Hey guys! As you might have noticed, I’ve been really bad at updating this blog lately, and I think I’m gonna stop doing it at all. Maybe one day I’ll find the time and will to start posting again, but until that uncertain moment this is pretty much what ‘medicineisfun’ will be in the history of Tumblr. Thanks to those who enjoyed reading it :)
Many people who have lost part or all of an arm or leg experience phantom limbs. This means they can still feel the position of the limb, and sometimes other sensations. For example, they may still feel a ring on the finger of a phantom hand. A phantom limb does seem to make it easier to use an artificial limb. However, a distressing and common feature of phantom limbs is the experience of phantom pain.
Your brain usually interprets signals from the eyes as light, and those from the ears as sound. But a few people experience sounds as colours, smells as colours or even colours as smells. Around one in a hundred people have some form of this ‘mixing of the senses’ or synaesthesia. Almost any combination of two of the five senses is possible, although it is most common to see a certain colour when you hear a particular sound.
If a baby waited until its brain was fully developed before birth, it would be in the womb for nearly two years. By then, its head would be too large to fit through its mother’s pelvis. So there is a ‘trade-off’, which has enabled humans to keep both their large brains and upright posture: we are born with underdeveloped brains. Although we are born with most of our brain cells, the connections between them are not completed until the age of two.
How do neurons create memories?
How do connections between neurons become strengthened, so that the connection is ‘remembered’? Scientists know that if they give an electrical impulse to a pair of neurons, the two will communicate more easily in the future. This process is known as long-term potentiation (LTP). The effect can last for weeks, or even months – long enough to make a memory. LTP is especially obvious in the hippocampus, one of the areas of the brain active in memory.
How changeable is your brain?
Your brain changes throughout your life. Every experience you have will impact on the structure of your brain. A changing brain enables us to learn, remember and adapt to our surroundings. At birth, a baby’s brain contains 100 billion neurons, roughly the number of stars in the Milky Way. Before birth, the brain produces these neurons and the connections between them known as synapses. During the first years of life, the brain undergoes a series of extraordinary changes. In your teenage years the brain undergoes a pruning process, eliminating connections that are seldom or never used.
When did your neurons form?
Once the embryo has marked out its future brain and spinal cord, it can start to make vast numbers of neurons. At times, 4000 new neurons are made every second. They will eventually connect to form huge networks, allowing the brain and body to communicate via electrical signals. The embryo also needs to make billions of glial cells, which help to guide these networks and provide the neurons with support. They then glue the networks together.
Spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) is one of a group of genetic disorders characterized by slowly progressive incoordination of gait and often associated with poor coordination of hands, speech, and eye movements. Frequently, atrophy of the cerebellum occurs. As with other forms of ataxia, SCA results in unsteady and clumsy motion of the body due to a failure of the fine coordination of muscle movements, along with other symptoms. The symptoms of the condition vary with the specific type (there are several), and with the individual patient. Generally, a person with ataxia retains full mental capacity but may progressively lose physical control. There is no known cure for spinocerebellar ataxia, which is a progressive disease, although not all types cause equally severe disability.
egyptiansoapbox asked: This blog is addictive :D
Haha, glad you like it ^_^
Anisocoria is a condition characterized by an unequal size of the pupils.
THE PLATYSMA MUSCLE
When your collar is too tight it is the constriction of the platysma muscle that helps loosen it. Otherwise this muscle doesn’t have much function. Laxness of this muscle is often a major factor in causing the sag under the chin in older people (this is not just aging skin, or from accumulating fat). This muscle forms the outermost layer of the neck muscles. It is a broad, thin muscle.
foreveronadventures asked: Your blog is phenomenal!
Ah, thank you! :D
lookatthesoul asked: Hey! Love your blog :) Interesting and usefull.
Hello. Glad you like it :)
This is just too accurate.