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ANATOMY [ DIFFERENT PARTS, DIFFERENT RESPONSIBILITIES ( THE AMAZING BRAIN ) ]

ANATOMY [ DIFFERENT PARTS, DIFFERENT RESPONSIBILITIES ( THE AMAZING BRAIN ) ] THE FIRST STEP to a better understanding of the brain is getting acquainted with its parts. From the protective structures on the outside to the hardworking parts on the inside – knowing where each structure is and how it interacts with the world…

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NERVE CELLS – LIFE SPAN [ THE AMAZING BRAIN ]

NERVE CELLS – LIFE SPAN [ THE AMAZING BRAIN ] Amazingly, the cells that perform the complicated ballet of electrochemical transmission can live more than a hundred years, but they do not get replaced like most other body cells. Except for the hippocampus and the olfactory bulb, where new neurons have been shown to grow…

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NEURON COMMUNICATIONS/NEURON TRANSMITTERS [ NERVE CELLS ( THE AMAZING BRAIN ) ]

NEURON COMMUNICATIONS/NEURON TRANSMITTERS [ NERVE CELLS ( THE AMAZING BRAIN ) ] NEURON COMMUNICATIONS Tim Berners-Lee, a creator of the World Wide Web, likens the brain’s complexity to the nearly infinite capacity for Web sites to connect to each other. “A piece of information is really defined only by what it’s related to,” he said….

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NEURONS AT WORK [ CONNECTIONS / ACTION / GROWTH & SUPPORT / PLASTICITY ]

NEURONS AT WORK [ CONNECTIONS / ACTION / GROWTH & SUPPORT / PLASTICITY ] Neurons serve different functions. Motor neurons carry impulses to activate glands and muscles. Sensory neurons send impulses from the skin and other body parts to the central nervous system. Interneurons, residing in the brain and spinal cord, integrate the signals and…

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ANATOMY OF A NEURON [ NERVE CELLS ( THE AMAZING BRAIN ) ]

ANATOMY OF A NEURON [ NERVE CELLS ( THE AMAZING BRAIN ) ] Each neuron has a main cell body. Like all cells, the neuron contains a nucleus and an exterior mem-brane, which sometimes receives electrochemical messages from other neurons. Chains of neurons send messages from the body to the brain: “Here is pain, in…

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NERVE CELLS – THE BRAIN’S WORKFORCE

NERVE CELLS – THE BRAIN’S WORKFORCE THE FUNDAMENTAL units of the brain, too small to see in Willis’s time, are two types of nerve cells. One type, the neuroglia (or glial-“glue”- cells), has the rather pedestrian task of supporting the nervous system. Neuroglia play a role in guiding neurons toward making connec- tions, promoting neuron…

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BRAIN OR SOUL – KNOWING ITSELF [ THE AMAZING BRAIN ]

BRAIN OR SOUL – KNOWING ITSELF [ THE AMAZING BRAIN ] Descartes saw no physical soul in his tours of the body. Instead, he conceived the soul as noncorporeal and thus above the mechanics that animated all flesh. Operating within the machine but not part of it, the soul oversaw humanity’s consciousness, will, and all…

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THE AMAZING BRAIN – BRAIN EXAMINATION BY GALEN

THE AMAZING BRAIN – BRAIN EXAMINATION BY GALEN Centuries later, Galen, a Roman physician who lived in the eastern Mediterranean in the second century of the Christian era, went beyond such mental exercises to test the brain for himself. He took a more hands-on approach and cut the sensory and motor fibers in pigs’ brains…

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THE GREEKS AND THE BRAIN

THE GREEKS AND THE BRAIN THE GREEKS were the first to begin to Recgnize the brain’s paramount status. About 2,500 years ago, a Pythagorean philosopher named ALCMAEON of Croton Favored the head over the heart as the home of sensory awareness. Consciousness arose in the brain, he said. ALCMAEON is reported to have peered into…

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THE ANCIENT BRAIN – THE AMAZING BRAIN

THE ANCIENT BRAIN – THE AMAZING BRAIN More than 4,000 years ago, Egyptian priests considered the brain to be worthless. After a person’s death, the most important organs were often removed and preserved. Prized above all was the human heart, which the priests believed contained the soul and the mind. In preparing a body for…