Topic: Brain Matters
This is the beginning of a site where pre-college students can post questions about the brain and we will respond to the best of our ability. Please feel free to use it at any time.
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Serendip's forums sometimes get longer than what can conveniently be accessed and displayed. They are, at the same time, in their entirety an important part of what Serendip has become at any given time (and, of course, particular contributions may well be of lasting significance). To try and balance needs for easy display and those of continuous and permanent record, only this year's forum comments are displayed on this page with earlier comments being preserved elsewhere. To go to the forum for prior years, click on the year below.
Year:
Serendip's forums sometimes get longer than what can conveniently be accessed and displayed. They are, at the same time, in their entirety an important part of what Serendip has become at any given time (and, of course, particular contributions may well be of lasting significance). To try and balance needs for easy display and those of continuous and permanent record, only this year's forum comments are displayed on this page with earlier comments being preserved elsewhere. To go to the forum for prior years, click on the year below.
Year:
- Current postings - 1999/2002 - 1998/1999 - 1997 - 1996 -
1995
Name: James Heaphy
Username: heaphy@aol.com
Subject: Neurons
Date: Fri Jan 5 20:16:03 EST 1996
Comments:
My name is James Heaphy, and I am a fifth grade student at Donaldson
Way School in American Canyon, CA. I am designing a WWW page to teach
children about neural structures and neural activity in the human brain.
I would like any information on this subject.
Thank you for your time and trouble.
heaphy@aol.com
Name: ellen rieder
Username: erieder@aol.com
Subject: hemispheres
Date: Sat Jan 13 21:34:11 EST 1996
Comments:
What does the right side of the brain control?
Name: John R. Mathis
Username: mathis@harborside.com
Subject: Randomness
Date: Tue Jan 30 00:30:06 EST 1996
Comments:
How random is the reasoning process of the brain?
Name: Caitlin Snow
Username: snowbake@midcoast.com
Subject: study habits
Date: Mon Feb 5 19:53:20 EST 1996
Comments:
Hi. My name is Caitlin, and I'm in the ninth grade. I've decided to start looking at colleges early, to get an idea of what's out there. Is there any advice you can give me, on things to do to get into Bryn Mawr. I've read a lot of things about Bryn Mawr, and it sounds really great. Please write back.
Thank You!!
Name: Todd Boland
Username: bolandto@pilot.msu.edu
Subject: Rene Descartes
Date: Sat Feb 10 12:15:24 EST 1996
Comments:
How does Descartes come to conclude that we gain knowledge through our senses so that empirical science is justified? That is, how do we know that the sensible world exists and has other properties that we humans can discover. Descartes gives us some reasons th think that everything about the sensory world might be doubted, so how do his arguments ultimately show that we can attain some truths about the sensible world?
Name: Joshua Aghion
Username: elton@ozemail.com.au
Subject: brain
Date: Tue Feb 13 03:44:31 EST 1996
Comments:
I have been asked by my grade 3 teacher to find a few facts about the brain
I am 8 years old.
Name: Joshua Aghion
Username: elton@ozemail.com.au
Subject: Brain
Date: Tue Feb 13 04:03:25 EST 1996
Comments:
I am 7 and a half and my teacher wants me to get a few facts on the brain.
I am in grade 3. Would you please supply some simple facts as the electronic
encyclopedias are far too advanced for me.Thank you
Name: Caleb Hurst-Hiller
Username: mhurst@interport.net
Subject: brain and memory
Date: Tue Feb 20 22:09:53 EST 1996
Comments:
I am doing a science fair project for my chemistry class. I am in the
tenth grade at the fieldston school in the Bronx, New York. My project
is on the effect of music on short-term memory, both classical and
popular.
I am interested in any information you can give me, including other
sources, on what parts of the brain are involved in short-term memory and
how that function might be interfered with or inhanced by music.
Thank you very much,
Caleb Hurst-Hiller
Name: Chantale
Username: Luc_Marchand@UQTR.UQuébec.CA
Subject: PLA2
Date: Tue Feb 27 11:46:33 EST 1996
Comments:
Is there a difference between cytosolic PLA2 and membrane-bound PLA2 in the brain ?
Name: Brigitte Charbonneau
Username: Luc_Marchand@UQTR.UQuébec.CA
Subject: Prozac
Date: Tue Feb 27 11:57:16 EST 1996
Comments:
Do you know something about Prozac and eating desorders ?
Name: anonymous
Username:
Subject: dreams
Date: Tue Mar 5 10:03:57 EST 1996
Comments:
what part of your brain dreams
Name: Ed Rowe
Username: fburns@netreach.net
Subject: The Auto-brain
Date: Sun Mar 24 17:00:32 EST 1996
Comments:
What percentage of the brain that we use is used to make our heart pump, breath,etc.?
Name: Laura Weber
Username: 00llweber@bsuvc.bsu.edu
Subject: Nerve cells
Date: Wed Apr 3 08:55:53 EST 1996
Comments:
My friend and I are working on a project in our physics class about
nerve cells and how they use electricity. So far all the information we
have found has been way over our heads. Are there resources out there that
are easier to understand? We would appreciate anything you have to offer.
Laura Weber and Stacie Eliades
Name: Greg Willcocks
Username: gwillcoc@ozemail.com.au
Subject: brain cells
Date: Thu May 16 09:41:41 EDT 1996
Comments:
How many cells are be born with?
