The human brain is usually thought of as one extraordinary organ, a single command centre responsible for everything from breathing and heartbeat to language, memory and imagination. But scientists have now found that it may not have such a simple beginning.
A new study suggests that the brain starts developing from two different groups of early cells, each following its own path before eventually becoming parts of the same organ. One group goes on to form the front and middle portions of the brain, while the other produces the hindbrain, the region involved in some of the body's most basic survival functions.
