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CT Scan Uncovers Secrets of Triassic Cynodonts: A Deep Dive into Decades-Old Mysteries

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Initially recognized from a single skull unearthed in South Africa in 1952, Cystechinodon parvus has experienced considerable debate regarding its place in the evolutionary tree. Previously classified variously as a close relative of advanced cynodonts, a juvenile of another species, or even as a creature outside of this group, recent research employing computed tomography (CT) scans has reconstructed the fossil digitally. This compelling study reveals that this Triassic species is, in fact, a distinctive and more primitive cynodont than previously assumed.

Reconstruction of Cystechinodon parvus. Image credit: Morgan Hopp.

“Cynodontia Dr. Erin Rand and her colleagues from the University of the Witwatersrand highlight that it is one of six primary subclades of therapsids that emerged during the Late Permian, significantly contributing to the diverse tetrapod fauna of the Triassic period.

This group encompasses mammals, including both non-mammalian cynodonts and true mammals, playing a pivotal role in understanding the origins of mammals.”

“The major Triassic diversification of cynodonts is represented by eucynodonts, which are divided into two monophyletic subclades: Cynognathia and Probainognathia.”

The recent study revisited human skull analysis of Cystechinodon parvus, a type of cynodont inhabiting the middle Triassic period, approximately 247 to 237 million years ago.

This specimen measures just 5.72 cm in length and was discovered in 1952 at Louisperdokop, situated west of Maletswai in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.

Through advanced CT imaging, researchers examined the fossil, uncovering detailed features of the skull, jaw, and internal anatomy.

The analysis places Cystechinodon parvus among basal, non-eucynodont cynodonts, diverging from more advanced eucynodont groups.

This fossil displays a unique combination of anatomical traits: a significantly enlarged vestibule in the inner ear, a small and narrow parietal foramen, a relatively simple maxillary canal, and the absence of a carotid foramen.

These characteristics support the classification of Cystechinodon parvus as a separate genus and species, indicating that it likely led an underground lifestyle.

Specifically, the enhanced vestibule of the inner ear suggests heightened sensitivity to low-frequency sounds, a feature commonly associated with modern burrowing animals.

Consequently, researchers concluded that Cystechinodon parvus was likely an obligate burrowing species.

“After a century of debate regarding the classification of Cystechinodon parvus, our findings provide significant support for its recognition as a true clade of non-mammalian cynodonts,” the researchers stated.

“The evidence from our study firmly establishes Cystechinodon parvus as a valid taxon of basal non-eucynodont Cynodontia (specifically, the non-eucynodont epicynodonts).”

“Although the specimen represents a developmental range from subadult to adult, its classification is substantiated by a midline-opening secondary palate.”

“Ultimately, its unique inner ear and endocast anatomy further confirm that Cystechinodon parvus was a distinct fossil animal.”

“Cystechinodon parvus has been reconstructed as the basal lineage of southern African cynodonts that survived the end-Permian mass extinction and continued as a relict fauna into the early Middle Triassic,” the researchers concluded.

For more detailed insights, refer to their published paper in the Anatomical Records this month.

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Erin S. Rand and colleagues, Re-description of Triassic cynodonts Cystechinodon parvus and reassessment of its phylogeny. Anatomical Records, published online on March 19, 2026. doi: 10.1002/ar.70179

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Source: www.sci.news

Brain Scan Shows How Neural Network Boosts Creativity

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Practicing mindfulness improves creative thinking

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It's easy to name people who have evolved human thinking, from Jane Austen to Albert Einstein, Zaha Hadid to Ai Weiwei, but why are these people so much more creative than others? It's much more difficult to explain what kind of thinking you do. Are their brains just built that way, or can anyone learn it? The mystery of creativity has long puzzled scientists. Now, researchers are finally making some progress towards closing the curtain. Even better, their insights can help us all exercise a little more original thinking.

Some of them are exciting insights This stems from the “dual process theory” of creativity, which distinguishes between idea generation and idea evaluation. Idea generation involves digging deep into existing knowledge for seeds of inspiration. Perhaps it is done by drawing analogies from completely different areas. Free association is key at this stage, as one thought leads to another, more original insight. The second phase, idea evaluation, requires you to apply a more critical eye to select the ideas that best fit your goals. Novelists must decide whether strange, supernatural plot twists will excite readers or turn them off. Engineers must consider whether a fish-inspired airplane would be practical and efficient. Large projects require these two stages to be repeated many times during the long and winding journey from concept to completion.

Brain scans of people engaged in creative problem solving suggest that idea generation and evaluation relies on…

Source: www.newscientist.com

AI can accurately determine a person’s gender from a brain scan 90% of the time

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Comparisons are difficult because men’s brains tend to be larger than women’s.

Sergiy Tryapitsyn / Alamy

Are male and female brains that different? A new way to investigate this question has led us to the conclusion that they exist, but we need artificial intelligence (AI) to tell them apart.

The question of whether we can measure differences between male and female brains has long been debated, and previous studies have yielded conflicting results.

One problem is that men’s brains tend to be slightly larger than women’s. This is likely due to the fact that men are generally larger, and some previous studies have compared the size of various small areas of the brain. Unable to adjust whole brain volume. However, no clear findings have been made so far. “When you correct for brain size, the results change quite a bit,” he says. Vinod Menon at Stanford University in California.

To tackle this problem in a different way, Menon’s team used a relatively new method called dynamic functional connectivity fMRI. This involves recording the brain activity of people lying in a functional MRI scanner and tracking changes in how activity in different areas changes in sync with each other.

The researchers designed an AI to analyze these brain scans and trained it on the results of about 1,000 young people from an existing database in the United States called the Human Connectome Project, identifying which individuals are male and which individuals. told the AI whether the person was female. In this analysis, the brain was divided into 246 different regions.

After this training process, the AI was able to differentiate between a second set of brain scan data from the same 1000 men and women with approximately 90% accuracy.

More importantly, the AI was equally effective at differentiating male and female brain scans from two different, never-before-seen brain scan datasets. Both consisted of about 200 people of similar age, ranging in age from 20 to 35, from the United States and Germany.

“What we bring to the table is a more rigorous study with replication and generalization to other samples,” Menon says. None of the people in the training or testing data were transgender.

“Replication with a completely independent sample from the Human Connectome Project gives us even more confidence in our results,” he says. Camille Williams At the University of Texas at Austin.

The next question is whether the AI will be just as accurate when tested on an additional, larger set of brain scan results. “Time will tell what results we get with other datasets,” he says Menon.

If confirmed, the findings could help us understand why some medical conditions and forms of neurodiversity, such as depression, anxiety, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, differ by gender. No, says Menon.

“If we don’t develop these gender-specific models, we will miss important aspects of differentiating factors.” [for example]”An autistic man and a control man, and an autistic woman and a control woman,” Menon said.

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Source: www.newscientist.com