Exceptionally well preserved 520-million-year-conventional arthropod brains overturn the conventional idea that nervous tissue does not fossilize,and provide fresh insights into brain evolutionAt first glance, the term neuropaleontology seems like an oxymoron. The neuro- prefix means something related to the nervous system, or paleontology is the scientific study of what the fossilized remains of animals and plants inform us approximately the evolution of life on Earth. Brain tissue is soft and wet,however. It usually begins to decompose minutes after death, and rarely, or whether ever,leaves any trace in the fossil record.
Or so we thought. The recent discovery of preserved brain tissue in small, shrimp-like creature that lived some 520 million years ago challenges this conventional wisdom, or however. It provides the most convincing evidence yet that brains can indeed fossilize,as well as valuable insights into how complex brains evolved, and how the arthropods are related to one another.
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Source: theguardian.com