Help! Our brains are shrinking

It turns out our brains are not getting bigger, but but getting smaller.

According to paleoanthropologist John Hawks at the University of Wisconsin, skull measurements show our brains have been shrinking over the last 5,000 years ago.

So how much have we lost? Ten per cent!

But why? Surley we're a lot cleverer than our forefathers, I mean Stone Age man never got to the Moon, did he?

It turns out that while we may well collectively know more, we're using our brains less and less.

Quoted at msnbc.com, Hawkes said: "Perhaps in big societies, as opposed to hunter-gatherer lifestyles, we can rely on other people for more things, can specialize our behavior to a greater extent, and maybe not need our brains as much."

So it's official, we're getting stupider!

Another recent evolutuionary change in us is lactose tolerance.

Most of the world remains lactose intolerant, unable to digest the complex milk sugar lactose as adults, but the evolution of lactose tolerance some 7,500 years ago in Europe enabled people them to take advantage of non-human milk, a highly nutritious food source one can sustainably procure instead of slaughtering animals.

Weird Science Factoid: Some ribbon worms will eat themselves if they can't find any food. I know the feeling!

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