Human Skull Is Highly Integrated: New Evolutionary Changes

Researchers at the Universities of Manchester and Barcelona examined 390 skulls from the Austrian town of Hallstatt and found evidence that the human skull is highly integrated, meaning variation in one part of the skull is linked to changes throughout the skull. Dr Chris Klingenberg, in Manchester's Faculty of Life Sciences said, "We found that genetic variation in the skull is highly integrated, so if selection were to favour a shape change in a particular part of the skull, there would be a response involving changes throughout the skull."  What does this mean?!They found that, rather than being separate evolutionary events, changes in one part of the brain would facilitate and even drive changes in the other parts.  This study completely alters the implications with which we see inferences about human evolution.  Notably, there is a need for reinterpretation of the evolutionary stances on the modern human skull.