Where Did The Brain Come From?

[Riddick]

Within a 600-million-year-old sea sponge, a gene set lay the framework for a future that could not have been anything more than an abstract space, an intangible dream, as elusive as the space of consciousness.

Why did this porous blob of cells contain neural genes? What was nature up to? The early evolution of animals is full of puzzles, and the origin of the nervous system lies at the core of the maze. FULL STORY