Spanning The Globe October 2026
It’s time to go spanning the globe for anatomy news and notes!
Of Two Minds
In a word, whoa.
According to this article in Science Daily, scientists have found that the human brain may be two distinct organs. “The human brain may actually be two ancient nervous systems fused into one, “a discovery that could transform how scientists study brain development and devastating neurological diseases.”
This research, led by Stanford Medicine, is absolutely fascinating. Their work took them back through 550 million years of evolutionary biology to find the same kind of dual development in chickens, seafloor-dwelling acorn worms, and jellyfish.
Scientists have long struggled to create human “hindbrain” neurons in the laboratory. Hindbrain neurons direct muscles in the face, tongue, and throat. The inability to create human hindbrain neuros in the lab makes it harder to study diseases involving the brain stem. Those diseases include amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and spinal muscular atrophy.
“Scientists have found that the human brain develops from two distinct cellular systems, suggesting that evolution fused together two ancient nervous systems with very different jobs,” the article states. “One gives rise to structures responsible for essential functions such as breathing and controlling the heartbeat. The other produces regions associated with abilities such as language, mathematics, abstract thought, and reflection on our own existence.”
Jurassic Soundscape
What did it sound like in the Jurassic forests, 200 million to 145 million years ago?
Now that’s a question that never occurred to us, but researchers analyzed “exquisitely preserved” insect fossil wings representing nine species and then constructed an ensemble of animals that shared the Jurassic environment, according to this article on Science.org.
The scientists used experiments on living insects, computer simulations, and machine learning to recreate what they say is a “partial Middle Jurassic soundscape,” stated the article. In fact, some of the sounds produced by the project were used in Netflix’s new Steven Spielberg-produced series The Dinosaurs.
How does a cricket or katydid make sound? “A serrated vein, or ‘file,’ on one of the forewings of these insects is lined with tiny, toothlike projections. As a scraper on the opposite wing runs across them, parts of the wing vibrate and produce sound. The length and spacing of those projections, along with the size of the vibrating wing area, provide clues to the pitch and structure of the resulting call,” the article stated.
The bottom line? The audible calls would have sounded “like clear, high-pitched whistles or electronic beeps, repeated in ‘cricketlike’ chirps, rather than the raspy buzzes or hisses produced by some insects today.”
And why is it important? Because insects, evolutionary biologists believe, were involved in “an ancient acoustic arms race” as they tried to communicate and also not reveal their location to the mammals who might eat them (and this was all happening long before bats appeared on the scene, about 100 million years ago).
The one missing piece of information about the sound is the rhythm and pattern of their songs. That’s something that the fossil record simply can’t reveal.
Dinosaur Tracks
As we hope you know, the Anatomy in Clay® Learning System headquarters is located in Loveland, Colorado. As a result, certain stories about dinosaurs jump out at us, like this one in The Denver Post suggesting a road trip to dinosaur fossil sites in Golden, Morrison, Woodland Park, La Junta, Fruita, Ouray, Edwards and, of course, Dinosaur National Monument.
Oh, and Wyoming, too! “If you’re craving the chance to dig up and keep some fossils for yourself, head to Kemmerer, Wyo., where fossilized fish are preserved in slabs of stone you can chisel apart,” the article recommends. “There are a couple of private operations there to guide you, including Fossil Lake Safari. And while fish are not dinosaurs, nothing quite beats the feeling of cracking open rock and seeing an ancient plant or animal revealed for the first time in human history.”
It never hurts to remind ourselves that what we see today in the world around us in a constant state of change.
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