Could there be a connection between gravity and human intelligence?

First detected in 2015, gravitational waves may not have had a direct hand in human evolution, but it certainly helped set the stage for its arrival.

Thanks Robb! Related paper

Excerpt from first link above: "Although the first detection of gravitational waves in 2015 gets a lot of press, the detection of GW170817—the first binary neutron star collision—confirms how important gravitational waves likely are to life on Earth and human evolution.

• A new preprint study walks through that journey, describing how gravitational waves emitted from binary neutron stars pulled these stars closer together and initiated their collisions, ejecting heavy elements crucial to the formation of Earth’s molten core.

  
  

• By both creating our magnetosphere and initiating plate tectonics, these forces (among others) eventually made it possible for our planet to give rise to a species capable of exploring these grand cosmic queries.

  
  

You’ve likely heard the phrase that “we’re all made of star stuff”—that is, our bodies are made of elements first formed in the burning cauldrons of stars. This is undoubtedly true, but as our understanding of the universe has deepened (especially after the detection of the first gravitational waves in 2015) that picture is getting a bit more complex"