The Ancestral Brain

From the ABC (the US one this time) :

All brains originated from a single common ancestral brain that emerged at least 700 million years ago, according to a recent analysis of brain studies.

The finding suggests this mother brain for all creatures with a central nervous system - such as insects, birds, animals and humans - evolved only once before each species underwent its own evolutionary course.

"What we see today in humans, insects and all other multicellular animals with a central nervous system are probably just variations of one ancient scheme," says Dr Rudi Loesel, who conducted the analysis published in the journal Arthropod Structure & Development.

I'm sure everyone reading this has a recent subscription, but I'll continue anyway.

The researchers don't know what the creature that contained the mother of all brains looked like.

Some scientists speculate it could have been a segmented flatworm, while others think it was a more complex creature.

Due to all the candidates being soft-tissue creatures with little or no fossil remains, the inventor of the brain will remain unknown, and a matter for speculation.

If you think that the development of the brain leaves a lot to be desired - and looking at Michael Moore, who can argue against that - bear in mind that Sex was invented at least 500 million years ago, and as I've recently found out, there are still a few bugs in the system there too.