This web exhibit was first built in 2000 by Patricia Anne Kinser, Haverford College, under the direction of Paul Grobstein, Bryn Mawr College. The updated version of Comparative Neuroanatomy and Intelligence is now online at http://serendipstudio.org/exchange/brains. This old version has been archived in place, and will continue to be available for teachers and students who are using it.

Home Page

Compare Brains

• Pictures
  
• Similarities
  
• Differences

Compare Brain and Body Sizes

• Brains & Bodies
  
• Equalize body size
  
• Equilize brain size

Compare Brain Structures- Slices and Slides

• Directional terminology
  
• Sagittal cuts
  
• Main structures
  
• The Brain Magnified

The Neuron- Up Close and Personal

• Jello, mush, or neuron?
  
• Neurons in animals
  
• What is a neuron?
• Fun facts

The Question of Intelligence

• Why do we care?
  
• Methods for studying brain & intelligence

Links

Glossary

Bibliography

The microscope is an amazing thing. Light microscopes bend light such that the image of the specimen is magnified at different levels. By magnifying sections of brains we can see and learn so much about these brains and their structures. The neuron is the basic building block of all animals' nervous systems. Go to this page for a detailed discussion of the neuron.

The next couple of pages contain photomicrographs (pictures taken through a microscope) of sections of human, monkey, cat, rat, and pigeon neocortex (except in the frog), midbrain, and cerebellum. You will have the option of viewing each at different levels of magnification: 4x, 10x, and 20x.

When you study and compare these photographs, try to observe any noticeable differences or similarities between the cells of the different animals. Click below to begin:

Go to the CEREBELLUM

Go to the HINDBRAIN

Go to the FOREBRAIN

Huh? Can we start over?