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posted by martyb on Monday June 11 2018, @02:38AM   Printer-friendly
from the zombie-snack dept.

Even though you use your brain to do a lot of thinking, you probably don't think about your brain that often.

It's an incredibly complex, incredibly precious organ. It's also incredibly squishy, as you can see in an amazing teaching video that demonstrates a freshly removed brain straight from autopsy.

As the neuroanatomist handles the vulnerable blob with the utmost care, it's awe-inspiring to realise that each one of us has a squishy brain just like it - and it contains all our memories and thoughts.

[...] And that's actually one of the purposes of the video - apart from being a teaching material, the university wanted "to stress the vulnerability of the brain to highlight the importance of wearing helmets, seat belts, and taking care of this very precious tissue."

https://www.sciencealert.com/what-human-brain-really-looks-like-video-incredible


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  • (Score: 2) by pvanhoof on Monday June 11 2018, @12:34PM (4 children)

    by pvanhoof (4638) on Monday June 11 2018, @12:34PM (#691367) Homepage

    It's for example possible that when you ate something wrong, and you felt terrible because of it, that in future your body reminds you of the past experience not merely using the memory of the brain in your skull but also using its enteric nervous system.

    Implying, basically, that 'my stomach is trying to tell me something' should probably say 'my enteric nervous system' is trying to tell me something. That would probably be exact or correct indeed. So your intestins are talking to your brain, basically.

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  • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 11 2018, @04:02PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 11 2018, @04:02PM (#691451)

    There are some studies that indicate that microbes can influence your gut to influence your brain: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-gut-bacteria-tell-their-hosts-what-to-eat/ [scientificamerican.com]

    There are also some correlations between gut microbes and behavior but the cause-effect direction is unclear:
    http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/gut-microbes-strongly-influence-emotional-behaviors/ [iflscience.com]

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by Snow on Monday June 11 2018, @04:13PM (1 child)

      by Snow (1601) on Monday June 11 2018, @04:13PM (#691458) Journal

      That's where the truth lies, right down here in the gut. Do you know you have more nerve endings in your gut than you have in your head? You can look it up. I know some of you are going to say "I did look it up, and that's not true." That's 'cause you looked it up in a book. Next time, look it up in your gut. I did. My gut tells me that's how our nervous system works.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 11 2018, @06:49PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 11 2018, @06:49PM (#691537)

      I was just about to say this, but yeah, I have heard about fecal transplants changing the behavior of people (primarily the food they crave), and it is hypothesized that the gut bacteria is telling your brain what to eat. So if you wipe out your micro-biome and replace it with a new one, your gut will tell you to eat differently.

      So, perhaps people aren't totally wrong when they say they have a "gut reaction."