The origin of the brain lies in a worm

The rise of the central nervous system–CNS–in animal evolution has puzzled scientists for centuries. Vertebrates, insects and worms evolved from the same ancestor, but their CNSs are different and were thought to have evolved only after their lineages had split during evolution. Researchers from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg now reveal that the vertebrate nervous system is probably much older than expected. The study, which is published in the current issue of Cell (??-April-2007), suggests that the last common ancestor of vertebrates, insects and worms already had a centralised nervous system resembling that of vertebrates today. …