英語資源頻道為大家整理的chinadaily雙語新聞：初生嬰兒腦部形狀從未進化，供大家閱讀參考。
European scientists have discovered that the newborn brains of Neanderthals looked remarkably similar to human brains at birth and then began to diverge drastically over the first year of life。
A team led by paleoanthropologist Philipp Gunz of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, scanned the skulls of several Neanderthals, including a newborn, and mapped out the shape of the brain cavity。
Human and Neanderthal brains were remarkably similar in shape right after birth, the scientists found - perhaps because of the common need to squeeze a baby's head through its mother's birth canal. Then during the first year, human brains begin to morph from an elongated shape to a more rounded one. The Neanderthal brains, similar to chimpanzee brains, retained their oblong shape。
"We think shape indicates a difference in the speed of development," Gunz said, "because if you grow faster or slower, the brain shape changes differently.... We know from modern humans that the way you grow your brain affects the pattern of neural wiring."
The findings could help paleoanthropologists figure out the cognitive differences between modern humans and their extinct relatives - and when, exactly, those differences developed。
美國《芝加哥論壇報》13日報道稱，歐洲科學(xué)家們近日發(fā)現(xiàn)，遠古穴居人類嬰兒的腦部形狀和當(dāng)今人類嬰兒的腦部形狀在出生時極為相似，但此后一年內(nèi)二者大腦便朝不同的方向變化。
菲利普-岡茨是德國萊比錫馬克思-普朗克進化人類學(xué)研究所的一名古人類學(xué)家，近日他帶領(lǐng)團隊對幾個遠古穴居人類(包括一名嬰兒)進行了顱骨掃描，并還原了古人的腦部形狀。
科學(xué)家們發(fā)現(xiàn)，當(dāng)今人類大腦和遠古穴居人類大腦的形狀在剛出生時極為相似，這大概源于無論古今，人類出生時頭部總要受到擠壓的緣故。然而在此后的一年內(nèi)，人類大腦開始變圓，遠古穴居人類的腦部卻還是和黑猩猩的腦部一樣呈橢圓形。
“我們認(rèn)為腦部形狀揭示了大腦生長速度的差異，”岡茨說。“大腦生長的快慢決定了腦部形狀變化的趨勢....。。而通過對當(dāng)今人類的研究，大腦的生長狀況直接影響神經(jīng)網(wǎng)絡(luò)構(gòu)造?！?BR> 這些新發(fā)現(xiàn)或可幫助古人類學(xué)家們找到當(dāng)今人類與他們已滅絕了的遠古祖先之間的認(rèn)知差異，并明確這些差異始于何時。
European scientists have discovered that the newborn brains of Neanderthals looked remarkably similar to human brains at birth and then began to diverge drastically over the first year of life。
A team led by paleoanthropologist Philipp Gunz of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, scanned the skulls of several Neanderthals, including a newborn, and mapped out the shape of the brain cavity。
Human and Neanderthal brains were remarkably similar in shape right after birth, the scientists found - perhaps because of the common need to squeeze a baby's head through its mother's birth canal. Then during the first year, human brains begin to morph from an elongated shape to a more rounded one. The Neanderthal brains, similar to chimpanzee brains, retained their oblong shape。
"We think shape indicates a difference in the speed of development," Gunz said, "because if you grow faster or slower, the brain shape changes differently.... We know from modern humans that the way you grow your brain affects the pattern of neural wiring."
The findings could help paleoanthropologists figure out the cognitive differences between modern humans and their extinct relatives - and when, exactly, those differences developed。
美國《芝加哥論壇報》13日報道稱，歐洲科學(xué)家們近日發(fā)現(xiàn)，遠古穴居人類嬰兒的腦部形狀和當(dāng)今人類嬰兒的腦部形狀在出生時極為相似，但此后一年內(nèi)二者大腦便朝不同的方向變化。
菲利普-岡茨是德國萊比錫馬克思-普朗克進化人類學(xué)研究所的一名古人類學(xué)家，近日他帶領(lǐng)團隊對幾個遠古穴居人類(包括一名嬰兒)進行了顱骨掃描，并還原了古人的腦部形狀。
科學(xué)家們發(fā)現(xiàn)，當(dāng)今人類大腦和遠古穴居人類大腦的形狀在剛出生時極為相似，這大概源于無論古今，人類出生時頭部總要受到擠壓的緣故。然而在此后的一年內(nèi)，人類大腦開始變圓，遠古穴居人類的腦部卻還是和黑猩猩的腦部一樣呈橢圓形。
“我們認(rèn)為腦部形狀揭示了大腦生長速度的差異，”岡茨說。“大腦生長的快慢決定了腦部形狀變化的趨勢....。。而通過對當(dāng)今人類的研究，大腦的生長狀況直接影響神經(jīng)網(wǎng)絡(luò)構(gòu)造?！?BR> 這些新發(fā)現(xiàn)或可幫助古人類學(xué)家們找到當(dāng)今人類與他們已滅絕了的遠古祖先之間的認(rèn)知差異，并明確這些差異始于何時。