SAD LOVE QUOTES: Brains in the North of Britain are bigger, say scientists

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Brains in the North of Britain are bigger, say scientists

By Fiona Macrae

Last updated at 8:09 AM on 27th July 2011

Grey matter: Has Northern dimness led to the evolution of bigger brains?

For Northerners tiring of those old jokes about them being less than bright, help is at hand.

Scientists say the Northern brain is actually bigger than those of the South.

But before Northerners round triumphantly on their pea-brained Southern critics, big doesn't necessarily mean smarter.

Instead, the extra grey matter simply helps them see clearly in the lower light levels that come with living at high latitudes.

To put it another way, Northern dimness led to the evolution of bigger brains.

The intriguing theory comes from Oxford University scientists who measured the brain volume of 55 skulls from around the world.

Some were English, others came from as far afield as China, Africa and the Pacific Islands.

Plotting brain volume with the geographical location of the person's country clearly showed that the further north they lived, the bigger their brain.

Scandinavians had the most brain power and Pacific Islanders the least. Measurements of the eye sockets also showed that those from northern climes had bigger eyes.

Finally, the research team showed that the eyesight of those living in the north is just as good as those based near the equator, despite their days being illuminated by less of the sun's light.

Researcher Eiluned Pearce, from the university's school of anthropology, said that this suggests that the bigger brains and eyes are needed to see properly in dimmer light.

The skull of a Somalian male used in the study, but which had eye sockets larger than you would expect at that latitude. The further North, the larger your brain and eye sockets, according to scientists

Dim and grim... but this is of benefit to those who live in the North

Pugh

'As you move away from the equator, there's less light available, so humans have had to evolve bigger and bigger eyes. Their brains also need to be bigger to deal with the extra visual input.'

Northerners, however, should not get too big-headed as the researcher added: 'Having bigger brains doesn't mean that higher latitude humans are smarter, it just means they need bigger brains to be able to see well where they live.'

The study, published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, took into account other factors that could have affected the results, including the fact that people living at higher latitudes are physically bigger over all.

The study did not examine differences in brain size in individual countries, however these are expected to be bigger in long, thin countries such as Brazil and Chile.

In the UK, there may be very slight differences between northern and southern cities – if they haven't been wiped out by the population mixing over the years.