alt Hacker News> The new research finding shows that the human brain consists of two ancient nervous systems cleverly packaged together — a more primitive part that regulates our hearts’ beating, our breathing and other functions, and another that makes us distinctly human, capable of poetry, mathematics and wondering about our own origins.
I'm not sure the actual article in Nature Neuroscience [1] actually says that. I remember "Your Brain Is Not an Onion With a Tiny Reptile Inside" [2] from a few years ago, but I'm not sure where the dissonance comes from: my own misunderstanding, the press release using a popular but flawed model to communicate with laymen, or these two articles being in direct contradiction with each other?
[1]: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-026-02433-7 [2]: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0963721420917687
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"Your Brain Is Not an Onion With a Tiny Reptile Inside" is a really stupid and pretentious article arguing against a straw man.
[2] is an annoying pedantic article that illustrates little beyond a misconception of a misconception.
Interesting, but for me at least, this new research did not seem to promote the dispelled hypothesis about the reptile brain. Because the reptile brain hypothesis says a primitive reptile-brain evolved first (lower brain), then a separate part of the brain (upper brain) evolved later that was responsible for complex thought.
Actually, the upper and lower brains evolved together and most animals have both, including reptiles.
Didn't read it thoroughly, but your [2] reference seems to be saying this too.