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Scientists capture 3-D image of oldest fossil brain

Scientists have revealed the 300 million year old brain of an extinct relative of today's sharks, the first time that soft tissue from such an ancient fossil has ever been seen.

French and US scientists obtained three-dimensional pictures of the mineralised brain using computerised axial tomography, (known as a CAT scan), and carried out micro-imaging using an atomic particle accelerator called a synchrotron.

The brain was found in the skull of a fish called an Iniopterygian, an relative of todays sharks. Iniopterygians were once commonplace in the world's oceans, living in shallow and muddy marine waters. They measured 50 centimetres at their largest.

The sample that was scanned was unearthed from shale in Kansas USA, and was special as its skull had not been squashed, it is important because soft tissue in fossils is very rarely preserved. Fossils are usually flattened because of the weight of layers of soil and rock that accumulate on the dead animal over millions of years.

The  brain, measuring 1.5 millimetres by seven millimetres, offers intriguing insights into the evolution of fishes

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