Mankind's brain power has reached its peak and it is physically impossible for us to become any smarter, scientists say.
In order to become any more intelligent the human brain would need vast amounts of extra energy and oxygen - and we simply cannot provide it.
Cambridge University researchers have analyzed the structure of the brain and worked out how much energy its cells use up.
Simon Laughlin, professor of neurobiology, said: "We have demonstrated that brains must consumeenergy to function and that these requirements are sufficiently demanding to limit our performance."
"Far-reaching powers of deduction demand a lot of energy because for the brain to search out new relationships it must constantly correlate information from different sources. Such energy demands mean there is a limit to the information we can process," he said.
Other scientists claim that the brain's "wiring" or network of fibers linking different areas to one another cannot get any better.
They have found that the cleverest people have the best wiring, with messages carried very quickly between different parts of the brain.
But scientists claim that the wiring would need vast amounts of extra energy to become more efficient.
Martijn van den Heuvel, assistant professor of psychiatry at Utrecht medical centre in Holland, said: "Increasing the power of the brain would take a disproportionate increase in energy consumption. It is risky to predict the distant future but it is clear there are tight constraints on intelligence."


据英国《每日邮报》8月1日报道，科学家称人脑智力已达极限，物理上讲人类已经不可能变得更聪明了。

科学家们称，人脑想要变得更聪明需要消耗大量额外的能量和氧气，而这恰恰是我们难以提供的。


剑桥大学的研究人员分析了人脑构造，并计算出人脑细胞运作需要消耗的能量。

神经生物学教授西蒙•劳林说："我们已经证实，大脑必须消耗能量才能运作，而用这些需求来限制我们的行为又十分费力。"


劳林说："深层次的推理需要消耗大量的能量，因为为了检索到新的关联，大脑必须不断地从各类来源中找出相关信息。如此的能量消耗意味着我们能够处理的信息有限。"

还有一些科学家称连接人脑各个区域的"线路"或纤维网络已经进化到极限了。

他们发现最聪明的人拥有最优质的"线路"，这些"线路"使得信息在人脑不同区域之间的传输更加迅速。

但科学家表示，这些"线路"需要消耗大量额外的能量才能变得更有效。


荷兰乌特勒支医疗中心的精神病学副教授马丁•冯•豪威尔说："提高人脑智力将极大地增加能量的消耗。尽管预测遥远的未来有些冒险，但是人类智力受到限制确是不争的事实。"

• intelligent [in´telidʒənt] a.聪明的；理智的 (初中英语单词)
• energy [´enədʒi] n.活力，精力；能力 (初中英语单词)
• oxygen [´ɔksidʒən] n.氧，氧气 (初中英语单词)
• structure [´strʌktʃə] n.结构，构造；组织 (初中英语单词)
• consume [kən´sju:m] v.毁灭；浪费；憔悴 (初中英语单词)
• function [´fʌŋkʃən] n.机能；职责 vi.活动 (初中英语单词)
• sufficiently [sə´fiʃəntli] ad.充分地，足够地 (初中英语单词)
• constantly [´kɔnstəntli] ad.经常地；不断地 (初中英语单词)
• assistant [ə´sistənt] n.助手；助理；助教 (初中英语单词)
• medical [´medikəl] a.医学的；医疗的 (初中英语单词)
• holland [´hɔlənd] n.荷兰 (初中英语单词)
• consumption [kən´sʌmpʃən] n.消耗；结核病 (高中英语单词)
• predict [pri´dikt] v.预言；预告；预示 (高中英语单词)
• physically [´fizikəli] ad.按照自然规律 (英语四级单词)
• network [´netwə:k] n.网状物 vt.联播 (英语四级单词)