Stories of brain power vs. muscle or jocks vs. nerds have become cliche. New research, however, suggests that over the course of human evolution that brains have won every time. A study, led by Dr Philipp Khaitovich, looked at what separates humans from our closest relatives on the evolutionary tree.

Humans have evolved to dominate the planet, developed advanced technology, built cities, cultivated art and literature and have begun traveling to space. Meanwhile, separated by just a handful of genes, the chimpanzees are on the endangered species list.

In their research, Khaitovich and his colleagues looked closely at the evolution of metabolites. Metabolites are sets of chemicals including vitamins, amino acids, sugars, and neurotransmitters which control the physiology of animals. Human metabolites in the brain have evolved at four times the rate of chimpanzee metabolites and metabolites in human muscle have evolved at ten times the rate of our primate cousins.

Despite this higher rate of evolution and our larger size, however, human physical strength pales in comparison to that of other primates. As part of the research chimpanzees, macaque monkeys, university students, and even professional athletes were challenged to lift weights by pulling on a lever. In a result that would come as no surprise to those who study monkeys and apes, the non-human primates were able to lift twice the weight of the strongest human participants.

“Our results suggest a special energy management in humans, that allows us to spare energy for our extraordinary cognitive powers at a cost of weak muscle,” summarized Dr. Kasia Bozek in a statement.

The human brain is an incredibly complex and powerful instrument. Last year, it was demonstrated that simulating one second of human brain activity required 82,944 computer processors. It should come as no surprise that such a complex system requires tremendous amounts of energy. If the researcher’s hypothesis holds it would demonstrate that human evolution has always favored those who devote their energy to thinking rather than feats of strength. This could even be the point at which the fortunes of humans and chimpanzees took different paths.

A great deal more research would be required, however, before this could be proven. “The world of human metabolomics is just starting to open up its secrets to us. Such human-specific metabolic features we find could be related not only to physical or cognitive performance but also to common human metabolic diseases,” said Dr Patrick Giavalisco, who led the metabolome measurement effort at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology in Golm.

The paper “Exceptional Evolutionary Divergence of Human Muscle and Brain Metabolomes Parallels Human Cognitive and Physical Uniqueness” can be found in the open-access journal PLOS Biology.