BY DR JOE D PENZA NERVE [EVERVTHING THAT MAKES US UP FROM A CONSCIOUS STANDPOINT IS EMBROIDERED IN THE THREE DIMENSIONAL NETWORK OF OUR BRAIN ‘Our hopes and dreams, ot personality. oir memories ur secrets, ie strengths and weaknesses, and cur perceptions ofthe world areIseated, as if on a map, within cis web of neurological sue. We know thisistrubecause once the brain ‘sdamaged, injured, er diseased, the tate of fis of mind and of bedys akered. Fspenments have been performed on human beings whereby thragh elemeal stimulation of cena parts ofthe bran, sensory espetieneeshave been simulated ssf hey were real (Restak, 1979) Tuy, the bain sche most important eqgan of the human bod A 2 EB a H H F 4 2 3 3 3 e 3 & i CI z 3 4 3 F cy“We do not consciously control our heartbeat and we never consciously think to regulate the amount of enzymes produced to digest our last meal, which raises the question, “What intelligence must be running the show?” The nan ispat ofthe nero ss tem, The eros stem cone ed nd oe geese dee mails ntegnaet ew ccopict to of tae io oder and Imo hel being ofon i Tiotsponabl rrr seri fetntoy he re om rgd seeugaiceuntn cred Reager coats lkencwns gueniigor ny commanscarg ete be urination er ened pear Un occa the dgeabe yarn, the cade one ewgroluane nme heer Presyapscn an toma Wein bell eresneee ex ishofameninas te Thenerrus aye ded oo woth prs: eet eros Siiediha geen evn Sheeened seromemcn casts of the bran and he pd crd One on Uikel tre pied trl gan cucnion ofthe nan, heparan tem cents fhe commen sch st form te bate at he ed reves ht rape Gee ihn tee ne per cranenonsgems ape cents Beco oda Sryineons eae ie ep se the ig ‘tbleorhomeosiastefdance ats tanned bye bdsm elt face rites boy temper, Becisoge lars jiscron ont al thee pected we tke aed ay ecu ec Pes yacien ago bengal bo paar eco Beha them overt: We oe con Siow contol our eae ad me fever oocyte opie ae tmaunt of ewes pte o digest airlcnedl ua ewes peste ela Ferrero lent) Parasympathetic Nervous System Figure 1: The chart shows how ihe newous system ofthe body is organized. The dark blue shaded blocks represent the voluntary portions ofeach nervous sytem, ‘hleh ean be contolid by conseious intentFigure 1: ‘The contra nervous system (ehaded in yellow) Incest bain Ceara oe eter “What intelligence must be running the show?” This is literally ax auto rmatle proces, La’s ell it subeon- Scions or opera below conseous Cont. A good mnemonic device i ‘atonoraic equals tomatic aummemlcneroussy Mem canbe fuer eided tho wos the sip thaichareusageen id the peepee ner vous sper The spe thal yeivowo quien presres ie bey for emengncy uations. es alo led the icon nerves act, When we posse a leat flor the envronmtene all stems become scederted and heat ater cree, lod presse cen, es patry tte ceases and atkenaln [Selesedforknmedae acon. Acthe same te al of he bodys energy ic moved ey fom the aigestve tact. The holy shag dtochentely Toran The acide of he paragmpa: cheers eter vob comer ing an rexoring ney ofthe boy. Baraympahec funcion bso the ppaaizel the smmpahatchineen Ielows the hear fe, eases er tay whe dipstve Spten, laws, Thsbody an wes ood ow ney ira che sla rusies of the ex treme, Thinkef in lain tthe feling of ust fishing Thanking, dine: “The mos eiguiean and Finds tii rac ones istheneuren,Thenewonis hetee ren tothe neve cel anda ks ex teolons isthe most sensitive ype ofssuein ie heen body Neurons are exhale cols that are pecilaed for the reeption of stl andthe coukalan ol eaeimpuee Neve {one tami formate other pus the boxy Tey ae he the tte that rn the machi, Thebran ta do genes soso of ncoas the entte body Thebran male upcf some 10 bilien o 100 billonvetrons. There ara tlre yee cf neurone ne human bly al hey ee created aecerdng 6 thei location a het shape: Te irent pes of ensDitrant pes of ‘upper motr ea) cerebral cote. bs Stalist cal 6 Granule ca cerebral conten. «Parkin cel cobra cores oe areclasilied acconlingtoediecion | move ther fingers ourward into dif the cell. te stones the DNA, all the in whet they coneluct impulses and | entalveeionsthree dimensional, goetic informatica which we express Jingra the number of extensions | ating smaller branches that father d 2s human beings at this poi io theyposies Fsamples would incnde | vide into smallfingerike wigs. These | eycltion. Oddy tao stores an enor sensory neurons and motor neurons. | branchesare called dendntes,andthey | mous amount of DNA that is unused, You can study some of the differnt | fonction to receive incoming informa | whic. scents call jank DNA. The ‘ypesof nerve cells figure on from other nerve ells thar are | mapping.thehnsman DNA sequence The neuronsferm avistintercon- | trunsmitinginfonmaicn Gee figure). | — arowmasthe human genome proce) rected network Asan analogy consider Ife move from the d wes finished Lt sruiner, As a esl thatcena collsrexemble lealeszoak | ward, the branches come the scientific consensusis thst we ue in winter caring. im rind that | the trunk ofthe tree, in ol Tess than three percent of ur genetic note like dis than oth nucleus of the neuron eis brary: Therefore, the human expres et branches of the oak twee | ure 3). The nucleas acts asthe library sno DNA ilike having a compleFigur 4 Acioseupot portion oft son showing ‘he resting oF ‘unstimulated sate A Nae ttt H+ tT tt ht tot ee te P44 eee eee ete tae Fe ~FtF ees +t FE He EH EES + Nas Figure 48 & Soalum fons (Nan lnk) move Int he ce 14ge ofthe ation potenti causes receptacles Inthe call membrane 1 open. The inux of positively charges los reinforces the action potential wave nut erests above the threshold indested by the black ine) in that location. This stimulates pumps in ‘the coll membrane (not shown to expel the excess sodium, which causes charge differences to dropin ‘the immediate ates. And so the ation potentlal wave moves on along the lenght f the axon,“If we were to compare the number of connections in all of the telecommunication systems in the entire world to the number of connections in the neurological network of the brain, they would appear the size of a pea in relation to the size of the human brain.” Figures. Aclosoup ofthe smapse, the neurite of one absorbed by receptor ites in ‘he dandaite ofa nelghber. Ing neuron Ubeary where the same elk are read nic ater. Every cll of the ‘over and over again while the est ofthe contains DNA. Whar diferent Hy gesumsed The pasioeisthar | one cdl fom another's the active ees weave ve rauch moreluten geaeicur. | aon of sr afew particu genes, So a formation chan we curently use a hue | nerve cll epreses self sa nerve cel rman bemgs. and in pte ofthe laws of | Bocce i expresses a sequence of DNA iunon.tthasneverlesened Fem an | that is lighely diferent om that of a ‘cehiotary sti, nan beings | muse cell or si cel maybe only tre percent of what they | the munk ofthe neuren tee called poten cn be tn face thelatest sci | the atone fe 3). ll neurons only Umulereserc is begining acvowt. | have one aon. Alsons can range eng fee that this unused jk DNA tay | fem ateuh of aruilmeter tow meters have mee rims than se | long When a bran cl es, sends ts sake Js dow the axon tn ne pale the DNA ihe nerve cells dost | rater han aconstant tcl. Weel ths thesumeas te DNAcf any othe ell of | theallorneshing phenomenon. Ihispale the body, because all cells contain the | lass a thousandth of a second and cana speeds fom 210 300 miles per Jens are elemental particles hour thar have a charge because they ha ‘he call, and potassium isthe intacllu lareamponent, maining inside the eal membrane ofthe enn ismore able ther gained or ost an clctron in their ower fons and action potential Shi Caan inn » pelaasan es thas a fu ions and therefore de influx tion give up or gain elecrons quite ely The cell membrnece mame | Since the body b made men of water. it | and elias of potassium ions happens boundary aroand the nerve cll holy The nerve cell m its resting | inside che el, bun because of the las tensions. Imagineitastheslan | (gnsimlaed) state has a charge of -70 ofthe nerve cell. Itische sit for then | yullvclis (a). Ue rewon i hae a ne ion and