Friday, November 23, 2012

Friday. Nov. 23

1. Well we had two days this week...I suppose I accomplished a lot. On Monday we made a play-doh brain which was surprisngly difficult, but helped to understand the basic anatomy of the brain. But on Tuesday we actually dissected a real brain (well, a sheep brain. but still super cool). I also helped run the talent show and took a test in pre-calculus (officially ending another chapter woo!).
2. I learned what a pons was this week. And a corpus callosum. :)
3. I plan on eating some leftovers, sleeping, and learning more about the brain this week. WOO. Oh and i guess I should read more of Frankenstein.

Gray768.png
The cerebellum and the pons are my favorite.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pons

Brain.

So, what does the brain do? There really is no simple answer. But why? Well think about it. There is no one function of the brain; there's many. It does so much it's difficult to grasp. It's complex. it's unique, it's... mysterious. Because even scientists don't know everything about it yet. Information about this complex organ is learned mainly through research of things gone wrong. That sounds strange. However knowing what's malfunctioning in the brain (resulting in diseases), helps understand normal functions. Most people conceive the brain as the "nucleus". In other words most people know that brain as the control center of the body. Perfect gray and white matter that's in charge of everything little thing you do. From blinking to running to talking to learning. It's mind blowing. 

The neurologist in the TED video intimately describes her stroke as an unreal experience. She describes it as an insight to the functions and great control of conscious. A blood clot in her brain results in a stroke that took eight years to recover from. One unexpected blood clot one unexpected morning. One abnormality in one part of the brain effects her perception, information processing, conscious, and more. Well what is actually going on in her brain is probably too complicated for non-neurologists to understand, so she describes in a way that people can connect to emotionally. An surreal experiences that makes everyone look around, and appreciate the complexities of the brain and life in general.  Once again, mind blowing.



http://www.healthcentral.com/ibd/h/stomach-hemorrhage.html


To help understand this mysterious and complex extremities of the thing that controls every movement and thought you make, this is a link to a video of "3 clues to help understand your brain". The neurologist speaking you are familiar with... He is my idol.... Dr. Ramachandran! A slight overview of the video describing diseases we watched.