Proposal as to why North Americans have developed a larger head. [W:86]

[DDD]

Re: Proposal as to why North Americans have developed a larger head.

It might be due to the intense stimulation that our society contains.

Stimulation may take many areas of life. Care to elaborate please?

 

[DDD]

Re: Proposal as to why North Americans have developed a larger head.

That it. Our heads are expanding due to interbreeding with aliens...

... or so ancient alien theorists theorize.

I do not think he meant literally aliens from out of space, did he? That would not make sense neither. If we were interbred with aliens in ancient times and programmed to grow a greater head with that in these times then us in Europe (i.e., your ancestors?) would have started growing them also. Something is missing with this.

Unless the interbreeding with aliens is recent!

I think he meant immigrant aliens. But then where are the other characteristics of immigrants? Why are they not showing also?

 

[Fisher]

Re: Proposal as to why North Americans have developed a larger head.

Interesting point. Do you think that mixing genes with Natives and Africans would explain for the majority of head increase in north American people? The real question, did all white former Europeans in USA had relationships to the point of procreation with Natives and Africans in order for this proposal of yours to hold ground?

What happened to other facets? Why are northern Americans whom develop larger heads do not have darker skins (for African relationships) or redden (for Natives relationships) their skins also? Why just head increase?

Depends on the genes and which ones dominate. My dad came from a gene pool with mixed Irish and Native American bloodlines. Most people on that side of my family have dark feature--my dad with black hair, freakishly blue eyes, and darker skin. My mom came from a blonde hair/blue eye gene pool. Amongst my siblings, the blonde hair/blur eye trait definitely dominates, but things like the skin tone varies--or at least our ability to tan. I can tan like a champ, but one of my brothers lobsters in short order, for instance.

There are some traits in each of us that our definitely paternal in origin and some that are maternal, but we are definitely whities in everybody's eyes. (and yes, in my dad's family tree there are some big old noggins which fortunately skipped me but we are thick-boned people per every doctor who ever treated us).

 

[Steelplate]

Re: Proposal as to why North Americans have developed a larger head.

Here's a thought.....hormones, pesticides, herbicides in our food supply?

 

[Helix]

Re: Proposal as to why North Americans have developed a larger head.

Two nutritional proposals here. The source at NG does mention it. The thing is why are you growing a greater head and we do not when nutrition was not a problem for say upper developed countries in Europe?

most likely because we consume more calories than you at most stages of development. it's a cultural thing, i guess; we live the in the world's kitchen, and food is pushed on us constantly. it may also be the types of foods we eat here. hard to say, but i would bet nutrition is the root cause.

 

[joG]

Re: Proposal as to why North Americans have developed a larger head.

Yeah, but cats, you know. No one really owns them.

True. That is part of what makes them so likable.

 

[Muhammed]

Re: Proposal as to why North Americans have developed a larger head.

Two nutritional proposals here. The source at NG does mention it. The thing is why are you growing a greater head and we do not when nutrition was not a problem for say upper developed countries in Europe?

The study had exclusively white American subjects. It mentions nothing of European head size over the same period.

 

[marduc]

Re: Proposal as to why North Americans have developed a larger head.

Corn Syrup.

 

[DDD]

Re: Proposal as to why North Americans have developed a larger head.

The study had exclusively white American subjects. It mentions nothing of European head size over the same period.

Good point. You seem to ask to whom are Northern Americans being compared against since they appear to have developed bigger heads? Or has there been any comparisons between continents at all?

This detail is not mentioned in NGS.

 

[Dittohead not!]

Re: Proposal as to why North Americans have developed a larger head.

It must be a conspiracy by hatters to make us keep buying ever larger hats.

Or, perhaps the human race is still evolving, could that be? If so, it must be evolving elsewhere as well.

 

[Goshin]

Re: Proposal as to why North Americans have developed a larger head.

I'd think it was more likely a dietary issue.

 

[Fenton]

Re: Proposal as to why North Americans have developed a larger head.

Tennis ball? My cat has less than that and more
Ego than you can imagine.

Cats have around 160 million more neurons than dogs.

Why can't they be trained as easily ?

