Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Study reveals rapid evolution of common brain neurons may explain autism’s high prevalence in humans (CREDIT: Shutterstock) What ...

The first hint of a brain developed on Earth around 600 million years ago, and now, some version of the organ can be found in nearly every animal in the world. Humans have the largest brain size ...

One of the defining features of human evolution is the steady expansion of our brains. New findings suggest this growth may be partly linked to higher levels of estrogen before birth. Surprisingly, a ...

An international study changes the view that exposure to the toxic metal lead is largely a post-industrial phenomenon. The research reveals that our human ancestors were periodically exposed to lead ...

The human brain is one of the most complex objects in the universe – and that complexity may be due to a surge of hormones released by the placenta during pregnancy. While numerous ideas have been ...

The placenta and the hormones it produces may have played a crucial role in the evolution of the human brain, while also leading to the behavioral traits that have made human societies able to thrive ...

A new Yale study provides a fuller picture of the genetic changes that shaped the evolution of the human brain, and how the process differed from the evolution of chimpanzees. For the study, published ...

Researchers have used a new human reference genome, which includes many duplicated and repeat sequences left out of the original human genome draft, to identify genes that make the human brain ...

Human evolution has long been tied to growing brain size, and new research suggests prenatal hormones may have played a surprising role. By studying the relative lengths of index and ring fingers — a ...

In a new study, researchers discovered that the human brain has four pivotal periods when it goes through marked changes, sparking five "epochs" that last for years. The adolescent phase, for example, ...

Scientists find clue to human brain evolution in finger length: Study ...