Ebook: A History of the Human Brain: From the Sea Sponge to CRISPR, How Our Brain Evolved

Just over 125,000 years ago, humanity was on the edge of extinction when a dramatic shift occurred—Homo sapiens started tracking the tides and eating the nearby oysters. Before long, they’d pulled themselves back from the brink of extinction. What saved us during that period of endangerment? The human brain, and its evolutionary journey is unlike anything else in history.
 
In Brain Power, neuroscientist and popular science writer Bret Stetka takes readers through that far-reaching journey, showing exactly when and how the human brain evolved to shape who we are today. The whole millennia-long journey raises the question of where the brain might head next. Brain Power explores the burgeoning concept of epigenetics as well as technologies like CRISPR that allow scientists to manually edit our own genetic code. The biologic, philosophic, and ethical questions are wide-ranging: Could the evolutionary path of the human brain be leading to its own replacement?