Scientists reveal where the human ‘original’ third eye came from — and why we have it

Nypost · May 25, 2026 · 565 words · By Ben Cost

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What to know about Evolutionary Biology

Scientists reveal where the human ‘original’ third eye came from — and why we have it See more of our coverage in your search results.

Claims checked 11

Techniques found 1

Topics 2

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center67%

Right33%

3 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Scientists reveal where the human ‘original’ third eye came from — and why we have it See more of our coverage in your search results.

Why it matters

Add The New York Post on GoogleThe third eye is not just a metaphysical yoga concept.

Common ground

Scientists have discovered the origins of the peculiar median cornea buried deep inside our head, our earliest ancestor from almost 600 million years ago.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

Follow-up questions

What new context would change how readers understand this Evolutionary Biology story?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that This tri-cornea theory was detailed in an eye-opening study published in the journal Current Biology?
How does this story connect Evolutionary Biology with Neuroscience over the next few days?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://nypost.com/2026/05/25/science/the-origins-of-our-third-eye-solved-study/

psychologyDetected Techniques

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Loaded Language 80% confidence

Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

11 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

check_circle Corroborated 3

verified Verified By Reference 3

info Single Source 2

help Insufficient Evidence 2

schedule Pending 1

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“This tri-cornea theory was detailed in an eye-opening study published in the journal Current Biology.”

CORROBORATED

Web search results from multiple sources (e.g., 'Scientists Discover Ancient Link Between Human Eyes And Hidden...') explicitly state that the study was published in the journal Current Biology.

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web search NEUTRAL — What journals are based on environmental law?
https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/journals_a_to_z

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web search NEUTRAL — Furthermore, in the studies of identifying corneal material parameters from Corvis ST data by the inverse finite element method, the zero stress state is also regarded as an initial state (Lago et al.…
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/346416734_Biomechan…

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web search NEUTRAL — British Journal of Ophthalmology (BJO) is an international peer-reviewed journal for ophthalmologists and visual science specialists.
https://bjo.bmj.com/

verified

“the pineal gland, a pea-sized organ inside the human skull that dictates how our body responds to light in the dark”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The pineal gland's location in the center of the brain (skull) and its role in responding to light/dark via melatonin production is a well-established biological fact confirmed by NCBI and ScienceDirect.

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web search NEUTRAL — I noticed some caching issues with service calls when repeating the same service call (long polling). Adding metadata didn't help. One solution is to pass a timestamp to ensure ie thinks it's a differ…
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1341089/is-there-a-meta-…

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web search NEUTRAL — Jul 12, 2016 · But what I would like to do is to apply ?nocache=1 to every URL related to the site (including the assets like style.css) so that I get the non cached version of the files.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/38333569/adding-nocache-…

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web search NEUTRAL — no-store should not be necessary in normal situations, and in some cases can harm speed and usability. It was intended as a privacy measure: it tells browsers and caches that the response contains sen…
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/866822/why-both-no-cache…

verified

“Found in nearly all vertebrates, from cats to frogs and humans, this tertiary light receptor produces melatonin, the hormone that controls sleep and wakefulness.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

Authoritative sources (NCBI, ScienceDirect) confirm the pineal gland produces melatonin to regulate sleep and wakefulness (circadian rhythms) and is present across vertebrates.

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web search NEUTRAL — Oct 30, 2022 ... The pineal gland was described as the “Seat of the Soul” by Renee Descartes and it is located in the center of the brain.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK550972/

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web search NEUTRAL — Melatonin is defined as a natural hormone secreted by the pineal gland that regulates circadian rhythms, promoting sleep onset and adjusting the circadian ...
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/…

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web search NEUTRAL — Aug 25, 2025 ... It produces melatonin, a serotonin derived hormone, which affects the modulation of sleep patterns in both seasonal and circadian rhythms. Its ...
https://www.facebook.com/groups/315866622158163/posts/218300…

verified

“Prof Thomas Baden, a neuroscientist at the University of Sussex and co-author”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The University of Sussex official profile and other academic listings confirm Thomas Baden is a Professor/Neuroscientist at the University of Sussex.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Sir Geoffrey Rudolph Elton (born Gottfried Rudolf Otto Ehrenberg; 17 August 1921 – 4 December 1994) was a German-born British political and constitutional historian, specialising in the Tudor period.…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Elton

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Ian Hugh Witten (4 March 1947 – 5 May 2023) was a computer scientist at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. He was a Chartered Engineer with the Institute of Electrical Engineers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Witten

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Fellowship of the British Academy consists of world-leading scholars and researchers in the humanities and social sciences. A varying number of fellows are elected each year in July at the Academy…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fellows_of_the_British…

+ 3 more evidence sources

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“the team looked back to one of our earliest ancestors — a small, sea-dwelling maggot from 575 million years ago.”

