Mammalian Brains Prove Evolutionary Disconnect | The Institute for Creation Research


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Mammalian Brains Prove Evolutionary Disconnect
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2020

The evolutionary model of brain development predicted that the complexity of neural connectivity should have increased as brains became larger and the creatures more complex. However, a groundbreaking study has just been published showing that, across the spectrum of mammals, the levels of brain activity are equally complex.1,2 In other words, mammalian brain connectivity and its amazing complexity appeared suddenly and fully functional across the board with no evolutionary precursor.

Researchers at Tel Aviv University developed a project analyzing the brains of about 130 diverse species of mammals using advanced diffusion MRI scans. The brains had been removed from dead animals, ranging from tiny bats to large dolphins. This study produced a novel database spanning a large spectrum of mammals, 100 of which had not previously undergone brain scans. Additionally, the researchers included the brain scans of 32 humans. The scientists were able to recreate the brain’s neural network—neurons and their nerve fibers (axons) along with the junctions (synapses) that work together to transmit bioelectrical signals—through identifying the brain’s white matter via specialized technology.2

Professor Yaniv Assaf, one of the study authors, was quoted by ScienceDaily:

We discovered that brain connectivity -- namely the efficiency of information transfer through the neural network -- does not depend on either the size or structure of any specific brain….In other words, the brains of all mammals, from tiny mice through humans to large bulls and dolphins, exhibit equal connectivity, and information travels with the same efficiency within them.2

With regard to how this discovery upends evolutionary predictions, Assaf confirmed that, in an effort to explain a more advanced “human animal,” many in the scientific community have argued that a human’s brain connectivity far surpasses that of other mammals.2 This theory is directly contradicted by the study results. In other words, the alleged prediction of evolution that things should progress from simple to complex across a continuum among mammals was utterly debunked.

Assaf goes on to say that the group’s research “'revealed a universal law: Conservation of Brain Connectivity….This law denotes that the efficiency of information transfer in the brain's neural network is equal in all mammals, including humans.'”2 Thus, the complexity of mammalian brain connectivity has no predictable, evolutionary pattern or precursor to its existence. Neural connectivity complexity among the different kinds of mammals appears suddenly, exactly as our mighty Creator engineered it to be—fully operational and firing on all cylinders from the beginning of creation.

References
1. Yaniv Assaf et al., “Conservation of brain connectivity and wiring across the mammalian class,” Nature Neuroscience 23, (2020): 805, doi.org/10.1038/s41593-020-0641-7.
2. American Friends of Tel Aviv University. "MRI scans of the brains of 130 mammals, including humans, indicate equal connectivity." ScienceDaily.

*Dr. Tomkins is Director of Research at the Institute for Creation Research and earned his doctorate in genetics from Clemson University.