Includes bibliographical references and index.

Macroevolutionary patterns, exaptation and emergence in the evolution of the human brain and cognition / Ian Tattersall -- Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in human brain evolution / Michael A. Crawford -- Human brain evolution : a question of solving key nutritional and metabolic constraints on mammalian brain development / Stephen C. Cunnane -- Metabolic and molecular aspects of the critical role of docosahexaenoic acid in human brain function / J. Thomas Brenna -- Lessons from shore-based hunter-gatherer diets in East Africa / Frits A.J. Muskiet and Remko S. Kuipers -- Thyroid hormone, iodine and human brain evolution / Sebastiano Venturi and Michel E. Bégin -- Food for thought : the role of coastlines and aquatic resources in human evolution / Jon M. Erlandson -- The case for exploitation of wetlands environments and foods by pre-sapiens hominins / Kathlyn M. Stewart -- Brain size in carnivoran mammals that forage at the land-water ecotone, with implications for robust australopithecine paleobiology / Alan B. Shabel -- Coastal diet, encephalization and innovative behaviours in the late Middle Stone Age of southern Africa / John Parkington -- Human brain evolution : a new wetlands scenario / Stephen C. Cunnane and Kathlyn M. Stewart.