A team of biologists has found an unexpected source for the brain's development, a finding that offers new insights into the building of the nervous system. The research, which appears in the journal Science, discovered that glia, a collection of non-neuronal cells that had long been regarded as passive support cells, in fact are vital to nerve-cell development in the brain. "The results lead us to revise the often neuro-centric view of brain development to now appreciate the contributions for non-neuronal cells such as glia," explains Vilaiwan Fernandes, a postdoctoral fellow in New York University's Department of Biology and the study's lead author. "Indeed, our study found that fundamental