eclecticirony: Top Image Middle Image Bottom Image Evolution of the Metazoan Brain in the Early Cambrian In the 7 May 2015 issue of Current Biology, Javier Ortega-Hernández reports more research progress on the paleoneurology and developmental biology of early metazoan brains during the period of the Cambrian Explosion Specifically, preserved neurological remains associated with the stalked eyes and anterior sclerites in the middle Cambrian Burgess Shale euarthropods Helmetia expansa and Odaraia alata provide evidence that these morphologies are associated with nerve traces originating from the anterior brain region, the protocerebrum.  These fossils show a transition from early soft bodied animals, such as the Maotianshan Shales Lobopodian (a worm with legs) Cardiodictyon catenulum shown in middle picture, to the more advanced arthropods with segmentation, mineralized exoskeleton, and cephalic (i.e., head) appendages, such as the Burgess Shale Odaraia alata arthropod (lower picture). Read more at Current Biology.