Watson's Folly

... science is not here to make us feel good.
...............James D. Watson

The ancient Greeks were said to have believed that the brain was fundamentally a cooling organ - a big old radiator.

There is no more poisoned subject for research or discussion than the question of race and IQ. I don't want to stick my head into that particular buzz saw, but let me mention a related, but perhaps slightly safer topic.

One of the first things we were taught back in ancient times when I studied physical anthropology, was the measurement of the cephalic index. If I remember correctly, it is the ratio of head length to head width. Students were ask to volunteer to be measured, and some were brachicephalic (round headed) some mesocephalic (medium) and others dolichocephalic (long headed.) I can't remember what my numbers were, but I do recall that the class (and prof) laughed when I volunteered. It seems that my head shape is more or less indistinguishable from that of a bowling ball.

There is a race component to cephalic index - Blacks tend to be long headed, Orientals round headed, and Caucasians intermediate. Round happens to be the shape that has the highest volume to surface ratio.

It's also a fact that animals living in colder climates tend to be rounder bodied than their southern relatives. People too. Having a squaty body is advantageous for heat conservation, but it carries some penalties as well. Big old thick round calfs don't run as fast or jump as high as their slender counterparts. It seems likely to me that in adapting to the cold climates of Northern Asia and Europe, the Asian and Caucasian branches of the human race gave up some speed and agility - very important abilities in pre-civilized times.

Europeans and Asians did, however, get rounder heads. Rounder heads hold, on average, slightly larger brains. Asian brain size is a bit larger than Caucasian which is a bit larger than African, on average. The real brain size champs, though, were those ultimate cold warriors, the Neanderthal. Their brains were lots bigger - A fat lot of good it did them.

Which takes us back to the Greek theory. Maybe it's really all about heat loss.

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