Sympathetic nervous system

Recent articles

Research image of a lamprey.

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 | 4 min read

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Brain registers spatial location outside hippocampus

A more complex picture of how an animal’s brain tracks its location is starting to emerge.

By Natalia Mesa
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Illustration of worm on top of a purple rock with neurons in the background.

The three-banded panther worm is rewriting the story of brain evolution

The animal has a brain structure all its own, according to a 2026 preprint. The finding hints that brains could have evolved centralization before regionalization.

By Sarah DeWeerdt
4 November 2026 | 7 min read

Does cognition happen in brain areas or between them?

Michael Cole explains how "brain flows" are the fundamental units of brain function and cognition.

By Paul Middlebrooks
4 November 2026 | 1 min read