O bioantropólogo britânico Richard Wrangham defende que viramos Homo sapiens devido à... cozinha! Ele acredita que os cérebros aumentaram quando, pelo cozimento, a digestão ficou mais fácil e as calorias se proliferaram. Brilhante, não?
Uma reportagem sai na edição deste mês da revista "Scientific American", versão EUA. Mas o site traz uma entrevista com Wranham.
And you believe cooking with that fire spurred the development of modern humans.
Here's the way I tend to ask the question: I tend to think of the advent of cooking as having a huge impact on the quality of the diet. In fact, I can't think of any increase in the quality of diet in the history of life that is bigger. And repeatedly we have evidence in biology of increases in dietary quality affecting bodies. The food was softer, easier to eat, with a higher density of calories—so this led to smaller guts, and, since the food was providing more energy, we see more evidence of energy use by the body. There's only one time it could have happened on that basis; that is, with the evolution of Homo erectus somewhere between 1.6 [million] and 1.8 million years ago.
PS: A Folha também publicou um texto sobre o tema, anos atrás (link para assinantes).
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