Tootfinder

#permaculture #retrosuburbia #fromthegarden #2fruits5veg Midummer breakfast - hom…

A body made entirely of head-like organs
Using state-of-the-art single-cell and gene expression analyses, the researchers mapped the cell types of young post-metamorphic sea urchins.
They found that the adult body plan is largely "head-like."
Genes that in other animals define trunk structures are active only in internal organs such as the gut and the water vascular system.
In sea urchins, a true trunk region is missing altogether.
An 'all-body brain&…

Researchers discover an 'all-body brain' in sea urchins
An international team of researchers, including scientists from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, has uncovered a surprisingly complex nervous system in sea urchins. The animals appear to possess an "all-body brain" whose genetic organization resembles that of the vertebrate brain. The team also identified light-sensitive cells distributed across the entire body—comparable to structures found in the human retina.