OUR BRAINS ‘LIKE AN ANT’S’

HUMAN brains decreased in size about 3000 years ago, baffling scientists.

But now they believe ants may hold the key as to why.

The human brain grew about 2.1 million years ago and again 1.5 million years ago but then reduced in size.

To figure out why, Boston University academics looked at ant colonies and studied the brain size and energy use of worker ants.

They found ant brains adapted to become more efficient in social groups where knowledge was shared between individuals and ants specialised in certain tasks.

Researchers said there were social similarities between humans and ants, such as group decision making, division of labour and food production.

Human brains, therefore, could have reduced in size in order to become more energy efficient, study authors said.