The bigger the better - How to make a big brain?
April’s event was a success: we heard from Dr Corinne Houart, a very engaging speaker and we had a full house and a very lively discussion. Corinne’s talk was clear, fascinating and stimulated discussion that lasted for over an hour.
During the talk we discussed the difference between the human brain and other brains. What makes our brains special? Our audience suggested that language; abstract thinking or even emotions might be the answer Corinne was looking for.
Corinne proposed that the ability to keep records, the fact that humans are able to write and, therefore, can develop with experience and knowledge learnt from previous generations makes our brains unique. We discussed how record keeping is not only the result of brain evolution, but also, dependent on a change into bipedal postures and, therefore, free agile digits.
Corinne’s talk focused on the forebrain evolution (the frontal part of the brain) and how, throughout evolution this structure increases in size by increasing the number of its building blocks.
Having more cells allows for an increase in complexity that can arise in two flavours: either increasing the number of cells in certain areas of the brain, or by generating new areas and, therefore, diversifying the number of functions the brain is able to perform. How do cells make this choice is one of the focuses of Corinne’s lab.
We discussed how cell identity is the outcome of the cell’s life history. Our individual identity is dependent on our life experiences. Similarly, cells are the product of what they have “sensed” in the past, for example, which signalling molecule they have been in contact with.
The event ended up with a very energetic discussion that ranged from the concept of intelligence: how biased and anthropocentric its definition is; to the idea of animal models, with Corinne explaining why her lab works with zebrafish, a popular aquarium fish, commonly used in research.
