A new study led by Chinese researchers into the evolution of dinosaurs has provided a less than encouraging result for our technology-dependent world.
People may become dumber over time, say researchers PHOTO Archive
Horned dinosaurs experienced a decline in intelligence, hearing and sense of smell as they grew in size over 100 million years, according to a study by researchers in China and the United States, according to the South China Morning Post.
The researchers said human evolution could follow a similar trajectory if we become too dependent on technology.
“The sense of smell in early branched ceratopsians is more sensitive than in Protoceratops (a Late Cretaceous dinosaur from Asia) and late diverging ceratopsids.”
“Early divergent ceratopsians had higher hearing frequencies than ceratopsids and non-avian theropods”the researchers wrote in an article published in the scientific journal Paleobiology in October.
The researchers explained that while these functions helped dinosaurs escape predators when they were smaller, as they grew older, they became less and less useful.
“Early horned dinosaurs carry relatively large brain volumes, even larger than most extant reptiles.”