From the look my cat gives me when I tell her to get off the couch or go outside I can surmise she's thinking " yea sure, when I damn well please ".

 

[DDD]

Re: Proposal as to why North Americans have developed a larger head.

It must be a conspiracy by hatters to make us keep buying ever larger hats.

Or, perhaps the human race is still evolving, could that be? If so, it must be evolving elsewhere as well.

So the hat making industry has used the comfortable inner hat areas as a reward mechanism to the head skin area. Later they grew the hats just for the right amount to have less comfort but a sense that the soft comfort is there should the head be bigger. When this need for a greater head was carried over to the next generation the offspring adopted to the demands of the hat producers environment by building a greater head just to be able to touch the inner soft comforts of the hat. This circle continued until today North Americans have been fully adjusted to the hatmakers designs at the price of having to carry a greater head. Basically you allowed yourselves through small rewards to be evolve your heads as per hatmakers designs .

A very entertaining idea! Thanks. Of course, there are gaps in the logic and flow towards conclusion. For instance there is not enough time to evolve a tennis ball sized space inside of a head for 200 years while you were there. This would not explain why women whom may not carry hats as much as men would also develop a larger head. The rewards of the comforting softness inside the hat should be proven to be as comfortable to be worthy of evolution. Usually it is necessity rather than comfort that drives evolution. Lastly, all countries have nationally designed hats.

We for instance have the plis:



You know this right:



Have been carrying it ever since the dawn of time:



See also avatar.

So since we carried it more than 200 years why has not our hat shaped our heads also?

 

[DDD]

Re: Proposal as to why North Americans have developed a larger head.

Cats have around 160 million more neurons than dogs.

Why can't they be trained as easily ?

From the look my cat gives me when I tell her to get off the couch or go outside I can surmise she's thinking " yea sure, when I damn well please ".

At which point I usually throw things to them!!

 

[Threegoofs]

Proposal as to why North Americans have developed a larger head.

People in North America have started developing a larger head. No one exactly knows why:

Americans' Heads Getting Bigger

Thought we could discuss why we here think that this may be the case. What I propose is gravity variations. Due to differing densities of rocks underneath the gravity pulls people down differently depending on where they may be:

View attachment 67153181

Gravity disturbances may be pulling you guys down differently than compared to us in Europe. Perhaps even though you originate here (had not yet developed the bigger head before you went there) you have started adapting to different environmental and geographical pressures there. Now as a response to gravity disturbances you are developing a larger head.

Criticisms and alternative hypothesis proposals related to the issue are welcomed.

References:

Hirt, C., Claessens, S., Fecher, T., Kuhn, M., Pail, R., & Rexer, M. (20130. New ultrahigh-resolution picture of Earth's gravity field. Geophysical Research Letters, DOI: 10.1002/grl.50838; Retrieved from: Gravity variations over Earth much bigger than previously thought .

Odd. It's pretty clear why. We have better nutrition. People are a few inches taller now compared to 1825, and cranial size will increase proportionally. Control for height and I bet there is no difference.

 

[Northern Light]

Re: Proposal as to why North Americans have developed a larger head.

It's probably from the crappy food people eat, leading to false endocrine output, which in turn leads to abnormal growth.

More brain is not necessarily a good thing. Brain complexity matters more, and by the looks of it we're suffering from severe deterioration in that department.

 

[DDD]

Re: Proposal as to why North Americans have developed a larger head.

Odd. It's pretty clear why. We have better nutrition. People are a few inches taller now compared to 1825, and cranial size will increase proportionally. Control for height and I bet there is no difference.

No. Due to better nutrition, healthier circumstances, and lower infant death, we have grown by average for 10cm also. Our head though is not bigger than yours.

References:

Hatton, T. J. (2013). How have Europeans grown so tall? Oxford Economic Papers, DOI: 10.1093/oep/gpt030; Retrieved from: Average height of European males has grown by 11 centimeters in just over a century

 

[Threegoofs]

Proposal as to why North Americans have developed a larger head.

No. Due to better nutrition, healthier circumstances, and lower infant death, we have grown by average for 10cm also. Our head though is not bigger than yours.

