Neural crest

Research image of a lamprey.
Evolution Microphone

New look at lampreys rewrites textbooks on origins of sympathetic nervous system

Sympathetic neurons pepper the embryos of the jawless fish—Earth’s first vertebrates—and overturn the idea that “fight or flight” was an innovation of jawed vertebrates.

By Shaena Montanari
17 April 2024 | 3 min listen

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Research image of neurons in the fly’s ventral nerve cord.

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