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EXCERPT:
Humans share a surprisingly strange ancestor with all other vertebrates. New research suggests that far back in evolutionary history, one of our earliest relatives had a single eye, much like a tiny cyclops, positioned on top of its head.
Scientists from Lund University and the University of Sussex report that all vertebrates can be traced back to this ancient, one-eyed organism. According to their findings, the remains of that original “median eye” still exist today, but in a very different form. It has become the pineal gland, a small structure deep in the brain.
“The results are a surprise. They turn our understanding of the evolution of the eye and the brain upside down,” says Dan-E Nilsson, professor emeritus in sensory biology at Lund University.