References:

Hatton, T. J. (2013). How have Europeans grown so tall? Oxford Economic Papers, DOI: 10.1093/oep/gpt030; Retrieved from: Average height of European males has grown by 11 centimeters in just over a century

The OP reference said nothing about European skull size. It didnt compare- I'm sure Skull size is proportional to body size and height.... I mean tall people generally don't seem to have little heads, do they?

All the OP reference said was cranial capacity was larger since 1825. So are people.

They also mention cranial capacity declining since the dawn of civillization. I'm pretty sure stature did the same- hunter gatherers are generally better fed than villagers- civilization allows us to have a population that matched our food supply.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/5604296/is-farming-the-root-of-all-evil.html

 

[DDD]

Re: Proposal as to why North Americans have developed a larger head.

The OP reference said nothing about European skull size. It didnt compare- I'm sure Skull size is proportional to body size and height.... I mean tall people generally don't seem to have little heads, do they?

Yes but we are debating and comparing here. We are tall too. But why is our tallness not presented with bigger heads like you guys in USA?

 

[Threegoofs]

Re: Proposal as to why North Americans have developed a larger head.

Yes but we are debating and comparing here. We are tall too. But why is our tallness not presented with bigger heads like you guys in USA?

You have not presented any evidence that it hasnt.

 

[DDD]

Re: Proposal as to why North Americans have developed a larger head.

You have not presented any evidence that it hasnt.

True. I did not found studies that measured skull heads here and compare. Just observation and anecdotal that one.

 

[Threegoofs]

Re: Proposal as to why North Americans have developed a larger head.

True. I did not found studies that measured skull heads here and compare. Just observation and anecdotal that one.

Observation and anecdote? I'm guessing data might be helpful in figuring out the answer instead of those. I'm thinking you didnt get much observation of cranial capacity of Europeans in the 1800s.

 

[SBu]

Re: Proposal as to why North Americans have developed a larger head.

People in North America have started developing a larger head. No one exactly knows why:

Americans' Heads Getting Bigger

Thought we could discuss why we here think that this may be the case. What I propose is gravity variations. Due to differing densities of rocks underneath the gravity pulls people down differently depending on where they may be:

View attachment 67153181

Gravity disturbances may be pulling you guys down differently than compared to us in Europe. Perhaps even though you originate here (had not yet developed the bigger head before you went there) you have started adapting to different environmental and geographical pressures there. Now as a response to gravity disturbances you are developing a larger head.

Criticisms and alternative hypothesis proposals related to the issue are welcomed.

References:

Hirt, C., Claessens, S., Fecher, T., Kuhn, M., Pail, R., & Rexer, M. (20130. New ultrahigh-resolution picture of Earth's gravity field. Geophysical Research Letters, DOI: 10.1002/grl.50838; Retrieved from: Gravity variations over Earth much bigger than previously thought .

Brain-eating aliens have begun their genetic modification of their human brain crop. Bigger brains = more eating. Basically, it will address the disparity between exploding alien brain-eating population and the supply of (size of) human brains available for consumption. Supply and demand, really.

 

[ethanUNC]

Re: Proposal as to why North Americans have developed a larger head.

OP, I think your hypothesis is absurd. I could not access the National Geographic article, but I read the Science Daily one on the same thing. The hypotheses presented in the article were much better. You fail to grasp how evolution occurs: "Now as a response to gravity disturbances you are developing a larger head." You seem to be suggesting that these "gravity disturbances" are so large (when they are in fact microscopic) that it is affecting the rate of survival of the human species such that rate of survival increases with increased skull volume.

 

[DDD]

Re: Proposal as to why North Americans have developed a larger head.

Observation and anecdote? I'm guessing data might be helpful in figuring out the answer instead of those.

Correct, got any?

I'm thinking you didnt get much observation of cranial capacity of Europeans in the 1800s.

I have data for how we grew from those times. But you see in my reference the emphasis is in being taller. The sources in NGS do not state the issue of tallness but rather that the heads are becoming bigger.

This hints to me that it is out of proportion. Out of proportion either to the rest of the body or when compared to Europeans.