Asymmetry of Body and Brain

Advances in computational analysis, imaging, and genetics along with increasingly sophisticated research paradigms have brought about an across-the-life-span, if not also an evolutionary, perspective in body and brain laterality research. In addition, a simple or naive structural localizationist approach to asymmetry in brain and body has given way to a developmental and physiological perspective. Evidence shows that asymmetries of body and brain are established early and share basic molecular pathways that are evolutionarily well conserved. That said, some genes show altered (asymmetric) expression levels in human brains and endow the brain unlike the viscera with lifelong adaptability.