Shall I have tiny muscles or a tiny brain? Reinhard Dirscherl / Getty
Did primates opt for brains over brawn? Primate species with larger brains have reduced muscle mass, supporting a controversial theory that energy-hungry brains grew larger by stealing resources from other bodily tissues.
Brains are expensive to run. Some estimates suggest . As such, many researchers have wondered how primates – particularly humans – find the energy to keep their unusually large brains running.
An idea emerged in the mid-1990s: perhaps primates support their large brains by making energy savings…
