Scientists trace vertebrate vision to 600-million-year-old median eye in ancient ancestor
Updated
Updated · ScienceDaily · Apr 27
Scientists trace vertebrate vision to 600-million-year-old median eye in ancient ancestor
6 articles · Updated · ScienceDaily · Apr 27
Researchers from Lund University and the University of Sussex found that the pineal gland in humans evolved from this ancient median eye.
Their study reveals that vertebrate eyes were rebuilt from a single central eye after earlier paired eyes were lost, explaining why vertebrate eyes differ from those of insects and squid.
This evolutionary detour clarifies the origin of neural circuits in the retina and shows how the pineal gland, now regulating sleep, is a living remnant of this primordial structure.
Did a 600-million-year-old worm's eye determine why humans are not nocturnal?
Our pineal gland is a fossil eye. Can it still 'see' light?
If our eyes evolved from a single 'cyclops' eye, what did we lose in the process?
Is the 'third eye' of ancient myth a memory of our evolutionary past?
Could manipulating our brain's 'inner eye' be the key to fixing modern sleep problems?