An ancient worm unearthed in China has one of the oldest fossilized brains ever found. The brain's shape could also help solve a centuries-old debate about the evolution of arthropods.
A 525 million-year-old fossilized worm unearthed in China has what is likely the oldest example of a brain ever discovered. The surprising shape of the brain offers clues about the evolution of arthropods — a group that includes insects, arachnids and crustaceans — and could help solve a mystery that's been puzzling researchers for more than a century.
In a new study, published Nov. 24 in the journal Arthropod Evolution , another team of scientists reanalyzed the fossilized specimen and found that it had been hiding an astonishing secret — a preserved nervous system, including a brain. "Until very recently, the common understanding was [that] brains don't fossilize," study co-author Frank Hirth , an evolutionary neuroscientist at King's College London in the U.K., said in the statement. Due to the small size and age of the fossil, past researchers"would not even dare to look at it in hopes of finding a brain," he added.
Upending arthropod evolution As surprising as it was to find the ancient brain, the researchers were more taken aback by the shape and structure of the critter's cranium. The head and brain are both non-segmented, meaning that they are not split up into multiple parts. But, the rest of the fossil's body is divided into segments.
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