5 replies to this topic

[Hasina]

Oldest Arthropod Brain Found in Buglike Creature

The oldest brain ever found in an arthropod — a group of invertebrates that includes insects and crustaceans — is surprisingly complex for its 520-million-year age, researchers report today (Oct. 10).

The fossilized brain, found in an extinct arthropod from China, looks very similar to the brains of today's modern insects, said study researcher Nicholas Strausfeld, the director of the Center for Insect Science at the University of Arizona.

"The rest of the animal is incredibly simple, so it's a big surprise to see a brain that is so advanced, as it were, in such a simple animal," Strausfeld told LiveScience.

Source: http://www.livescien...in-complex.html

Edited by Hasina, 10 October 2012 - 07:57 PM.

[Bling]

Cool

[zelayairvin]

That is interesting.

[Hilander]

Interesting.

[ShadowOfMothman]

That's cool

[PersonFromPorlock]

I'm not so sure the combination of a simple body and a complex brain is all that puzzling: modern fuel injection systems are mechanically far simpler than early ones because they're controlled by sophisticated computers.