Brain Dissection

2. The function of each of these structures are as follows:
Cerebrum: integration of complex sensory and neural function, and initiation and coordination of voluntary body functions.
Cerebellum: coordinates and regulates muscular activity.
Brain Stem: connects the brain to the rest of the nervous system.

3. The function of myelin in a neuron is to protect axons and to enhance the transmission of electrical impulses.

5. The functions of the labeled parts are as follows:
Thalamus: consoisness, sleep, and sensory interpetation.
Optic Nerve: transfers visual information from the retina to the vision centers in the brain.
Medulla Oblongata: helps regulate breathing, heart and blood vessel function, digestion, sneezing, and swallowing.
Pons: connects various parts of the nervous system.
Midbrain: part of the nervous system associated with vision, hearing, motor control, sleep/wake, alertness, and temperature regulation.
Corpus Callosum: interconnects the two hemispheres and allows them to exchange information.
Hypothalamus: links nervous system to endocrine system.

Sheep Eye Dissection Analysis

We dissected a sheep's eye in class, here's some labeled photos that were taken during the dissection as we went step by step through the whole thing. On the topic of dissecting a sheep's eye, we were able to see and learn about the anatomy of our own eye essentially, since a sheep's eye is very similar to that of a human. The parts of the eye that we identified are the lens, the suspensory ligament, extrinsic muscle, retina, tapetum lucidum, sclera, vitreous humor, eyelid, optic nerve, fatty tissue, cornea, extrinsic muscle, pupil, iris, and ciliary body. The pupil is the hole in the eye where light can enter, the size of the pupil is regulated by the iris, which either expands or contracts the pupil depending on the amount of light. The lens of the eye is suspended a bit behind the pupil by the suspensory ligament, which is connected to the ciliary body. The ciliary body is able to change the shape of the lens very slightly to adjust the light so that it hits the retina. The retina is what detects the light and produces colors, using rods and cones. In the eye of a nocturnal animal, behind the retina is the tapetum lucidum which allows animals to see better in the dark and is also the reason why when you take a picture of some animals, their eyes will seem to be glowing. In the middle of the eye is the vitreous humor, which is a clear jello-like substance that helps the eye maintain it's shape. Around the inside of the posterior part of the eye is the choroid, which is dark and thin, it brings nourishment through the posterior end of the eye. The cornea is the thin layer that is at the anterior end of the eye and goes over the pupil and iris, with some aqueous humor (liquid), found behind it. Two things that effect the eye are cataract and glaucoma. Cataract is when because of aging, the lens turns cloudy and it reduces the amount of light that is able to reach the retina. Glaucoma is when the fluid pressure of the aqueous humor and vitreous humor becomes too high, which causes eye damage.

Well, That Didn't Work

So, looking back at my last post about my project. About that program I was waiting for to download. Yeah, you see, it did not download at all, during the multiple hours I was letting it download. So I just ended up stopping the "download" and removed all of that completely from my computer. That being said, I know that Paint isn't the best thing to animate with and that it won't produce the best results that I could have been able to create if the other programs that I tried had worked. But seeing as they haven't worked for me at all, my only option is to use Paint and to try my best to go forth with the animation. Which so far has gone really well, except for the fact that I've had to delete the same frame twice since I've now ran into a part of the animation that I have no idea how to do the motion that I want to do. So this is going to be pretty interesting, I have to relearn how the head moves from a almost side view to a face on view, and all I can really say is that it's way harder than it sounds. I'll leave this with a sneak peak of the animation with a couple of frames that I have done.

Clay Brain Diagram

We took some different colored playdough and put it on a computer screen sized cardboard box after we sketched out the brain and did some rough labeling. After we had color coded, to a extent, the brain, we wrote up some labels, slipped them into the ends of the pins, and pinned them to either the corresponding playdough or (for some of them) the general area in which they are.

Living Without Part of Your Brain

I didn't expect at all for someone to be able to survive without a pretty major part of their brain. Since if you're missing your cerebellum, that's a pretty large part of your brain missing, taking in the fact that it contains 50% of all of your brain's neurons. I also found it very surprising that 9 people have managed to survive past a young age while missing that part of their brain, since the likely hood of them living past a young age is really rare. Also the fact that no one knew that she was missing her cerebellum until she was 24 years old is very surprising to me, then again, they didn't know that those young kids had their's missing until they got the autopsy done.

I looked up if it was possible for you to survive without your thalamus, and I was able to come up with an answer. No, you cannot live without your thalamus, let alone get it damaged. If your thalamus gets damaged, you can be stuck in a permanent coma. Since the thalamus is what controls your state of sleep and wakefulness, it also regulates your level of awareness and activity, and motor controls. So, it's really part of your brain that you cannot live without, that is, unless you don't want to be able to function.