conduction ofthe nerve im- | tive charge is bate ef the relative co pulse. The membrane of the neuron is-| centraionsot ions that est inside the cel ht nanometers and outside the cll The rtrcellalar and of dision fartices moving fort flesser concentaion), they do not stay inside for two long, Since sodium ions, sshich havea postive charge, most much to thin to be see wih a standard ight iewscope. | rca ons that weave moet inter | mamcutade decal and pots The membrane ofa neuron issemiper | Cxedmaresodnm (NAt)andporasdum | which Ive a pesitne charge, tnd 1 mabe, which meansthaitallows cer | QC), in the resting state sodium i te | posavely Now on ofthe cel, the ins tinensdoughitbutprohbisthepas | racer component, emai ouside“Some common important neurotransmitters are acetylcholine, serotonin, dopamine, melatonin, the endorphins, and that sneaky molecule — nitric oxide.” negate compared ose xt ronment There dhe wee celle Tate ts avs TO ih opel the oti the ell This paca teow athe resting pour en the were Cal enced timed, teresa hang? he cell's perme ‘byte the sot ons oe the ely aid they ih og the ln, sorabee oo de inet oe rl eran naan Tia rus inthe em trate becoming lem placed. ah fcctatnacn nh ierume eterepent othe meabrone om (al heel tot Fs Invent, the de othe cel Bcoes ties posted es ngue s retnpsete The sen inf sf 0 Sime flowed by he kere ele Tel dang eld aston poe i Ths poo ey eng ine mlitomds bt og gh Seapropepiondd dental cunt tree diet aneve cl Gee ga Flowing th cy thee i ery rapide fhe ons postions tack wdiheresng see Onc grr heen poten tal sgreae ove the cod ween, sway fom teste ian, and Conducted song nee cl ea ar Sling ele fee Tis led = rene impulse. Ths impulse se repeal al ean ed ey anor ke: Satd sg nce snee impulse sine ose teasing oye po siemens te meme fyou were to each and pi paper mya wer rang de pe Pesan caade factions vwould fie m a whole host of neurons 40 ‘ease the acten of movement in your arms saad ads it coordinate fasion, The thoughtstansin the bein, creating dhe frst sees of action potential the image ofa penal). Then the eyessee the pena, which Ywould create the second series of action ‘potenti. Then theocepital lobe the part. Othe brain responsible fr vision) would register and asociate the image of what it sees n the temporal lobe (the part of the brain responsible lor memory storage), cre ‘king another series of action poten. The the brat locates the pencil in order to formulate and inceggate the mavernent of reaching foe the pencil. Meanie, so- ae nd potas were resting back ad fom in yournerve cells and tall ook place behind your back! ‘When at impulse trvels dows the trunk of the axon, it reaches the roots of the tree. fe examine the roots af our oak tree, we see branche structures called ‘son eensions or neurites tha send ine formation to neighboring nerve cells Tharehy messages are sent to other pars ofthe bait or cer pars ofthe body (see figure 3) Insummay, dendresrecetvein- formation from other neurons, pas the in formation (athe action potenti by the rudeus along the axon to the scutes, Uihich then pas the messige ont a den Arte of the nest nerve cll ‘The pein where de dente au the nace meet — from one nerve cell ois naghbor — is called a saps (ee figure ‘Each nerve cell the furan bran as, fom average, appeximately 1,000 0 10,000 Syaptic connections per neuron. Some nesve cells have ven more. Ife do just alte ath se his pir, teeng the 100 bili nao of he bin sand conservarvelymulpyngy the lowest ‘humnberof posible connections per neuron, vihich approsimezly 1,000, 7 would have total 10,000 bien connestions. By this eerie erasing ceieeeemie Rasa St punch Emmaoans = iam ieaaoeaenaes Sete iret oes pes ke epone ‘oveconecns tha alow ‘cmnmunicaontobeteas Kemedtootherlseions in ta and woul. we sero emp dena berof connections ino thee. Iminkaton systems he ee werd Gila kephove wie aie ce rosleabon gutens sd les com mnlealons the nother connec tons m the neural neve he Tra hey would appear te sar of“Scientists still debate the extent to which our brains are