The Brain

What is the Brain?

The brain is the portion of the central nervous system in vertebrates (animals with bones) that lies within the skull. Read more…è

Now see this interactive guide ê

As you will have seen from the guide, each lobe of the brain has a different function.

Messages travel between the lobes and the rest of the body through neural pathways that consist of neurons and the gaps between them.

Nerve cells of the brain

Nerve cells, or neurons, are the building blocks of the brain. They work like computer chips, analysing and processing information, and then sending signals through the nerve fibres which act like telephone wires, connecting different areas of the brain, spinal cord, muscles, and glands. 

Dendrites

Each neuron has dendrites

 or nerve endings - These small, branch-like

projections of the cell

 make connections to other cells and allow the neuron to talk with other cells or perceive the environment. Dendrites

can be located on one or both ends of the cell.

The Synaptic Gap is  the small space between two neurons across which information is transmitted and received by way of chemical substances,

I.e. neurotransmitters. 

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