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A study has found that the two outermost TRAPPIST-1 exoplanets are the most likely to be able to retain their atmospheres:
The last thing the planets around the red dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 need is abundant sunshine. Active eruptions and flares from the star would wreak havoc on the rocky planets in orbit. But fortunately, the outer planets might be safe from this barrage of high-energy space weather.
According to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences [DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1708010115] [DX], the outer planets of the system could cling on to their atmospheres. This finding is despite previous studies showing that TRAPPIST-1 might be so active that it blows away planetary atmospheres.
[...] The new results show that while all seven planets could retain their atmosphere, the more likely scenario is that the outermost two, -1g and -1h, have the best odds (and -1e and -1f have a weaker chance.)
This could be resolved by JWST observations.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 04 2018, @04:53PM (1 child)
I'm not sure what you mean. A human brain takes roughly 12% of our energy. It's not more efficient per neuron than say a lizard brain.
And birds who have to dig stubborn bugs out of trees and tight spots to feed themselves indeed have decent physical tool problem solving abilities. But they don't have a sophisticated social network, and are thus more or less tool savants.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Thursday January 04 2018, @10:07PM
Hmm, you seem to be correct - I had been operating under the assumption that calories/gram remained relatively constant, but it does appear that calories/neuron is the more constant guide. (still not constant, but nothing compared to the variation in neuron density between species.)
That being the case, I can think of two other advantages that smaller neurons bestow:
1) Brain size at birth - humans are already born "prematurely" compared to other primates so that our skulls can fit through the birth canal, without small neurons it would require much more major skeletal modifications to allow birthing of big-brained babies.
2) Signal transmission delays are diminished - at ~3x the weight of a human brain, an elephant brain with the same amount of neurons as our own would average ~44% longer transmission times between neurons.
It might also make complex neural structures lest costly to make.1
Anyway, I need to reexamine some my my assumptions. Thanks.