sculpted by nature or nurture, environment or persona. How is it that our brains can be molded and how can our abilities be enriched by experience?” petmrdation tothe azeofthe human | Presently there are shout 50 mew- | our consciousello. houses an intel Frain (Bran, 1958 retransmiteshnown tosience Based on | gence that has the exacting ll and a illeent neurons connect to one | the parucilar function of aspecc par of | Pai Lo petfona so muy actives v0 anor atheist, The gm | he ran die ar fon in iflrentcon- | specially ha they gp unnoticed bys, ‘pieekdrisagpbetmee neon The | eemmaions these pec ae. Some | Ahsverymamest hea thous Suiptc pp ethowmarde ofall | commen inporant neurtrusuaien we | of fnetons under sutononic conte ihecrvilicabwsnere npaosto | sceicunesaonn penne ace | Sele bpp cel nd enn alngdfenne routes fremone| rnin the endorphins, and that sneaky | O°. are ale ha ery hep ws hatronto another wihoarinemapeinn | mlecile — nine nie Die 10 ene bale dese ‘When an action potential uavels ‘ets hme suai the propertesand pat: Spi doanning piston dona ams nro toever od erieing tein, | Gee tema ees re ettnenae fin pa te deta Thee wemeincieet: | Loruseesh Mocemaieg Th nls tiny emecaboota lives cherie ke ext | Camnenenelzeee eat hrennorom eis Teinoeerice Tue | a eau ger ten re fgae'D. The newer uormandacs oe | a ee oer nen] nn beepee pe dope to aspect | enn cowelanly Tuga eur inven tironinied paibony | lnphiingias sopeatkckatti mere | fuse bene as arsnoay toed deniite. Themmy ypesefnewarm | tor ste Gxe fut 7). This ies, aeaed_ | plysealy Ourbrame ae molded by he ites ae the meas by which nave bynare sunkuelypeer becmse is | tomers we en the hing we Calls communicate wih one anther | the way communication eat ecurespo | Hen, the events we abst, andthe teres the gue hentia, We can use the same eaaee | emotes we express, The bran er magne yen thsechamicl_ | netmcomecionsornanopnkvaysmone | aly deed at weak nd a rmessengersas tiny feryboas crosinga | brain but produce diffrent chemical neu- | ¥¢ do. Scientists all debate the extent aminddodaguibeudisaieis | ganeamitee tocene xvi vey of | (Sth cur rinse sept by na thai proper location. Ac the pomt that_| feelings, actions, moods, ad perceptions. | MCF nurture environment or persona, theydackemtheathersidethyrdese | Byeerson thatswharmaesurashus | Ho¥ bithatcurbrans in bs maied ther pawergers which then tne spe | tebe mig aed een ihe | Subomem orale michel tlic des indns that eve the | way wea on daly bas, Ths begins to | SRT HE alle the Eagar teeldowntimerscligeney | Ceumccwiac fecmcinetemssc, | teu nacucapesem messcnd ial tthe diferent opendas. thats | Wecan do the sane avy onaffxen: | Coden Ta fr ihe hemi, the cceiywinoromnatitenis thy, | dyad ack Wael | ete bes yen ik Tah the ochre o the rapae of | fine wlan i's lance oh main | about who realy ming the owe the neighboring nerve cell and release | chemistry, ‘peilcchoniestha lle theas | Alf hs uhimasly basis dete | Rages Teyatinerectengnertecel. Tsui. | Seton the bad'svokmtryand tech tum, ilcnesthchextearen-and ao. | tary sens. Ths proces an isp = 1. Buran, T (1988), Make the ‘Mos of our Mind. Leadon: Bus Books. on thats and eatons, et emeions ep Sisson, Ps, ca 998) Heameingubowipeliyde | ebm inabra mdse! | sagapgcseail dere reuroumnsmiiers cay tesages onto | behaviors, simulate dives, rleme ho. | RQMEBRRSHSI th Adal poo cihernerve calls Newowansmiterscan | mones,and crete tiebologaphic noes | 5° “sia Se fho7a) The Bn ‘ho atimule, lb, aut change the | that we call hous and meron. the Last Pron: NewYork. Doubleday coat nenmisel crac |. Aswelavetad i foundaion ofthe | "4" Roberson: 1, 090), Mind er Niki fee | OE mc | sche ae tee tel orchard hen | oe Te caterer | SARS oo EL fects alge ay | Neutatony For ede Suen nace aceuonsickiero ks | We aacbouiimcaemteteg_ | Semen Rosen ie, ron S P : place in a milsecond, ‘pen memenc to montent with orwidhout | SOMME feree ean reer rere Pes which ae chemical messen {etsthal Ino the receptor Pca) pvren eeearn ety noes Rotate Renee Cony RECEPTICALS (LOCKS)