NeuroExplorer

Paul Broca is one of the most influential neuroscientists best known for his patient, Tan. Well, his name wasn't really Tan. His name was Louis Victor Leborgne, and his incredibly unusual neurological disorder settled a debate about the location of language capabilities in the brain. In 1861, Leborgne approached Broca at the Bicetre Hospital to receive surgery for a leg infection. Leborgne had suffered from several medical conditions prior to his surgery; he had epilepsy at a young age and subsequently lost his ability to produce fluent speech. It was Leborgne's language disorder that really caught Broca's attention. Leborgne could think properly, but whenever he tried to communicate with Broca and verbalize his thoughts, all that came out of his mouth was the meaningless word "tan." For this reason, many scholars of neuroscience simply refer to Leborgne as "Tan". Broca realized that he could learn about our language capabilities by studying Leborg

Take a look at the image above. This is the chemical structure of caffeine, a widely consumed chemical that you are probably familiar with (it's in your coffee). Scientists use this as a shorthand depiction of chemical structures. While this image may be confusing at first, it's actually very simple to understand once you know the rules! And there are only two! The first rule is carbon at the corners . What does this mean? Well, at every corner where you do not see a letter (an atom), there is an implied carbon. This shorthand notation allows us to show the structure without writing in each single carbon. There is also an implied carbon at the end of every line. Using this rule, let's place carbons at the corners and the ends of the lines. Now that we have the carbons in place, let's move to the next rule: hydrogens bonded to carbons are implied.   To understand this rule, we must first understand the bonding properties of carbon. Carbon likes to make fou

Let's zoom into the synapse that makes neurotransmission possible. Action potentials travel in the direction from the dendrite to the axon. Therefore, in order to transmit signals from one neuron to another, the signal must leave the axon of one neuron and cross the synaptic cleft to reach the receiving dendrite of another neuron. The neuron that delivers the signal is known as the presynaptic neuron , as shown in the image below. The neuron receiving the signal is known as the postsynaptic neuron . The gap between both neurons is the synaptic cleft. Now, don't confuse the terms "synapse" and "synaptic cleft". The synapse includes the presynaptic neuron, the postsynaptic neuron, and the gap in between. The gap is known as the synaptic cleft . Electrical signals travel as action potentials through the axon. When they reach the axon terminal , which is the very end of the axon, neurotransmitters are released into the synaptic cleft. The neurotran

As we learned about in the blog post about the  Brain Box , the brain is protected by the skull, meninges, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The meninges, which sit below the skull and vertebral column, is a series of three membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord. Its function is to protect and support the brain and spinal cord and contain cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The three layers of the meninges (from outermost to innermost) are the dura mater, arachnoid mater and pia mater. The dura mater  is a thick, tough layer that adheres to the skull on one side and the arachnoid mater on the other. It is an extra protective layer that attaches the brain to the skull and the spinal cord to the vertebral column. Beneath the dura mater is the arachnoid mater. The arachnoid mater  is named after its appearance that resembles a cobweb. It is made of strands of connective tissue, known as arachnoid trabeculae , that suspend the brain in place. Between the arachnoid mater and t

The ventricles are cavities throughout the brain that produce and distribute cerebrospinal fluid. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a clear, colorless fluid that suspends the brain and protects it from strain. Check out this blog post to learn more about cerebrospinal fluid. The ventricles are lined with the choroid plexus , a membrane made of ependymal cells (a glial cell) that secrete CSF. There are four ventricles in the human brain. There are two C-shaped lateral ventricles ; one in each of the hemispheres. The lateral ventricles connect to the third ventricle via an opening known as the interventricular foramen . The third ventricle , which resembles a misshapen donut, is located along the midline of the diencephalon. It connects to the fourth ventricle via the cerebral aqueduct. The fourth ventricle is located between the cerebellum and brainstem. It has three openings that allow the CSF to enter the subarachnoid space (remember the meninges). Therefore, the CSF leaves the