the planet. The evidence for evolution suggests that all living organisms descended from common ancestors.
40.1K
Evolutionary Psychology01:20

Evolutionary Psychology

1.3K
Evolutionary psychology explores the origins of human behavior and mental processes by framing them within the context of natural selection, a theory famously propounded by Charles Darwin. This field asserts that many behaviors common across human societies — ranging from instinctive fear reactions to complex social interactions — arose as evolutionary adaptations. These adaptations enhanced the survival and reproductive success of our ancestors, thereby becoming embedded in the...
1.3K
Convergent Evolution01:54

Convergent Evolution

27.6K
Evolution shapes the features of organisms over time, ensuring that they are suited for the environments in which they live. Sometimes, selection pressure leads to the rise of similar but unrelated adaptations in organisms with no recent common ancestors, a process known as convergent evolution.
27.6K
Synteny and Evolution02:31

Synteny and Evolution

2.9K
John H. Renwick first coined the term “synteny” in 1971, which refers to the genes present on the same chromosomes, even if they are not genetically linked. The species with common ancestry tend to show conserved syntenic regions. Therefore, the concept of synteny is nowadays used to describe the evolutionary relationship between species.
Around 80 million years ago, the human and mice lineages diverged from the common ancestor. During the course of evolution, the ancestral...
2.9K
Biological Influences on Intelligence01:30

Biological Influences on Intelligence

734
Intelligence is often thought to be linked to brain size, but the relationship is more complex than that. While brain size does correlate modestly with some abilities, like verbal skills, the connection is weaker for others, such as spatial reasoning. Other factors, like brain structure, also play crucial roles. For instance, despite Einstein's smaller-than-average brain, his parietal cortex, which is involved in spatial reasoning, was 15% wider, suggesting that neural density might matter...
734
Evolutionary Relationships through Genome Comparisons02:54

Evolutionary Relationships through Genome Comparisons

5.8K
Genome comparison is one of the excellent ways to interpret the evolutionary relationships between organisms. The basic principle of genome comparison is that if two species share a common feature, it is likely encoded by the DNA sequence conserved between both species. The advent of genome sequencing technologies in the late 20th century enabled scientists to understand the concept of conservation of domains between species and helped them to deduce evolutionary relationships across diverse...
5.8K

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Sensorimotor Complexity and Cognition as Predictors of Primate Brain Size.

American journal of biological anthropology·2026
Same author

Making friends in an asymmetric game: the establishment of male-female grooming exchanges in vervet monkeys.

Proceedings. Biological sciences·2026
Same author

Parental investment and body temperature explain encephalization in vertebrates.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2025
Same author

Slowly but Surely: Larger Brains Improve Immature Survival in Primates.

American journal of primatology·2025
Same author

Cooperative Breeding as a Likely Early Catalyst of Human Evolution.

Evolutionary anthropology·2025
Same author

Publisher Correction: Observational social learning of "know-how" and "know-what" in wild orangutans: evidence from nest-building skill acquisition.

Communications biology·2025
Same journal

The Origins of Fashion.

Evolutionary anthropology·2026
Same journal

Silence as an Overlooked Catalyzer for Primate Vocal Evolution.

Evolutionary anthropology·2026
Same journal

Diversifying Methods in Evolutionary Anthropology: Autophotography as a Tool for Quasi-Naturalistic Observation of Human Behavior.

Evolutionary anthropology·2026
Same journal

Why Do Humans Exercise? A Neuro-Evolutionary Framework for Discretionary Physical Effort.

Evolutionary anthropology·2026
Same journal

Opaque Social Instruments: A Cultural Evolutionary Approach to Pleistocene Symbolic Artifacts.

Evolutionary anthropology·2026
Same journal

The Role and Consequences of Arranged Marriage in the Evolution of Human Mating.

Evolutionary anthropology·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 1, 2026

A Comparative Approach for Quantitative Cell Counting Studies in Widely Different Mammalian Brains
07:14

A Comparative Approach for Quantitative Cell Counting Studies in Widely Different Mammalian Brains

Published on: January 16, 2026

420

How humans evolved large brains: comparative evidence.

Karin Isler, Carel P Van Schaik

    Evolutionary Anthropology
    |April 23, 2014
    PubMed
    Summary
    This summary is machine-generated.

    Human brain evolution is linked to managing energy costs, not just cognitive benefits. Understanding these trade-offs explains primate brain size variation and early human brain expansion.

    Keywords:
    comparative phylogenetic analysisenergeticshominin evolution

    More Related Videos

    Knowing What Counts: Unbiased Stereology in the Non-human Primate Brain
    11:25

    Knowing What Counts: Unbiased Stereology in the Non-human Primate Brain

    Published on: May 14, 2009

    13.3K
    Electroporation of Sliced Human Cortical Organoids for Studies of Gene Function
    07:13

    Electroporation of Sliced Human Cortical Organoids for Studies of Gene Function

    Published on: November 29, 2024

    2.0K

    Related Experiment Videos

    Last Updated: May 1, 2026

    A Comparative Approach for Quantitative Cell Counting Studies in Widely Different Mammalian Brains
    07:14

    A Comparative Approach for Quantitative Cell Counting Studies in Widely Different Mammalian Brains

    Published on: January 16, 2026

    420
    Knowing What Counts: Unbiased Stereology in the Non-human Primate Brain
    11:25

    Knowing What Counts: Unbiased Stereology in the Non-human Primate Brain

    Published on: May 14, 2009

    13.3K
    Electroporation of Sliced Human Cortical Organoids for Studies of Gene Function
    07:13

    Electroporation of Sliced Human Cortical Organoids for Studies of Gene Function

    Published on: November 29, 2024

    2.0K

    Area of Science:

    • Evolutionary biology
    • Neuroscience
    • Primatology

    Background:

    • Human brains are significantly larger than those of great apes, prompting interest in evolutionary explanations.
    • Brain size correlates with cognitive abilities across primate species.

    Purpose of the Study:

    • To review evidence for hypotheses explaining the evolution of human brain size.
    • To explore the role of energetic costs versus cognitive benefits in primate brain size variation.

    Main Methods:

    • Comparative studies analyzing primate brain size evolution.
    • Review of existing research on the "expensive brain framework".

    Main Results:

    • Variation in relative brain size among primates is largely explained by the ability to manage the fitness costs of larger brains (e.g., energy needs, allocation trade-offs).
    • An energetic perspective complements cognitive-benefit hypotheses for brain size variation.

    Conclusions:

    • The "expensive brain framework" offers a unified explanation for primate brain size evolution.
    • Energetic constraints are crucial for understanding early hominin brain expansion.