Emiliano Bruner, a paleoneurologist at the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), has just published a new book with the scientific publisher Springer Digital Endocasts: from skulls to brains, on methods of study applied to endocranial molds, in particular in fossil species, integrating computerized digital anatomy and evolutionary neuroanatomy.

This book, written in collaboration with the Japanese researchers Naomichi Ogihara (University of Keio) and Hiroki Tanabe (University of Nagoya), consists of 18 chapters which include physical and digital casting techniques; the relationships between cranium and brain; paleoneurology in humans, non-human primates, birds and dinosaurs; paleoneurological studies of the Neanderthals; vascular features; the statistical, geometric and spatial models applied to cerebral morphology; the study of the cortical surfaces; the relationships between development, growth and evolution of the neurocranium, and the evolution of the frontal, parietal, occipital, temporal and cerebellar lobes in hominids.

In the words of Bruner, who had previously published a book entitled Human Paleoneurology with Springer in 2015, “it's a synthesis of the current methods and the challenges in paleoneurology, both for students who are just coming to this discipline and for professional researchers who wish to update their knowledge of the field”.