Wednesday, October 28, 2026
Science

Ants prioritize brain energy during starvation, echoing pattern seen in humans

The human brain accounts for roughly 2% of total body weight but uses approximately 20% of our body's energy. Relative to our body size, human brains are much larger than those of other mammals and take a lot of energy to keep humans going. The evolution of our unusually large "social brain" is thou...

Ants prioritize brain energy during starvation, echoing pattern seen in humans
Image: Phys.org
The human brain accounts for roughly 2% of total body weight but uses approximately 20% of our body's energy. Relative to our body size, human brains are much larger than those of other mammals and take a lot of energy to keep humans going. The evolution of our unusually large "social brain" is thought to have given us advanced intelligence and enabled the formation of large, complex societies.

Originally published at Phys.org

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