Includes On the Web and In the News links curated by the authors, along with other audio/video content.

Click on the following links. Please note these will open in a new window.

News

In the News: Ramón Y Cajal’s Work Received by New Audience

Description: This news story on information and photographs of Ramón y Cajal’s drawings accompanies the In the News feature in this chapter.

Video

Video 1: Glial Cell Disorders

Description: Glia out number neurons by a factor of ten and have largely been viewed as a passive glue, but we have now discovered disorders specific to glial cells.

Video 2: Neuron and Synapse Structures

Description: Leonard Nimoy narrates this NIH video on the structure and function of neurons.

Video 3: Sensory Neurons, Interneurons, and Motor Neurons

Description: Video that discusses the three main types of neurons.

Video 4: A Light Switch for Neurons

Description: Neuroscientist Ed Boyden shows how inserting genes for light-sensitive proteins can let us control brains with light.

Video 5: How Does Synaptic Transmission Occur?

Description: This video discusses the synapse, synaptic cleft, release of neurotransmitter and its interaction with receptors, and the ways neurotransmitter is cleared from the synaptic cleft.

Video 6: How the Brain Generates Your Reality

Description: Right now, billions of neurons in your brain are working together to generate your conscious experience.

Audio

Audio 1: Glial Cell Function

Description: This podcast interviews neuroscientist Dr. Dwight Bergles and covers the diverse functions of glial cells

Audio 2: Historical Drawings of Neurons

Description: Original drawings of neurons from Ramon y Cajal, arguably the first neuroscientist, are in a traveling art exhibition.

Web

On the Web 1: Neuroscience for Kids/Sodium-Potassium Pump

Description: Neuroscience for Kids(don’t be put off by the name!) has a review of the resting and action potentials and an animation of their electrical recording. A YouTube animation of the sodium-potassium pump is an instructive illustration of how the mechanism works.

On the Web 2: The Schwann Cell and Action Potential

Description:This is a visually appealing animation of myelination and how it speeds conduction.

On the Web 3: The Origin of the Brain

Description: The animated video describes how (and why) neurons and synapses evolved and ends with a demonstration of how simple circuits can “remember” and make “decisions.”

On the Web 4: The Symphony Inside Your Brain

Description:This describes the Human Connectome Project and features a rotating scan of the major pathways of one hemisphere.

On the Web 5: Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence

Description: The site covers a wide variety of topics, including artificial neural networks (which learn how to perform a task, rather than being programmed to do it), robots, cognitive science, and related ethical and social issues.