- We use only 10 percent of our brains.
- “Flashbulb memories” are precise, detailed and persistent.
- It’s all downhill after 40 (or 50 or 60 or 70).
- Men are from Mars, women are from Venus.
When it comes to this complex, mysterious, fascinating organ, what do—and don’t—we know?
Read more about these myths on Smithsonian,com
“Ode to the Brain” is the ninth episode in the Symphony of Science music video series. Through the powerful words of scientists Carl Sagan, Robert Winston, Vilayanur Ramachandran, Jill Bolte Taylor, Bill Nye, and Oliver Sacks, it covers different aspects the brain including its evolution, neuron networks, folding, and more. The material sampled for this video comes from Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, Jill Bolte Taylor’s TED Talk, Vilayanur Ramachandran’s TED Talk, Bill Nye’s Brain episode, BBC’s “The Human Body”, Oliver Sachs’ TED Talk, Discovery Channel’s “Human Body: Pushing the Limits”, and more.
Everything you wanted to know about the brain is just one song.
If you’ve ever wondered how a single neuron fits into the incredibly complex structure of a living brain, I highly recommend this three minute video. Be prepared to be awestruck.
A rendering of the possibilities of the Whole Brain Catalog (http://wholebraincatalog.org ), an open source, multi-scale virtual catalog of the mouse brain. Part of the Whole Brain Project (http://wholebrainproject.org ). Animated by Drew Berry (http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=3195 ) and generously funded by the Waitt Family Foundation (http://www.waittfoundation.org/ )
Thanks Dean’s Corner
You are looking a visual reconstruction (from array-tomography data) of synapses in the mouse somatosensory cortex, the part of the cerebral cortex that is responsive to sensation. Neurons are depicted in green; multicolored dots represent separate synapses.
More about this video on Scope Stanford School of Medicine
Pregnancy requires many adaptations to new situations. These changes are accompanied by massive neuroendocrine changes leading to adaptations organized by the mother’s brain. These changes are necessary for the different phases of pregnancy and motherhood.
First optimization is needed for the growth and protection of the fetus, next parturition has to be timely and uncomplicated, next maternal behavior such as caring and defending the young is important together with the start of lactation. It’s not easy to understand the complex interaction between female- and pregnancy hormones and their interaction with the maternal brain.
At the start of pregnancy the brain controls the increased appetite necessary for the pregnancy and the expansion of the blood volume as well as deeper breathing. The brain also prevents further ovulations through the pituitary gland.
The most important female hormones secreted in massive amounts during pregnancy are oestrogen en progesterone. They are very lipid soluble and easily penetrate the brain. Their ratio change the balance between inhibition and excitation. The stages of the pregnancy are signaled to the brain by the pattern of their secretion. Labor starts after the progesterone to oestrogen ratio strongly declines.
The fetus is during pregnancy protected from stress hormones such as cortisol by “in-built” mechanisms. The stress system (HPA-axis) activity is reduced during pregnancy, the responsiveness of the system to a wide range of physical and psychological stressors is reduced. If all this fails, the placenta produces an enzyme that acts as a barrier against maternal stress hormones. It converts these stress hormones (cortisol) to inactive metabolites.
The other most important female hormone for pregnancy and it’s effects on the brain is Oxytocine. When the ratio of progesterone to oestrogen drops, oxytocine is released and stimulates expulsive uterine contractions (labor), it reduces the anxiety of the first exposure to the screaming and noisy newborn, it encourages maternal behavior and the oxytocine pulses due to nipple sucking starts the breast feeding. Prolactin also increased at the end of pregnancy which is also important for breast feeding and maternal behavior.
This is just a short introduction to all the different complex systems and adaptations needed with pregnancy. If your interested the most extensive review was published in Neuroscience in January 2008. For a short and comprehensive explanation you can freely read online: 12. The maternal brain by Professor John A Russell, Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Edinburgh.
Brunton, P., & Russell, J. (2008). The expectant brain: adapting for motherhood Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 9 (1), 11-25 DOI: 10.1038/nrn2280
Henry Markram says the mysteries of the mind can be solved — soon. Mental illness, memory, perception: they’re made of neurons and electric signals, and he plans to find them with a supercomputer that models all the brain’s 100,000,000,000,000 synapses.
How can we make a brain from a super computer. In this video a theory is explained how to do it. All based on the universe. The universe has evolved to “see” itself in the brain. Interesting theory. The design secret of the brain is diversity. And other important principles to understand the brain.
Information designer Tom Wujec talks through three areas of the brain that help us understand words, images, feelings, connections. In this short talk from TEDU, he asks: How can we best engage our brains to help us better understand big ideas?
Very instructive video about basic brain functions and their location integrated in explaining how we give meaning to our surroundings.
The new Grand Round of Brain Blogging is up at Brain Blogger, be sure to check it out. Valuable information of brain bloggers from all over the world.
Welcome to the forty-fifth edition of Brain Blogging. In this round, we discuss new trials using stem cells for stroke, the neurobiology of empathy, if brain tonics really work, the connection between obesity and mental illness, and many more topics.
Remember, we review the latest blogs related to the brain and mind that go beyond the basic sciences into a more human and multidimensional perspective.