The Evolving Brain — Corrections and Clarifications
Science is a process of continual refinement. This page records the principal factual corrections and clarifications identified since publication of The Evolving Brain. I’m grateful to readers who have drawn these to my attention.
Corrections incorporated into the paperback
- p.93 — Migraine aura: the spreading wave travels at approximately 2–6 mm per minute, not per second.
- p.152 — GMC investigations: between 2005 and 2013, 28 doctors died by suicide or suspected suicide while under GMC investigation. The figure of 114 included deaths from all causes, making the comparison with workplace fatalities invalid.
- p.303 — Inequity experiments: the experiment by Engelmann and colleagues (2017) involved chimpanzees, not monkeys (note 64: Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 284, 20171502).
Reference corrections
- Note 20: Christakis, N. A. and Fowler, J. H. (2008) ‘The collective dynamics of smoking in a large social network’, New England Journal of Medicine, 358(21), 2249–2258.
- Note 49: Germine, L. et al. (2015) ‘Individual aesthetic preferences for faces are shaped mostly by environments, not genes’, Current Biology, 25(20), 2684–2689.
Other substantive corrections and clarifications
- p.15: primates emerged approximately 60 million years ago; early hominins approximately 6–7 million years ago.
- pp.19–21 — Plant signalling and fungal networks: plants possess complex chemical and electrical signalling systems but no nervous systems. Underground mycorrhizal fungi can connect trees and may transfer some resources between them, although the extent to which trees communicate or cooperate through these networks remains contested. The analogy with neural or social networks should therefore not be taken literally.
- pp.46–47, 127: adrenaline mediates the rapid stress response; cortisol responses develop more slowly.
- p.51: Heckhausen’s study concerned childless women around an age-40 reproductive deadline, not menopause.
- pp.81–82: retinal lateral inhibition involves intermediate cells; photoreceptors do not signal directly to the brain.
- p.171: type 2 diabetes can occur within the ‘normal’ BMI range when someone exceeds their own personal fat threshold. Substantial weight loss can induce remission.
- p.189: the region referred to is the left temporo-parietal cortex.
- p.273: hyperventilation raises blood pH by reducing carbon dioxide, rather than lowering it.
Further corrections will be incorporated into subsequent printings where possible. Readers are welcome to get in touch with any additional observations.