Human skull and brain size compared to a chimpanzee's skull and brain size.
Brain Evolution: Searching for What Makes Us Human
Studying brain evolution sheds light on the unique features of the human brain.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
Your selections: Evolution
Your Brain Evolved from Bacteria
Learn how the human brain evolved in this fun cartoon story.
  • Scientific American
From Primitive Parts, A Highly Evolved Human Brain
The human brain has been compared to a lizard's brain, a jellyfish's brain, and now it is being compared to an ice cream cone.
  • NPR
The Origin of the Brain
How did we go from a small group of neurons to the brains we have now?
  • YouTube
Animal Brains: An Overview
While they share similar features, no two animal brains are exactly alike.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
  • 10 min
Tracking Dinosaur Intelligence: What Fossil Footprints Reveal about the Dinosaur’s Brain
Dr. Jerald Harris is Professor of Geology and Director of Paleontology at Dixie State College, and an expert in the esoteric science of identifying fossil footprints (ichnology). From these empty impressions in stone, he brings to life the extinct animals that made them millions of years before man first walked the earth.
Neuroscience Explains Why Dinosaurs Couldn't Get Any Bigger
Long-necked Sauropods, like Brontosaurus, were the largest animals on earth, but their brain, not their leg strength, is what kept them from getting any bigger.
Brains of the Animal Kingdom
It's not just size that matters for brain power.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
The Evolutionary Layers of the Human Brain
This website looks at seven mammal brains and determines if their size is what makes them smarter.
  • The Brain From Top to Bottom
The Awesomely Evolved Human Brain
This iconograph and worksheet helps students learn about dopamine and the evolution of our reward centers to help with survival.
  • Scholastic
People Behind the Science: Bruce Carlson
The scientist discusses his shocking research with electric fish.
  • People Behind the Science
  • 34 min
Suzana Herculano-Houzel: What is So Special About the Human Brain?
The human brain is curiously large given the size of our bodies, uses a huge amount of energy for its weight and has a bizarrely dense cerebral cortex. But: why?
  • TED
  • 14 min
Mysteries of the Brain: Evolving Brain
Using amazing new technologies, scientists are discovering that the basic movements in one tiny fish can teach us big ideas about how the brain's circuitry works.
  • National Science Foundation
  • 5 min

3D Brain

An interactive brain map that you can rotate in a three-dimensional space.
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