Did Volcanoes Spark an Explosion in Human Intelligence?

Añadir leyendaA new theory suggests that ancient hominins used volcanic features to cook their food, which could have fueled the expansion in human intelligence. Credit: Michael Medler

Vast lava flows may have provided humans with access to heat and fire for cooking their food millions of years ago, one researcher has proposed.

That, in turn, would have enabled the evolution of human intelligence, Michael Medler, a geographer at Western Washington University, said at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union earlier this month.

The new theory would also help solve a chicken-and-egg puzzle, he added. If cooked food provided the extra calories that allowed people to evolve big brains, and big brains are required to start fires, then how did hominins, with their teensy brains and relatively meager smarts, produce fire in the first place? [...] livescience.com