WSU Master Class: Big Brains, Small Brains with Suzana Herculano-Houzel

Pioneer Suzana Herculano-Houzel discusses the challenges and solutions of comparing brain size and function across species and shares her groundbreaking insights into the uniqueness, or lack thereof, of the human brain. #WorldSciU
This lecture was recorded on XXX at the World Science Festival in New York City.
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[@brookiemoe82]

Great information- I highly recommend all of Herculano-Houzel's work

[@stevenpace892]

A brain has two very different factors in relation to body mass because there are two fundamentally different functions of neurons. One function is computation. Body mass is irrelevant to computation. But a big body also has a lot of cells that the brain needs ro control. And the neurons have some limits on size, as all cells do. So much neuron capacity is mearly amplifiers.

[@wknajafi]

extraordinary presentation

[@terminusest5902]

Bigger animals have proportionally less outer area so they retain more body heat and need less energy for specific body heating. And may require more adaptation for cooling. Such as elephants with large ears and behaviors using water. Just a guess. Very large animals may need to produce less body heat. Larger bodies may require more sensors to cover their mass. Such as pain sense which is not matched to the numbers of muscles that an animal needs to control which may be more proportional at different weights . An elephant may have larger muscles but still similar numbers of muscles to other 4 leg Herbivore. Not including trunks. Elephants do have very sensitive trunks that are very muscular and flexible. Possibly requiring many nerves.

[@stevenpace892]

In mammals, the vast majority of heating is from waste heat. Using energy to heat is wasteful. Fur, blubber, and other insulation is more energy efficient. In humans, the only active heating is a group of cells in the body core called brown fat, and it is only used when there is a threat of death by hypothermia. Interestingly, brown fat only exists in humans that were exposed to cold weather at a young age.

[@kagannasuhbeyoglu]

👍

[@peace77777]

Let's go to space. We need a Korean superconductor spacecraft to get to space freely. Let's study the superconductor Korea together and go to the Andromeda Galaxy in the future universe.

[@markc7955]

I have a small head. I find it hard to buy hats. Am I going to be ok?

[@tictac6963]

you will die alone with no hats to your name

[@markc7955]

@@tictac6963 are you perhaps an old gypsy lady?

[@notgiven3114]

Yes

[@somerandomvideos8799]

Biology is more interesting than any topic

[@somerandomvideos8799]

A B is C and D.
After-all Biology is Complex and Diverse.

[@StaticBlaster]

Well that's your opinion. Personally, I find astronomy/astrophysics/cosmology much more intriguing than any subject.

[@ernesthector2451]

Science is interesting in general, because this is the way to answer all types of questions one can have. Believe me, I do that as a living ;-)
It's always full of surprises and awe in front of so much complexity and the difficulty we have to grasp the inner workings, even with our record-breaking number of neurons..

[@JiangSui520]

：

[@kin0cho]

Condescending