Just a little note that might interest some...  I don't have good details on
this, but at some point in my educational career, I had a teacher who was
fascinated by the notion that many of the traits that we see as particularly
human (larger head, flatter face, hairlessness, and I think there were
others) might be explained by changes in the process of maturation.
Oversimplified, the idea is that we're just a bunch of big babies. :D

Sorry if I'm bringing something up that has already been covered.  I haven't
been as attentive to this list as I'd like to be.

C


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Raw Food Diet Support List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Gary Orlando
> Sent: Friday, December 07, 2001 6:23 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: encephalization
>
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/low/english/sci/tech/newsid_255000/255725.stm
>
> The scientists say the common assumption that our ancestors in the genus
> Homo developed their large brains after they began
> eating the nutrient- and energy-rich animal foods necessary to fuel the
> larger brains may now need reappraisal.
>
> "Our results raise the possibility... that dietary quality
> improved [through
> the consumption of animal foods] before the development
> of Homo and stone tools about 2.5 million years ago," writes Matt
> Sponheimer
> - also of Rutgers University in New Brunswick,
> USA - in the journal Science.
>