🍆 Rejuvenescence

Evolution is a maze that rewards backtracking. All chordates—including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals—trace back to the larval stage of the humble sea cucumber: the sedentary adult vegetates on the sea floor, but the daring larva explored, adapted, and stumbled upon sexual reproduction early, avoiding the dead end of immobility. Humans are, in a sense, embryonic apes, deferring adulthood to allow our brains to keep growing.