VOLUME LXXVI | APR 2023

The evolutionary neuroscience of domestication

Throughout history, humans and animals have shared a special connection. This bond, known as domestication, has brought about a radical transformation in the natural world. It’s as if we took the wild, untamable forces of nature and molded them into our own image. The extensive debate surrounding domestication has led scientists to question whether there is a common thread that links the physical characteristics of domesticated species. Are they all part of a grand design, carefully shaped by thousands of years of selective breeding? And what about us humans? Some researchers argue that we are also products of self-domestication, harnessing our own genetic potential. These fascinating questions have captivated the scientific community, sparking new research in the field of evolutionary neuroscience. To dive deeper into this topic and explore the latest findings, check out the full article!

Jean-Baptiste Gagnon

Jean-Baptiste is a French-Canadian anthropologist in Montreal, investigating cultural influences on human motivation and success. His pursuance of highlighting how historical Canadian values foster ambition, aims to elevate readers toward self-actualization.

Domestication (see Glossary) represents one of the single largest biological shifts of life on Earth, and the biomass of livestock now outweighs that of wild mammals by more than two orders of magnitude [1]. This shift was part of the biocultural feedback loop that brought humans to our remarkable present-day position in the animal kingdom [2]. Furthermore, substantial scientific debate has recently focused on whether a domestication syndrome links phenotypes across species ([3] versus [4]) and whether humans are self-domesticated ([5,6] versus [7,8]).
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