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Also brontosaurus is a separate species again, microraptos were black and anurognathus is extremely cute
TIL a second hip brain was once a theory.
If be interested to know where and when that was considered a fact, because I'm 45 and never heard that before.
I'm 40 and remember being told that the Brontosaurus had multiple smaller brains down it's spine so that it could react to stimuli without having to wait for the signal to get all the way to its head and back.
I also rember hearing at some point more recently that the Brontosaurus probably didn't exist. 🤷
tbf that's sorta true, they didn't have "mini-brains" but stuff like severe pain signals get processed in the spine, since every millisecond matters when you're absentmindedly stepping onto smouldering coal. That's why reflexes are reflexive, the brain isn't even involved at all.
It does make you wonder how many things we've all been carrying around in our heads since childhood, that were just passed down through generations without any amount of checking.
Chances are she was taught it when she was at school, by somebody else who was taught it when they were at school. Before the internet it was kind of hard to look shit like that up, and encyclopaedias might not have covered it either. UNless you spent your life delving into a specific area, the edges of knowledge were (and still are) kind of fuzzy.
“Going out with wet hair gives you a cold” No, viruses from shit indoor air quality and smoke from indoor fires inflaming your mucous membranes gives you a cold.
TIL people used to think that dinosaurs had a 2nd brain
I'm 54 and had a life-changing hippy teacher teach us elementary science. I believed this.
Blow your mind? In the 80s, not every geologist was onboard with plate tectonics.
When I was a kid I didn't read about a "2nd brain" but a series of ganglions that acted like relays down the spine. Supposedly the belief was the size of dinosaurs made it impossible for nerve signals to reach the brain from distant parts of the body in a timely manner so they had these relays that made it easier to have reflex responses while the signal was being passed on to the brain.
The idea stemmed from misinterpretations of large cavities found in the hip region of some dinosaurs, like Stegosaurus. This cavity, which appeared somewhat brain-shaped, was likely a glycogen body, a structure similar to one found in modern birds, and its purpose in dinosaurs is not fully understood but may relate to energy storage or balance.
i mean, that is true in so much as all animals have them, that's precisely why reflexes happen before we even realize it
i'd imagine even the tiniest field mice work like this, because it's something the first animals evolved and it's highly useful regardless of how long it takes signals to reach the brain.
This was more than just simple reflexes though, like minibrains.
I've never heard of the "second brain" thing
That doesn't make any sense
There’s some precedent for it in octopi. They have “distributed” intelligence, where each arm has a dedicated nerve cluster “brain” that controls it.
It was a thing when I was a kid. The older you get the more of your basic education gets proved wrong.
Public school is great
When I was a kid they told me that different parts of the tongue have different taste buds
A surprising amount of teachers work like LLMs. No idea what they are talking about but extremely scared of admitting it.
I remember being told in school that Brontosaurus had a second brain because they were so big it would take to long for the impulses from their head to go to their tail.
Giraffes elephants and whales might have something to say there but frankly we've thought weirder stuff.
Or whales. They are even bigger with no secondary brain in sight.
Glycogen is an energy storage molecule that is more easily accessible (easier to convert into glucose, what your cells actually burn) by the body than fat is. I would assume this organ was a dedicated store for it.
Edit: ah that’s what I get for commenting before reading the damn article. Scientists haven’t confirmed that it’s definitely an energy storage organ, but it’s one of the leading theories.
technically humans have a "second brain".
your heart contains neurological tissue and a memory. does this mean your heart can have thoughts or a mind of itself? no.
neurological tissue doesn't mean a whole brain function exists, but how else can you explain such a complex idea to a child?
your gut is also very complex (the vagus nerve in particular) and the microbes inside your digestive system can influence what food you want to eat.
yeah mine is a little too close to the surface and literally has a mind of its own. i let it take the driver's seat once and it was not the best experience.
Yes!
Some other organs too, to a lesser extend.
And then the whole trillions of bacteria intellectual powerhouse (I'm mostly joking, but not absolutely completely joking).
The whole peripheral nervous system makes decisions without adult supervision from the brain all the time. I'd consider that to be a sort of distributed second brain in a way
... was this just someone taking the "smart-ass" joke a bit too far?
/s
My Dad would say I have a brain in my ass because my head was always up there.