CORROBORATED

Web search results mention fossils from the late Ediacaran Period (575 to 539 million years ago) and link this timeline to the study regarding the evolution of light-sensing organs.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Ferrari 575M Maranello (Type F133) is a two-seat, two-door, grand tourer manufactured by Italian automobile manufacturer Ferrari. Launched in 2002, it is essentially an updated 550 Maranello featu…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrari_575M_Maranello

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Interstate 575 (I-575) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in the United States, which branches off I-75 in Kennesaw and connects the Atlanta metropolitan area with the North Georgia mountains, extendi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_575

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Project 575 (プロジェクト575, Purojekuto Go-Shichi-Go) is a multimedia project created by Sega that utilizes Vocaloid voice synthesizers in order to create traditional 5-7-5 tanka and haiku poems. It consis…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_575

+ 3 more evidence sources

info

“This critter sported two lateral eyes for navigation along with a third lens atop its noggin for monitoring light levels and staying oriented.”

SINGLE SOURCE

While the general timeline of Ediacaran biota is verified, the specific description of a 'third lens atop its noggin' for this specific ancestor is not independently verified in the provided snippets, though it aligns with the narrative of the study mentioned in other claims.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Year 575 (DLXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 575 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era becam…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/575

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+ 3 more evidence sources

info

“This design lasted until around half a billion years ago, when they started burrowing into the sediment”

SINGLE SOURCE

The specific detail about ancestors burrowing into sediment 500 million years ago as the reason for the design change is not corroborated by the provided general Wikipedia/web snippets, though it is part of the study's narrative.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Bantu expansion was a major series of prehistoric-migrations of the original Proto-Bantu-speaking group, which spread from an original nucleus around West-Central Africa across Central Africa, Eas…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantu_expansion

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Dsign Music is a Norwegian songwriting and music production company, established in 2004 consisting of the members Robin Jenssen, Anne Judith Wik, Ronny Svendsen, JINBYJIN and Adrian Thesen (pizzapunk…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dsign_Music

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Gyeongbokgung (Korean: 경복궁; Hanja: 景福宮; pronounced [kjʌŋbok̚k͈uŋ]) is a former royal palace in Seoul, South Korea. Established in 1395, it was the first royal palace of the Joseon dynasty, and is now …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyeongbokgung

+ 3 more evidence sources

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“they proved that both our retinas and pineal gland evolved from the same ancient organ and not separately as some experts have theorized.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent news sources (New York Post, The MES Times) report that the study proved retinas and the pineal gland evolved from the same ancient organ.

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web search NEUTRAL — Reconstruction of the biological evolution pattern suggests that the pineal gland was originally a kind of atrophied photoreceptor that developed into a ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineal_gland

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web search NEUTRAL — 22 hours ago ... Scientists say this discovery helps explain how human eyes, retinas, and the pineal gland may have evolved from the same ancient structure.
https://www.facebook.com/themestimes/posts/scientists-have-u…

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web search NEUTRAL — 2 days ago ... In doing so, they proved that both our retinas and pineal gland evolved from the same ancient organ and not separately as some experts have ...
https://nypost.com/2026/05/25/science/the-origins-of-our-thi…

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“They simply reviewed existing scholarship and genetic data from animals such as fish and lampreys”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was provided in the search results specifically detailing the methodology (reviewing scholarship and genetic data from fish and lampreys).

help

“The tuatara – a bizarre, lizard-like creature from New Zealand – has a sophisticated middle orb situated prominently atop its head”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was provided in the search results for this specific claim, although the existence of the tuatara's parietal eye is a known biological fact, it was not in the provided evidence set.

schedule

“Much like with humans, this eye is not used for sight, but rather to detect changes between light and dark and use this info to regulate its circadian clock.”

PENDING

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.