Stanford Medicine researchers discovered that the human brain is actually built from two distinct developmental lineages: a hindbrain system controlling breathing and heartbeat, and a forebrain/midbrain system responsible for higher cognition. The team found these two regions arise from separate progenitor pathways rather than one branching from the other, and used this insight to finally grow functional hindbrain motor neurons from human stem cells in the lab. They also traced this dual-origin pattern back over 550 million years, finding it in chickens, zebrafish, and acorn worms.
science.slashdot.org
· 2026-09-20
Researchers led by Kyle Loh at Stanford Medicine discovered that the forebrain and hindbrain arise from distinct progenitor cells rather than a single common origin, contradicting decades of neuroscience theory. The forebrain governs higher cognition like language and abstract thought, while the hindbrain controls vital functions such as heartbeat and breathing. The study, published in Nature Neuroscience, was co-led by graduate students Carolyn Dundes and Rayyan Jokhai.
med.stanford.edu
· 2026-09-19
Researchers led by Kyle Loh at Stanford University found that in mouse and human embryos, the front and back regions of the brain arise from distinct progenitor cells rather than a shared developmental origin. Cells expressing the OTX2 gene generate the forebrain and midbrain, while GBX2-expressing cells produce the hindbrain, a pattern confirmed in both mouse embryos and human cells grown in dishes.
newscientist.com
· 2026-09-18
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