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Balance You hardly notice it unless something goes wrong, but your sense of balance relies on most of your other senses to work, and uses all sorts of interesting bits of your interesting brain. Along with sleeping birds, bionic men, and beer bottles, Phil and I talk about your sense of balance.
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Touching on touch Throughout your body, you have nerves. These send signals about the world through your spinal cord, and into your brain. More than just what you feel, your sense of touch includes temperature, pressure, the position of your body, and a bit about what your internal organs are up to today. We continue …
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Take a look at looking Your sense of vision is arguably the most complicated sense you have. Estimates range from one half, to as much as two thirds of your brain dedicated to using light to make sense of your world. From the way your eyes turn light into nerve impulses, to different bits of …
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What is a cortex? From the Latin word for tree bark, “cortex” refers to the outer most layer of an organ. In the brain, the outer most layer is made of several layers of neurons. That’s true in the cerebellum, in the cerebellar cortex; and the cerebrum, in the better known cerebral cortex. Today, we …
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What’s this “cerebellum” thing for? It’s sitting underneath your cerebrum, this odd bulge behind the brainstem. Only ten percent of your brains total volume, it has more than 75 percent of the neurons. What is the cerebellum, and what does it use all those neurons for?
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Reverse engineering the brain… ish Let’s see… How does this “brain” thing work exactly? Maybe we could build something brain-like, something that would act as though it has a mind. Hmmm… In a conversation that rambles through blind cavefish, dancing pigeons, Alaskan turtles, cribbage, and potato chips, Phil and I talk about reverse engineering the …
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A network of networks It’s an old part of your brain, but still very complicated. With far too much to cover in one episode, Phil and I hit a few highlights of your reticular formation. From our old friend the substantia nigra; to the raphe nuclei acting as a source of serotonin; to our new …
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Black and blue brain bits Last week, Phil had questions. This week, we try to answer them. We also take a closer look at areas of the brain that have pigment in their neurons, and try to figure out what that pigment is there for.
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The gas and brakes in your brain Philosophy was fun, but let’s get back to looking at the brain, and the bits there in. Today we talk about a system that helps to activate and control the way you move. It’s one part of what’s happening in your “basal ganglia,” which is just fun to …