When I studied neuroanatomy in the early 2000s it was already taught that the evolutionary history of the forebrain (from comparative anatomy) seems to have invaded the hindbrain and seems to control it like a puppet. It's nice to see this sort of confirmation but it doesn't strike me as an earth-shaking discovery except that it might give some insights for differential drug targeting.
This is one of the problems with modern academics, every paper has to be framed as some revolutionary idea or insight. We should celebrate “boring” research that serves nothing other than curiosity.
Academics themselves rarely frame their research in sensational terms. This happens in press releases and media coverage, which they have little control over. You can see this by comparing the title of the press release to the quotes by the actual researchers:
"We’ve shown for the first time that the front of the brain arises from a totally different progenitor cell than the back of the brain."
"I was surprised at our findings because the word ‘brain’ implies a contiguous organ that likely has a singular origin," Jokhai said. "But even 500 million years ago, there were these separate neural systems, which now almost operate as one, which is very cool."
I don't hear much overselling or hype in this, I hear an accurate description of the research and a bit of nerding out over it.
It's the same problem as when a journalist or nonfiction author writes a thoughtful, nuanced piece of work, and some editor slaps a catchy title and subtitle on.
~ tHe gOd pArTiClE ~