Molecular techniques are currently the leading tools for reconstructing phylogenetic
relationships, but our understanding of ancestral, plesiomorphic and apomorphic characters …

Two hypotheses for the early radiation of the metazoans are vividly discussed in recent
phylogenomic studies, the 'Porifera-first'hypothesis, which places the poriferans as the sister …

Ctenophores are gelatinous marine animals famous for locomotion by ciliary combs. Due to
the uncertainties of the phylogenetic placement of ctenophores and the absence of some …

It has been hypothesized that a condensed nervous system with a medial ventral nerve cord
is an ancestral character of Bilateria. The presence of similar dorsoventral molecular …

Scientific and philosophical accounts of cognition and perception have traditionally focused
on the brain and external sense organs. The extended view of embodied cognition suggests …

The need to protect neural tissue from toxins or other substances is as old as neural tissue
itself. Early recognition of this need has led to more than a century of investigation of the …

Sensory cells that detect mechanical forces usually have one or more specialized cilia.
These mechanosensory cells underlie hearing, proprioception or gravity sensation. To date …

Arthropods are very diverse, come in many different forms with diverse adaptations, and
through such diversity have populated all environmental niches on the planet. Almost 80 …

The mushroom body (MB) is a well-characterized associative memory structure within the
Drosophila brain. Analyzing MB connectivity using multiple approaches is critical for …

Affective states, such as emotions, are presumably widespread across the animal kingdom
because of the adaptive advantages they are supposed to confer. However, the study of the …