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Did you know that the lowly sponge is that looks like an underwater plant is actually an animal? Yes, odd as it is, the sponge is a primitive animal which lacks many of the things that we expect from well, animals. Primitive as they are though, scientists recently discovered that the nerves found in modern animals can be traced back to sponges.

“We are pretty confident it was after the sponges split from trunk of the tree of life and sponges went one way and animals developed from the other, that nerves started to form,” said Bernie Degnan of the University of Queensland. “What we found in sponges though were the building blocks for nerves, something we never expected to find.”

Nerves are an essential part of human and animal bodies as they deliver signals to and from the brain. Without nerves, we won’t be able to do a thing as the instructions from the brain can’t be sent to the other parts of the body. Nerves are also important in sending feedback from our senses to the brain so the brain can process the information and do whatever needs to be done.

When researchers found these building blocks for nerves or proto-neurons in sponges, they were totally surprised. Even more surprising though is that these proto-neurons developed into functional neurons when they were extracted and implanted into frogs and flies.

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