It had nothing to do with the Japanese. It had to do with diets rich in iodine and other minerals commonly found in coastal diets. It happened to include birds in the diet as well. Humans have had "brain food rich" diets, chimpanzees have not. That could be a reason why we have larger brains than they do.
Go back to your village.
__________________ Of Courtesy, it is much less than Courage of Heart or Holiness. Yet in my walks it seems to me that the Grace of God is in Courtesy.
Another reason could be that larger brains are important for the very important role of predicting the behaviour of other humans - which becomes more and more complicated the larger the brain.
Possible evolutionary reasons and pressures for increased brain size are varied and interesting.
__________________ The miracle of the appropriateness of the language of mathematics for the formulation of the laws of physics is a wonderful gift which we neither understand nor deserve. -Eugene Wigner
That link, oddly enough is from 2002 ... so why this suddenly made the headlines today (I couldn't find a current link, googled this one) is beyond me.
__________________ Of Courtesy, it is much less than Courage of Heart or Holiness. Yet in my walks it seems to me that the Grace of God is in Courtesy.
Um, I thought that the mercury and toxins found in fish can cause learning difficulties in children if the mother ate a lot of fish while the child was in gestation and if the child ate fish in its early, formative years.
Anyway, I give my kids fish oils and essential fatty acids once daily and a portion of fish weekly. They both have genius I.Q.s. (hehe, had to add a little mummy bragging in there!)
You may have heard of the amazingly smart and quick-witted grocery store owner. And of the customer who asks him, "Tell me, what makes you so smart?"
"I wouldn't share my secret with just anyone," replies the proprietor, lowering his voice so the other shoppers won't hear. "But since you're a good and faithful customer, I'll let you in on it. Fish heads. You eat enough of them, you'll be positively brilliant."
"You sell them here?" the customer asks.
"Only $6 each," says the proprietor.
The customer buys three. A week later, he's back in the store complaining that the fish heads were disgusting and he isn't any smarter.
"You didn't eat enough " says the proprietor. The customer goes home with 20 more fish heads. Two weeks later, he's back and this time he's really angry.
"Hey," he says, "You're selling me fish heads for $6 each when I can buy the whole fish for $3. You're ripping me off!"
"You see?" says the proprietor. "You're getting smarter already!"
You may have heard of the amazingly smart and quick-witted grocery store owner. And of the customer who asks him, "Tell me, what makes you so smart?"
"I wouldn't share my secret with just anyone," replies the proprietor, lowering his voice so the other shoppers won't hear. "But since you're a good and faithful customer, I'll let you in on it. Fish heads. You eat enough of them, you'll be positively brilliant."
"You sell them here?" the customer asks.
"Only $6 each," says the proprietor.
The customer buys three. A week later, he's back in the store complaining that the fish heads were disgusting and he isn't any smarter.
"You didn't eat enough " says the proprietor. The customer goes home with 20 more fish heads. Two weeks later, he's back and this time he's really angry.
"Hey," he says, "You're selling me fish heads for $6 each when I can buy the whole fish for $3. You're ripping me off!"
"You see?" says the proprietor. "You're getting smarter already!"