Global ETD Search
Search theses and dissertations gathered from participating repositories worldwide. Every result links back to the library that holds it. No account is needed.
Results
Showing 1 to 15 of 15 for “"brain evolution"”.
-
Insight Into Human Brain Evolution Through Phylogenetic Analysis And Comparative Genomics
… among mammals, with respect to their large brain size and enhanced cognitive abilities. Humans are the most encephalized mammals, with a brain that is six times larger than expected relative to body mass. Presumably, it is this high degree of encephalization that underlies our advanced …
-
Molecular Underpinnings of Human Brain Evolution and Cognition at Cellular Resolution
… for publication) titled "Differences in brain gene expression between humans and primates", which has been accepted for publication as a chapter in the book titled "The evolutionary roots of human brain diseases". This chapter is an edited version of the author's own original writing with …
-
Characterising molecular and cellular mechanisms of human brain evolution using brain organoids
The evolutionary lineage of humans is marked by a rapid expansion in brain size. Efforts to study human brain evolution have characteristically relied on anatomical and genomic comparisons between adult ape brains, meaning that the molecular mechanisms underlying human-specific brain expansion …
-
How did the Human Brain Evolve? Tracking Cerebral Changes in the Fossil Hominin Record Using Advanced Imaging Techniques and 3D Modelling
Understanding the evolution of the hominin brain is critical for reconstructing the emergence of human cognitive abilities. However, given the lack of direct fossilised brain tissue, palaeoneurological studies rely on cranial endocasts, replicas of the internal surface of the braincase, to infer …
-
Capuchin monkey and the Caatinga dry forest : a hard life in a harsh habitat.
… regarding how ecological pressures might drive brain evolution and intelligence in primates. Although there is no "best" hypothesis to explain the evolutionary brain enlargement in higher primates, fine-grained analyses of ecology, such as those presented here provide insights into how different …
-
Cross-species single-cell transcriptomics and its applications in evolutionary and translational research
… This opens up new possibilities to study the evolution of cell types and infer molecular properties of organisms inaccessible to experimental research. In this thesis, I explore these two applications in the context of early mammalian development and vertebrate brain evolution. I first detail …
-
Endocranial volume and shape variation in early anthropoid evolution
<p>Fossil taxa are crucial to studies of brain evolution, as they allow us to identify evolutionary trends in relative brain size and brain shape that may not otherwise be identifiable in comparative studies using only extant taxa, owing to multiple events of parallel encephalization among primate …
-
Human Origins: Hidden Nonlinear Dynamics in Brain-Culture Coevolution
… within the animal kingdom, a characteristic that evolutionary anthropologists have called behavioural modernity. Our species readily masters language, using it to exchange and collectively manage cultural traditions of greater behavioural complexity than any lone individual can produce within a …
-
Experimental investigations of cognitive abilities in a socially complex mammal, the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta)
The evolution of intelligence is a topic that has fascinated us ever since Charles Darwin first proposed that humans share many mental traits with other animals, and that the differences in cognitive abilities between humans and other animals are a matter of degree, not kind. Currently, the leading …
-
Mushroom body expansion and the cognitive ecology of Heliconius butterflies
… species, exhibit a marked expansion of an insect brain structure called the mushroom bodies (MBs), which are 3-4 times larger than in other Lepidoptera, including closely related Heliconiini genera. MBs are known to play a role in learning and memory, particularly in olfactory contexts, however …
-
Sex Differences and the Evolution of Gene Expression
… are essential byproducts and drivers of evolution in sexually reproducing species. Knowing how sex differences arise and how they influence evolution is central to our understanding of evolution. Although many facets of sex differences have been explored, many remain unknown. Here I focus …
-
THE EVOLUTION OF THE MODERN CONDITION THROUGH THE LENS OF NEURODEVELOPMENT DIVERSITY: INSIGHTS FROM A PARADIGMATIC REWIRING OF GENE REGULATION
… the prime layer that was reconfigured during the evolution of the Sapiens brain. Understanding how regulatory changes reconfigured the neurodevelopmental trajectories that underpin hallmark features of our species’ unique cognitive abilities requires the integration of computational and …
-
Cross-species comparisons of the retrosplenial cortex in primates: Through time and neuropil space
… capacity, this region is of major interest for evolutionary studies. However, comparative neuroanatomical data for these regions are scarce. The goal of the present analysis was to compare neuropil space among capuchins, macaques, chimpanzees, and humans to determine if humans significantly …
-
Comparative studies of brain developmental timing and progression using 3D stem cell models
The human brain is three times larger than those of our closest evolutionary relatives such as chimpanzees and gorillas, yet the mechanisms by which this increase in size has been achieved, and also the implications of this on human brain function and capabilities, remain largely yet to be …