The man more intelligent than ever

1997/06/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Eboluzioa

The evolution of the human brain has touched its peak. According to some Ipswich researchers, at least it will be very difficult to overcome the level of intelligence reached by the human being. Scientists of the BT laboratories say that it is impossible to greatly improve the processing capacity of brain information, since the human being needs to maintain a balance between neurons and blood vessels.

We must take into account that the human brain is the most complex of the animal kingdom: the number of neurons that we have together oscillates between 1010 and 1011. On the contrary, the connections are around 1014. The only animals with brain of similar complexity are whales and dolphins. Compared to primates, our brain is three times bigger than chimpanzee.

In theory, some researchers consider it possible to develop a greater brain. But for this purpose the body should undergo some changes, speed up the functioning of nerve cells, have more blood and occupy more space for the brain. Today, however, this does not seem to happen.