I applaud all efforts to increase scientific literacy.Some work better than others, however.
NPR has been running a series on the evolution of H. sapiens. It's been reasonably well done. Yesterday the episode was on the brain and I think it went a bit too far in the "let's make this understandable" direction.
Noting that the evolutionary process takes current "stuff"--anatomy and physiology--and adapts it, one scientist described the brain as an ice cream cone, with each major evolutionary change or "advance" being another scoop. He thinks the brain is poorly engineered and organized and slow. Maybe his is! (Humans have four scoops, btw, jellyfish only one. Whew!!)
I think the brain is better organized and more purposeful than that. How about the very apt computer analogy? The basic circuits and data bits--neurons and electrons--work pretty well in all species. We just have better and newer apps!
Plus our "cone" doesn't melt!
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