Your brain is actually two organs, new study finds and it could change how we treat deadly diseases

Next time you have a good, hard think, just know you’re racking your brains.Yes, you read that right — it’s plural.Scientists at Stanford University have discovered that the human brain isn’t one, but two organs.And the revelation could be huge for researching treatment for serious diseases including ALS.The study, published today in the journal “Nature,” showed that the brain is essentially made up of two distinct nervous systems that develop separately.First, there’s a more primitive part called the hindbrain.

There’s also the forebrain and midbrain, which handle higher-level thinking and make us distinctly human, from writing poetry and doing math to wondering about our own origins.This discovery helped the researchers to grow a crucial type of brain cell in the lab for the first time.The breakthrough could help close a gap that has hampered research into spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease or ALS) and other devastating diseases affecting the brain stem, potentially opening new avenues for understanding what goes wrong in these conditions.

“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,” said Kyle Loh, senior author and associate professor of developmental biology.“Our discovery means that we can now grow neurons from the back of the brain, the hindbrain, in a Petri dish and study their functions.”The adult brain is composed of three main regions.

The forebrain controls higher-level thinking like language, consciousness and abstract reasoning, while the midbrain manages functions including vision and hearing, movement control, arousal and pain.At the back of the skull, the hindbrain — often called the brain stem — handles vital, life-sustaining functions, including regulating breathing, heartbeat, swallowing and digestion, and basic movement coordination.In both SMA and ALS, specif...