Why did our brains shrink?

We’ve lost a lemon sized piece of brain. Here’s three hypotheses that try to explain what happened. I spoke about this topic on A Life In Ruins Podcast, check it out: Filmed, Edited, Recorded by Stefan Milosavljevich Artwork by Ettore Mazza: Music by Tom Fox & epidemicsound: Audio Edited by Margarita Varbanova Stock Footage from Shutterstock and Storyblocks Sources: Hawks, John. “Selection for smaller brains in Holocene human evolution.“ arXiv preprint arXiv: (2011). HENNEBERG, MACIEJ. “Decrease of Human Skull Size in the Holocene.” Human Biology, vol. 60, no. 3, Wayne State University Press, 1988, pp. 395–405, Rougier H. & Trinkaus E., 2012. In: E. Trinkaus, S. Constantin & J. Zilhão (Eds.), Life and Death at the Peştera cu Oase: A Setting for Modern Human Emergence in Europe. New York, Oxford University Press: 257-320 DeSilva, Jeremy M., et al. “When and Why Did Human Brains Decrease in Size? A New Change-Point Analysis and Insights from Brain Evolution in Ants.” Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, vol. 9, 2021, Leach, Helen M. “Human Domestication Reconsidered.” Current Anthropology, vol. 44, no. 3, 2003, pp. 349–368., Balcarcel A. M. Veitschegger K. Clauss M. and Sánchez-Villagra M. . Intensive human contact correlates with smaller brains: differential brain size reduction in cattle types. Proc. R. Soc. Theofanopoulou C, Gastaldon S, O’Rourke T, Samuels BD, Martins PT, Delogu F, et al. (2017) Self-domestication in Homo sapiens: Insights from comparative genomics. PLoS ONE 12(10): e0185306. Ampel, Benjamin C., et al. “Mental Work Requires Physical Energy: Self-Control Is Neither Exception nor Exceptional.” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 9, 2018, Wrangham, Richard W. “Hypotheses for the Evolution of Reduced Reactive Aggression in the Context of Human Self-Domestication.” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 10, 2019, If you’re interested in supporting my videos check out my patreon! Disclaimer: Use my videos as a rough guide to a topic. I am not an expert, I may get things wrong. This is why I always post my sources so you can critique my work and verify things for yourselves. Of course I aim to be as accurate as possible which is why you will only find reputable sources in my videos. Secondly, information is always subject to changes as new information is uncovered by archaeologists. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -