Why are humans smarter than chimpanzees?

Although similar to 98% of DNA for chimpanzees, humans possess much larger brains and also superior intelligence. A new study has revealed the cause of this: Unlike chimpanzees, humans experience a period of white matter boom (including parts of nerve cells that bind brain cells), in the first 2 years of life.

New research results published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B by Japanese scientists have helped explain part of the reason why people are smarter than their closest relatives. me. This work also reveals why the first two years of life play a very important role for human development.

Although previous studies have shown that the human brain undergoes rapid expansion in connection, it is unclear whether the scientific world is unique in the group. large species of monkey species (including chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and humans) or not.

To prove that this is a unique feature, creating the superior intelligence of mankind, researchers need to prove that it is completely different from the development of white matter in primates that are considered to be Our closest store.

According to Live Science, Japanese researchers used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the living brain of three young chimpanzees when they were 6 years old. The team then compared the data obtained with brain scan MRI of 6 monkeys and 28 Japanese children.

They found that both chimpanzees and humans developed more brains than monkeys in the early years.

"The increase in the total brain volume in the neonatal period and the adolescent phase in chimpanzees and adults is almost three times higher than that of monkeys," cited the study report in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

However, the human brain is even larger than the chimp brain in the first few years of life, thanks to the explosive growth of white matter. The average chimpanzee volume is only half the size of human development in that period.

Chet Sherwood - an evolutionary neurologist from George Washington University (USA) and not part of the research group - said that the above finding, though not out of expectation, is unique because researchers saving Japan has followed the same chimpanzee group for a long time. Meanwhile, the authors of previous studies have combined data on brain development in many chimpanzees at different ages.

Sherwood said that the white matter boom could also help explain why experiences in the first few years of life have a huge impact on children's IQ, social life and long-term reactions of a fish. Human causes for stress.