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Textbook Rewrite: The Human Brain Has Two Distinct Origins, Scientists Discover : ScienceAlert (opens in a new tab)

sciencealert.com · 2026-09-18

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and 11 more considered

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Claim 1 of 6Not checkedA Stanford-led research team says the brains of humans and other animals are made up of two collaborating neural systems that start developing in parallel in an embryo's earliest moments.View evidenceHide evidence

As statedtwo collaborating neural systems

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Claim 2 of 6Not checkedThe study suggests that different brain regions arise from separate kinds of embryonic progenitor cells, with one lineage leading to forebrain and midbrain development and another to hindbrain development.View evidenceHide evidence

As statedtwo separate kinds of embryonic cells

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Claim 3 of 6Not checkedThe scientists initially identified the split by analyzing very early mouse brain development during gastrulation, then confirmed that human pluripotent stem cells follow the same paths depending on the signals they receive.View evidenceHide evidence

As statedvery early embryonic stage known as gastrulation

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Claim 4 of 6Not checkedIn a scientific first, the team says it successfully encouraged human stem cells to develop into hindbrain motor neurons with electrical activity and characteristic proteins.View evidenceHide evidence

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Claim 5 of 6Not checkedThe article frames the work as potentially accelerating research on diseases affecting the brainstem and raising questions about the evolutionary history of animal brains.View evidenceHide evidence

As statedhundreds of millions of years

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Claim 6 of 6Not checkedThe article says the researchers observed the two progenitor cell types in gastrulation-stage embryos of modern mouse, macaque, chicken, zebrafish, and acorn worm, and uses that to argue the two-part blueprint has been conserved for roughly 550 million years.View evidenceHide evidence

As statedaround 550 million years ago

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