On 27 May 1999 15:17:23 GMT, didier at Glue.umd.edu (Didier A. Depireux)
wrote:
> The posting about the girl and her thalamic damage and related
>microcephaly reminded me of a question I have always had. In a chicken and
>egg type of question, I always wanted to know whether the skull determines
>the size of the brain, or does the brain determines the size of the skull?
>> In other words, if you have a small head, is it because you have a
>small brain; or is it that if you have a small brain, you skull will be
>small. I would assume that the space between the brain surface and the
>skull is a constant.
>>> Didier
I think the limitation is the size of the birth canal. Its pointless
having a larger brain if you die during birth, probably killing your
mother in the process. How surgical techniques will influence this in
the future will be interesting.
ian