The puzzle of how complex nervous systems emerged remains unsolved. Comparative
studies of neurodevelopment in cnidarians and bilaterians suggest that this process began …

Homology is an essential idea of biology, referring to the historical continuity of characters,
but it is also conceptually highly elusive. The main difficulty is the apparently loose …

Dissociated primary sensory neurons are commonly used to study growth factor–dependent
cell survival, axon outgrowth, differentiation and basic mechanisms of sensory physiology …

Cranial placodes are specialized regions of the ectoderm, which give rise to various sensory
ganglia and contribute to the pituitary gland and sensory organs of the vertebrate head …

The sequencing of the Strongylocentrotus purpuratus genome provides a unique
opportunity to investigate the function and evolution of neural genes. The neurobiology of …

The neural crest and craniofacial placodes are two distinct progenitor populations that arise
at the border of the vertebrate neural plate. This border region develops through a series of …

Cranial placodes (which include the adenohypophyseal, olfactory, lens, otic, lateral line,
profundal/trigeminal, and epibranchial placodes) give rise to many sense organs and …

Gonadotrophin‐releasing hormone‐1 (GnRH‐1) is essential for mammalian reproduction,
controlling release of gonadotrophins from the anterior pituitary. GnRH‐1 neurones migrate …

Specialized sensory organs in the vertebrate head originate from thickenings in the
embryonic ectoderm called cranial sensory placodes. These placodes, as well as the neural …

Vertebrates evolved in the Cambrian Period before 520 million years ago, but we do not
know when or how consciousness arose in the history of the vertebrate brain. Here we …