Sensory Integration International

Sniff sniff: Smelling led to smarter mammals, researchers say

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet; the saying is perhaps a testament to the acute sense of smell that is unique to mammals. Paleontologists have now discovered that an improved sense of smell jumpstarted brain evolution in the ancestral cousins of present-day mammals. The research will appear in the 20 May 2011 issue of the journal Science, which is published by AAAS, the international, nonprofit science society.

The findings may help explain why mammals evolved such large and complex brains, which in some cases ballooned 10 times larger than relative body size. By reconstructing fossils of two Early Jurassic Period mammals--Morganuocodon and Hadrocodium--the authors provide new evidence that the mammalian brain evolved in three major stages: first by improvements in sense of smell or olfaction; next by an increase in touch or tactile sensitivity from body hair; and third by improved neuromuscular coordination or the ability to produce skilled muscle movement using the senses.

"Now we have a much better idea of the historical sequence of events and of the relative importance of the different sensory systems in the early evolution of mammals. It paints a much more vivid picture of what the ancestral mammal was like and how it behaved, and of our own ancestry," said lead author Tim Rowe, Director of the Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin.

The study used a medical imaging technique called X-ray computed tomography or CT to reconstruct brain molds or endocasts of the 190 million year old Morganuocodon and Hadrocodium fossils from China. These tiny, shrew-like critters are thought to be precursors to existing mammals or "pre-mammals. A brain endocast is a mold of the space or cavity that encases in the brain. The brain endocasts used in this study occurred naturally through fossilization.

CT technology is indispensible for analyzing fragile fossils because it allows researchers to create precise, three-dimensional images of a fossilized brain cavity without having to destroy the fossil in order to expose the endocast.

Rowe's team spent several years CT scanning over a dozen pre-mammal brain endocasts at the High-Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography Facility at The University of Texas at Austin. The scans are archived online and freely available on www.digimorph.org.

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In September, I started working in a new position with the e-mail team. I got a new boss too, and part of the interview process was describing how comfortable I am with writing in general and the Internet as well. Of course, I talked about my blogs. I get along very well with my new boss. Any time we sit down, she asks about my girls and Angel in particular.

During one meeting, I mentioned how I wanted to get Angel an Ikea Egg Chair. She told me she had just given one away, but had a friend who had one in storage. A few weeks later, she brought it to work for me! Another teammate drove it to my house for be because there is no way it would have fit in my little Beetle!

I have to tell you how great this chair is for Angel. She gets in it and closes the "blind" when she wants privacy.  Angel is smaller than the girl in the picture, so she can get her whole body in the chair with the blind closed.  She asks Big Kid to spin her "twickly!". She likes having somewhere that is her place, though she does let her sister sit in it--for about half a second before she decides that it's her turn again (we are still working on turn taking).

We've also noticed that when Angel seems to be getting overwhelmed, she'll separate herself from what ever is going on and crawl into her chair. She'll pull the blind down and when she comes out, she's calm and collected. This seems to be a method of self-regulation for her.

This gift has been a blessing to us, and a huge benefit for Angel.

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