I just gave a lecture on hominin brain evolution, and it’s left my own brain kind of fried. So no clever posting from me (‘Is there ever?’ I hear the skeptics asking…). I’ll just share these slides. All the graphics have been captured from different online sources — I’ve done my best to put in appropriate credits, but that’s sometimes been difficult (or I’ve just been working so late that I forgot to do it). If I’ve included something you’d prefer I don’t, and if you’re the one who has the rights to something, just drop me a line and I’ll quickly cease and desist. My goal is only to share around the resources, not to take credit for anyone else’s work.

5-2braindiet
It’s a big file (about 3 mb), so it might take a minute depending on your connection.

A word of warning: I made this in Keynote on a Mac, so the animations and transitions might not do well on Microsoft Powerpoint. The video is no longer embedded. Here it is from Youtube:

Obviously, I don’t take the video at face value. Not just the claims about meat but also assuming that humans are the ‘most developed species’ on the planet. But it’s a great jumping off point for a discussion of diet and evolution. I did an earlier piece on this subject at: Red meat, Neandertals were meant to eat it.

If you’re interested in the whole course I’m teaching, I have previously posted the unit syllabus: Human evolution syllabus.