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Re: Austrailia
Ralph L Holloway (rlh2@columbia.edu)
Thu, 28 Sep 1995 22:33:55 -0400
Andreas suggests that perhaps there is a relationship between brain size
and climate. Indeed, Eskimo and northern peoples in general have somewhat
larger brains than most Caucasians, and this very question has been
intensively studied and published by Beals et al in both AA (American
Anthropologist) and CA (Current Anthropology). I have always suggested to
my classes that perhaps Black brains are more efficient metabolically
than Caucasian brains, as they have higher heat stress, and the brain
being so metabolically expensive (about 20% of total metabolic ), their
brains have no significantly different capacities than those of
Caucasians yet are usually somewhat lower in brain weight, although the
overlap is very great. I know, however, of no experimental or
observational data which sheds light on this possibility, and this is all
simply conjecture. Needless to say, J.P. Rushton would argue differently.
But the relation between brain size and lean body mass seems to hold, and
lean body masses are higher in northern latitudes.
Sorry I don't have the references right at my fingertips,
Ralph Holloway.
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