Ancient brains: a look inside the extraordinary preservation of a 310-million-year-old nervous system

By John Paterson, Professor of Earth Sciences, University of New England
Greg Edgecombe, Merit Researcher, Natural History Museum
Javier Ortega-Hernández, Assistant Professor, Harvard Kennedy School
Robert Gaines, Professor of Geology, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College, Pomona College
Russell Dean Christopher Bicknell, Post-doctoral researcher in Palaeobiology, University of New England

Charles Darwin famously discussed the “imperfections” of the geological record in his book On The Origin of Species. He correctly pointed out that unless conditions are just right, it’s unlikely for organisms to be preserved as fossils, even those with bones and shells.

He also said “no organism wholly soft can be preserved”.

Read more: Guide to the classics: Darwin's On the Origin of Species

However,…

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