Life SciencesBiologyEvolutionary BiologyDevelopmental NeuroscienceNeurophysiologyBrain EvolutionCentral Nervous SystemNervous System AnatomyNervous System DevelopmentNeural DevelopmentNeuroethologyCentral Nervous System DevelopmentComparative Neural DevelopmentEmbryonic Nervous System DevelopmentEvolutionary NeurobiologyEvolutionary OriginsHistory Of Evolutionary ThoughtNervous System EvolutionNeural Developmental Patterns
What did the first neurons and nervous systems look like, and what advantages did they confer on the animals that possessed them? In the seventh essay in Science 's series in honor of the Year of Darwin, Greg Miller discusses some tantalizing clues that scientists have recently gained about the evolutionary origins of nervous systems.