A brilliant observation
14 Nov, 2001 Dov, in biologicalEvolution forum.
The closing section of an article in Scientific American, Nov 2001, re the Evolution of Human Birth (K R Rosenberg, W R Trevathan ) might make you chuckle in spite of the dark mood of these troubled days. I am unable to PASTE any of it here because this specific article is not listed nor available for reading on the sciam web site. Here I type just one short para (p.65) to demonstrate the brilliant profound observation of the authors :
” In recent years scientists have been testing an important hypothesis that follows from Ruff and Walker’s assertion : the pelvic anatomy of early Homo may have limited the growth of the human brain until the evolutionary point at which the birth canal expanded enough to allow a larger infant head to pass. This assertion implies that bigger brains and roomier pelvises were linked from an evolutionary perspective. Individuals who displayed both characteristics were more successful at giving birth to offspring who survived to pass on the traits….etc., ”
Is’nt this a brilliant observation/assertion indeed…
Dov Henis (comments from 22nd century)
PS: an additional observation:
Ponder nature’s admirable evolution curiosity re some scientists-philosophers : the perfect coordination between the diameters of their forefingers and their nostrils entrances… DH