Neuroscience: Brain, Body, and Behavior
Neural Networks
This site provides you with a tutorial on basic neural processes.
The continuing quest for new and more powerful ways to communicate ideas in biology is the focus of BioVisions at Harvard University. The potential of multimedia in the area of biology education has yet to be fulfilled. Indeed, multimedia as a means of imparting biological information is years behind its use in other areas such as entertainment. BioVisions is meant to close this gap by combining the highest quality multimedia development with rigorous scientific models of how biological processes occur. In addition, this new generation of science visualizations are not meant to simply be simulations or mirrors held up to reality, rather they are designed with a specific pedagogical goal in mind. This means that each decision made on how to represent a given biological process also includes consideration of how best to visually communicate particular aspects of the process.
DHA rapidly accumulates in the cell membranes of neurons that send neurotransmitters, allowing your brain to communicate. DHA is involved in protecting nerve structure as well as resolving nerve inflammation. This study points out a new mechanism in how DHA protects your brain: it regulates the glial cells in your brain so that activation of your brain is healthy, while preventing improper activation from toxic stimuli.
This excellent web site provides a variety of online multimedia activities related to neurobiology. Check out the virtual tour of the nervous system. Tour a gallery of photographs of nerve cells. Compare the brains of different animal species. Travel through time and review the history of brain science. Go to the discussion forum page on neuroscience to answer questions about the site.
An investigator and his colleagues arthe Allen Institute for Brain Science are working with mice to decode what a mind's neurons are saying to each other to produce behavior.
Meet the forgotten 90 percent of your brain: glial cells, which outnumber your neurons ten to one. And no one really knows what they do.
An expert on Lou Gehrig's disease explains what we know about this debilitating condition and how Hawking has beaten the odds. ALS is a motor-neuron disease.
Stephen Hawking is known for his work regarding black holes and for authoring several popular science books. He suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Watch ALS Stricken Scientist Stephen Hawking Speak on Questioning the Universe
PODCASTS
Brain Science Podcast on the new field of anthropology and neuroscience-Neuroanthropology and the research methodology of ethnography.
VIDEOS
Professor Wayne Drevets explains that specific glial cells known as oligodendrocytes may be decreased in the brains of individuals who have bipolar disorder or major depressive disorder.
Mirror Neurons-VS Ramachandran
Mirror Neurons-VS Ramachandran
The Neurotransmitter Song--Hey Brain Sister
The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientists Quest for What Makes Us Human
Visualizing the Wonder of a Living Cell
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Neurological Disorders
A comprehensive website on the history of phrenology.
A neurological/autoimmune disorder effected by the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh).
This page provides facts for patients and their families. After reading the information contained on this page, scroll down and go to the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation home page, where you can find more detailed information on the disorder, including important information about nutrition, conserving energy, surviving the disease and more.
History, story and analysis of Phineas Gage, whose frontal lobe was destroyed by a railroad accident, when a tamping iron was blown through his jaw and exited out of the top of his skull. Gage was changed forever in devastating ways. Read and view video about his life.
The professional organization for neuroscientists. Includes a wealth of related resources on brain and behavior, including research and online journals.
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Brain Imaging
This is one of the largest scientific communities in North America dedicated solely to research imaging of the human brain. Includes "Brain Web" a simulated brain database and, brain imaging demonstrations.
A virtual hospital site showing images of dissections of real humans' brains and spinal cords. Caution: If you are sensitive, do not visit this site. It has very vivid pictures and detail.
Provides you with pictures of the latest in brain imaging. Technology used for taking images of the brain include: Single Photon/Positron Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT); Roentgen-Ray Tomography (CT); and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Shows you different areas of the brain and the most current images from research with images of a normal brain, the brains of stroke patients, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, Huntington's Disease, various types of brain tumors, etc. Each set of images also are accompanied by an individual clinical case report of the patient and lifestyle patterns prior to the diagnosis. The site also includes many tutorials including a neuroimaging primer which provides you with information on the types of images and the different views (transaxial, saggital, etc.
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Brain Research
Affordable neuroscience experiment kits.
An electronic neuroscience magazine. Very interesting. The site includes virtual lectures, using images and sounds, tele mentoring for students and many interesting articles on every aspect of brain and behavior. Visit the neuroscience art gallery where they show you the paintings of a psychotic artist as he progresses in his voyage to madness.
Provides great sites for information on brain diseases and disorders. The DANA Alliance for Brain Initiatives is an independent nonprofit organization of more than 190 preeminent neuroscientists, including 7 Nobel Laureates. Includes sites on anxiety, Lou Gehrig's Disease, Alzheimer's, Learning Disabilities, Spinal Cord Injury, Pain, Headaches, and much more.
A chronology of the history of neuroscience which includes the early and current contributors to the field and a listing of their contributions.