What activities actively destroy brain cells?
Name: Alexa Misieczko
Username: misieczj@algorithms.com
Subject: Memory
Date: Tue Jun 11 19:43:03 EDT 1996
Comments:
Can someone tell me how memory works in the brain? I've wanted to know since my mom started her model brain collection. I am 9 years old and in 3rd grade. I live in New Jersey in the USA.I especially want to know how memory can hold all of the things you know.
Name: Lily#brain
Username: FreeF@aol.com
Subject: Just how wrinkly is my brain?
Date: Wed Jun 19 19:36:54 EDT 1996
Comments:
I've heard that we get new wrinkles in our brains for new pieces of information we learn, why?
How big does the piece of information have to be before we geta wrinkle?
For instance, do I have separate wrinkles for addition, subtraction, and
quadratics, or just one for math in general?
How many wrinkles does a newborn have?
What about the mentally retarded?
Do geniuses who specialize in one area only, such as math,
have a higher concentration of wrinkles in one area?
Or are those wrinkles just wider and deeper?
And, because the world is getting more fashionable every day,
what about wrinkle cream? ; )
Maybe these are silly questions, but I'd be pleased if you'd answer them!
Name: Ike Owcarz
Username: jtnomura@sirius.com
Subject: emotions
Date: Thu Jun 27 22:00:13 EDT 1996
Comments:
What, in the brain, controls human emotions?
Name: joanna goodman
Username: jbeck@accessone.com
Subject: brain location
Date: Mon Jul 22 17:33:04 EDT 1996
Comments:
Is the brain in your head or in all the cells of your body?
Name: Sarah Newman
Username: @skxd05d@prodigy.com
Subject: Memory
Date: Wed Jul 31 00:39:33 EDT 1996
Comments:
WHy is it we forget what we would consider important and remember what isn't? I've heard we remember everything, just can't access it. Is that true?
Name: penny
Username: thexx@ibm.net
Subject: memory
Date: Wed Aug 7 06:07:56 EDT 1996
Comments:
are some people are born forgetful ?
Name: penny
Username: thexx@ibm.net
Subject: memory
Date: Wed Aug 7 06:08:17 EDT 1996
Comments:
are some people are born forgetful ?
Name: Justin
Username: Abcdefghijklmnopoff@msn.com
Subject: eye to brain
Date: Mon Sep 9 09:28:01 EDT 1996
Comments:
Please! I just want to know for certain which side of the brain controls
which eye. i.e Does it cross at the eyes or ears?
Name: Paul Grobstein
Username: pgrobste@brynmawr.edu
Subject: Justin's question
Date: Mon Sep 9 10:36:06 EDT 1996
Comments:
You JUST want to know that, huh? Sorry, simple questions usually have
complex answsers (which is what makes science worth doing). IN fact, we
should probably do a whole Serendip section on that question (maybe we will,
thanks for asking).
Here, though, let's make it as simple as possible, since that's what you
wanted (and its always a good place to start anyhow). Goldfish have their
eyes on the sides of their heads, and in the goldfish information from the
right eye goes (at least intially) to the left side of the brain (information
from the left eye goes to the right). In this sense, the left side of the
brain is related to the right eye, and vice versa. In humans (and other
animals with their eyes on the fronts of their heads), the situation is more
complicated. In an interesting way. Each eye sees things both to your
left and your right (when you are staring straight ahead). And the
arrangement in you and I is that the part of EACH eye which sees things to
the right sends information to the left side of the brain (and the part
whcih sees things to the left sends information to the right). So the
left side of the brain relates to things to the right, whichever eye sees
them, rather than to the right eye.
Compliecated, sort of, but also consistent with a reasonable generalization
that the left side of the brain is concerned with "things" (though not eyes)
to the right and vice versa. Why it should be this way is an interesting
question, to which no one has a good answer. For thinking about that, some
exceptions to the generalization are probably important clues. For example,
MOVING your eyes to the right (as opposed to seeing things to the right)
actually depends on the right side of the brain (rather than the left, as
you might expect from the generalization).
Enough? Got what you wanted to know? And maybe enough to ask some new
questions?
Name: Justin
Username: Abc
Subject: i2B2b
Date: Thu Sep 12 17:06:46 EDT 1996
Comments:
Thankyou very much!
I also found out that thesame side controls the outer eye, while the
opposite takes the inner.
Name: Ethan Freckleton
Username: frecke@serv.net
Subject: Re: Justin's question
Date: Sat Sep 28 02:15:40 EDT 1996
Comments:
This is certainly a fascinating phenomena, an almost cross-eyed system, if you will. What this reminds me of, however, is continual discussion in a book called 'The Holographic Universe' (the author escapes my memory) about projections. Among the main ideas discussed is that of the brain as something of a projector and simultaneous viewing device of 'holographic images' - vision, memories, and other such sensory-related phenomena. This might pertain to the discussion, in the case of visual data being transfered from an eye to the opposite side of the brain, creating a projection of an image inside the brain.
Name: Jill James
Username: 567895@revealed.net
Subject: left v.s. right brain
Date: Wed Dec 18 10:35:51 EST 1996
Comments:
I am doing an 8th grade science project on right versus left traint (arms folded, hands folded, kicking a ball, etc.). I was wondering if anyone had any information on controlling feature of the right versus left side of the brain. Thanks, Jill
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