The sea lamprey, a 500-million-year-old animal with a sharp-toothed suction cup for a mouth, is the thing of nightmares. A new study discovered that the hindbrain — the part of the brain controlling vital functions like blood pressure and heart rate — of both sea lampreys and humans is built using an extraordinarily similar molecular and genetic toolkit.
The sea lamprey, a 500-million-year-old animal with a sharp-toothed suction cup for a mouth, is the thing of nightmares. A new study discovered that the hindbrain — the part of the brain controlling vital functions like blood pressure and heart rate — of both sea lampreys and humans is built using an extraordinarily similar molecular and genetic toolkit. The sea lamprey, a 500-million-year-old animal with a sharp-toothed suction cup for a mouth, is the thing of nightmares. A new study discovered that the hindbrain — the part of the brain controlling vital functions like blood pressure and heart rate — of both sea lampreys and humans is built using an extraordinarily similar molecular and genetic toolkit.