TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA—Science News reports that paleoanthropologist Dean Falk of Florida State University has revised conclusions she drew from her earlier research regarding the brain structure of ancient hominins. In 2014, Falk studied endocasts of three Australopithecus africanus individuals, and one Australopithecus sediba, and suggested the impressions of brain folds left inside those braincases could indicate development in the areas of the brain involved in speech production. At the time, Falk said those creases were distinctly humanlike. However, in their new study, Falk and her colleagues analyzed MRIs of eight living chimpanzees, and found creases on the surfaces of their brains similar to the ones she had thought signified modern human–like brain organization in the ancient hominins. The study also found grooves in the brain of one of the chimps that correspond with a structure on a Homo naledi endocast that had been thought to be humanlike. Falk said her new research highlights the need for further study of living primates and how specific folds and creases on the surface of the brain relate to its inner structures. For more on brain evolution, go to “Hungry Minds.”