This is a must visit site! It is a comprehensive web site for the history of phrenology - a popular victorian science of studying the brain by studying the surface of the skull. The site has the largest collection of phrenological images and many sources relevant not only to the history of phrenology but also to the history of naturalism and evolutionary thought. It includes an overview of phrenology and what has become of it. The site also answers questions about how the early work in phrenology is used today. There is much here on the founder, Viennese physician, Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828) as well as other scientists. There also is an animated demonstration of how the skull was manipulated.
One of the leading research institutes on brain studies. Here, researchers are building an understanding of the brain. Areas of research include: systems and computational neuroscience, imaging and cognitive neuroscience, genetic and cellular neuroscience.
An exciting site. Includes a timeline from 4000 BC to present, of significant events in neuroscience as well as related references and links. Includes such links as the history of phrenology, founders of neurology, history of dentistry and more.
Presents the work of world renown neuroscientist Paul Pietsch. Excerpts are included from his research and book: Shufflebrain: The Quest for the Holographic Mind. (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1981). Pietsch describes his experiments on the brains of salamanders, moving the eyes of salamanders, and creating a two-headed organism. The site also contains excerpts from research articles on: the hologramic mind; microminds; human brain shrinkage; brain swapping, holologic; the musical brain, head transplants; and the human corpus collosum.Dr. Pietsch died in 2009. His website is now archived at the above link.
Presents a detailed discussion of split brain operations from Dr. Pietsch perspective.
This video presents the procedure from Dr. Michael Gazzaniga's early work and research and its effects
See one of Dr. Michael Gazzaniga's split brain patients.
Learn about the work of the Charles A. Dana Foundation. The site has much information and links on brain diseases and disorders.
An online newsletter featuring many articles, from research and study, on the brain.
An undergraduate journal of neuroscience published by the Harvard Undergraduate Society for Neuroscience. Includes many interesting articles, research and reviews written by undergraduate students.
Provides an overview and history of an old form of neurosurgery.
A site exploring an old controversial surgical procedure (which is no longer used in the medical profession) of drilling a hole in the skull. This site discusses a couple of cases of self-trepanation where individuals have performed the surgical procedure on themselves using a bit drill to open a hole in their skulls -- largely to treat disorders such as depression. In historical times, the procedure was used supposedly to drive demons out of mentally ill patients.
Videos
Brain Song
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The Endocrine System, Disorders and Surgeries
This site is a comprehensive overview of the endocrine system, including the fundamental concepts in endocrinology, with a definition. The site will provide you with a tour of the endocrine system.
This is the largest web site for understanding the endocrine system and its disorders. It includes an introduction to endocrinology and endocrine surgery. Discusses the hormones produced by the endocrine system and discusses each endocrine gland. Begin with the introduction and then move through each link discussing each endocrine gland. An excellent site!
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Anatomy & Physiology
To help you see what a body really looks like on the inside, this Exhibition uses real human bodies that have been preserved
so they do not decay. Bodies. The Exhibition examines the intricacies and complexities that lie beneath your skin through the use of a unique polymer preservation process applied to real human bodies. You will leave with a greater understanding of your own physical makeup and with a deeper respect for the machine that gives you the power of life.
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Drugs and the Brain
Drugs alter the brain's reward pathways.
Effects of Cocaine on the body and brain.
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Nanotechnology
Technology is advancing so quickly, it seems that every steep challenge has a surprising solution. Here, CNN innovation correspondent Rachel Crane takes a look at eight big ideas making life better every day.
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Dr. Oliver Sacks
Renowned neurologist Oliver Sacks was a physician, best-selling author, and professor of neurology at the NYU School of Medicine.
A reflection on the life of Dr. Oliver Sacks by Scientific America Mind.
The five authors and NYU neurology professor Oliver Sacks; Antonio Damasio and Gil B. Carvalho from the University of Southern California, Norman D. Cook from the faculty of Kansai University in Osaka, Japan and Harry T. Hunt from Brock University in Ontario. They have framed their ideas in the form of an open letter to Christof Koch, president of the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and a Scientific American MIND columnist (Consciousness Redux) and member of Scientific American’s board of advisers. Read about what the five have to say and then continue to Koch’s reply.
A reflection on the process of dying by Dr. Oliver Sacks.
Reflections on the life and work of Dr. Sacks.
Whether writing about his patients, his love of chemistry or the power of music, Dr. Sacks leapfrogged among disciplines, shedding light on the connections between science and art.
New York Times Eulogy. Dr. Sacks explored some of the brain's strangest pathways in best-selling case histories like "The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat," achieving a level of renown rare among scientists.
The Washington Post.
Dr. Oliver Sacks, Explorer of the Brain
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Readings Online
An Electronic Textbook for the Neurosciences | Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy - The University of Texas Medical School at Houston