The human brain shrinks with age in what seems to be an evolutionarily new phenomenon, report Chet Sherwood of the George Washington University in Washington DC and his colleagues. They found that no parallel reduction in brain size seems to occur in our closest relative, the chimpanzee.
The researchers used magnetic resonance imaging to measure the volumes of whole brains, as well as regions of the frontal lobe and hippocampus, in 87 humans aged 22–88 and 99 chimpanzees aged 10–51. These volumes all fell with age in humans, but maintained a stable size in chimps. The team speculates that the shrinkage occurs because, compared with chimps, humans have evolved an extended lifespan, which amplifies normal cellular ageing processes.
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Chimp brains don't shrink. Nature 476, 8 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/476008b
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/476008b
