TY - JOUR
T1 - From fossils to mind
AU - de Sousa, Alexandra A.
AU - Beaudet, Amélie
AU - Calvey, Tanya
AU - Bardo, Ameline
AU - Benoit, Julien
AU - Charvet, Christine J.
AU - Dehay, Colette
AU - Gómez-Robles, Aida
AU - Gunz, Philipp
AU - Heuer, Katja
AU - van den Heuvel, Martijn P.
AU - Hurst, Shawn
AU - Lauters, Pascaline
AU - Reed, Denné
AU - Salagnon, Mathilde
AU - Sherwood, Chet C.
AU - Ströckens, Felix
AU - Tawane, Mirriam
AU - Todorov, Orlin S.
AU - Toro, Roberto
AU - Wei, Yongbin
N1 - Funding Information: A.Ba. was funded by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (grant number: ANR-20-CE27-0009-01). A.Be. was funded by the National Research Foundation of South Africa (Research Development Grants for Y-Rated Researchers (grant number 129336) and the South Africa/France (PROTEA) Joint Research Programme (grant number 129923). C.C.S. was funded by NSF (EF-2021785, DRL-2219759) and NIH (NS092988, AG067419, HG011641). C.J.C. was funded by NIGMS COBRE (grant number 5P20GM103653). J.B. was funded by the NRF African Origins Platform. K.H. and R.T. were supported by the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche, projects NeuroWebLab (ANR-19-DATA-0025) and DMOBE (ANR-21-CE45-0016). K.H. has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No101033485 (Individual Fellowship). O.S.T was funded by a Discovery Project Award (project number: DP210101324) funded by the Australian Government. P.G. was funded by the Max Planck Society (grant number M.IF.A.XXXX8103). The opinions of the article do not necessarily represent the views of the NIH. Funding Information: We acknowledge all participants of the “From Fossils to Mind” Workshop 2021 (Box 3) for their enlightening presentations and discussions, which led to the writing of this review. We are grateful to our hosts, the Southern African Neuroscience Society, and sponsors, without whom this collaboration would not have been possible: Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences, now Genus, the Palaeontological Scientific Trust, the French Institute of South Africa, and the Global Academy for Liberal Arts. We would like to thank the three anonymous reviewers for their careful reading of our manuscript and insightful suggestions, which greatly improved the manuscript. A.Ba. was funded by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (grant number: ANR-20-CE27-0009-01). A.Be. was funded by the National Research Foundation of South Africa (Research Development Grants for Y-Rated Researchers (grant number 129336) and the South Africa/France (PROTEA) Joint Research Programme (grant number 129923). C.C.S. was funded by NSF (EF-2021785, DRL-2219759) and NIH (NS092988, AG067419, HG011641). C.J.C. was funded by NIGMS COBRE (grant number 5P20GM103653). J.B. was funded by the NRF African Origins Platform. K.H. and R.T. were supported by the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche, projects NeuroWebLab (ANR-19-DATA-0025) and DMOBE (ANR-21-CE45-0016). K.H. has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No101033485 (Individual Fellowship). O.S.T was funded by a Discovery Project Award (project number: DP210101324) funded by the Australian Government. P.G. was funded by the Max Planck Society (grant number M.IF.A.XXXX8103). The opinions of the article do not necessarily represent the views of the NIH. Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).
PY - 2023/12/1
Y1 - 2023/12/1
N2 - Fossil endocasts record features of brains from the past: size, shape, vasculature, and gyrification. These data, alongside experimental and comparative evidence, are needed to resolve questions about brain energetics, cognitive specializations, and developmental plasticity. Through the application of interdisciplinary techniques to the fossil record, paleoneurology has been leading major innovations. Neuroimaging is shedding light on fossil brain organization and behaviors. Inferences about the development and physiology of the brains of extinct species can be experimentally investigated through brain organoids and transgenic models based on ancient DNA. Phylogenetic comparative methods integrate data across species and associate genotypes to phenotypes, and brains to behaviors. Meanwhile, fossil and archeological discoveries continuously contribute new knowledge. Through cooperation, the scientific community can accelerate knowledge acquisition. Sharing digitized museum collections improves the availability of rare fossils and artifacts. Comparative neuroanatomical data are available through online databases, along with tools for their measurement and analysis. In the context of these advances, the paleoneurological record provides ample opportunity for future research. Biomedical and ecological sciences can benefit from paleoneurology’s approach to understanding the mind as well as its novel research pipelines that establish connections between neuroanatomy, genes and behavior.
AB - Fossil endocasts record features of brains from the past: size, shape, vasculature, and gyrification. These data, alongside experimental and comparative evidence, are needed to resolve questions about brain energetics, cognitive specializations, and developmental plasticity. Through the application of interdisciplinary techniques to the fossil record, paleoneurology has been leading major innovations. Neuroimaging is shedding light on fossil brain organization and behaviors. Inferences about the development and physiology of the brains of extinct species can be experimentally investigated through brain organoids and transgenic models based on ancient DNA. Phylogenetic comparative methods integrate data across species and associate genotypes to phenotypes, and brains to behaviors. Meanwhile, fossil and archeological discoveries continuously contribute new knowledge. Through cooperation, the scientific community can accelerate knowledge acquisition. Sharing digitized museum collections improves the availability of rare fossils and artifacts. Comparative neuroanatomical data are available through online databases, along with tools for their measurement and analysis. In the context of these advances, the paleoneurological record provides ample opportunity for future research. Biomedical and ecological sciences can benefit from paleoneurology’s approach to understanding the mind as well as its novel research pipelines that establish connections between neuroanatomy, genes and behavior.
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U2 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-023-04803-4
DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-023-04803-4
M3 - Review article
C2 - 37311857
SN - 2399-3642
VL - 6
SP - 1
EP - 21
JO - Communications Biology
JF - Communications Biology
IS - 1
M1 - 636
ER -