WHY DO HUMANS HAVE LARGER BRAINS?

Humans have the largest brains in proportion to their body mass with the exception of ants whose brains make up 15% of their body mass. There are various theories about why this is so: the first is the trade off hypothesis, the second is the social brain theory, the third is the evolutionary advantage theory and the fourth is diet. Do your research and find out more about these theories and write an essay in which you discuss the reasons why humans have larger brains.
Refer to my second blog, The Essay Archive, for sample essays: https://theessayarchive.blogspot.com.tr/  

Familiarize yourself with the issue:

·         Why do humans have such big brains? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9lc-LZ_7dg

·         What does it mean to be human? http://humanorigins.si.edu/human-characteristics/brains

Basic background information:

·         The human Brain http://www.iflscience.com/brain/human-brains-structurally-same-non-human-primate-brains/   

Reading material to make notes on:

·         How humans evolved supersized brains https://www.quantamagazine.org/20151110-evolution-of-big-brains/  

·         Why do humans have larger brains Part I https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-human-beast/200903/why-do-humans-have-such-big-brains-part-i

·         Why are human brains so big? http://www.livescience.com/5540-human-brains-big.html

Videos to take notes from:

·         Lecture from The Royal Society: Evolution of the human brain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpVuYns9ulo

·         Why Human Beings Were Able to Evolve Bigger Brains - Michael Pollan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuN3H5XTJr4

·          Eating Meat Is Responsible For Large Brains? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zw9tGRBKw4