September 2, 2014

To See or Not to See



The brain is a complicated network of small units called neurons, all working to carry information from the outside world, create an internal model, and generate a response. Neurons sense a signal through branching dendrites, carry this signal to the cell body, and send it onwards through a long axon to signal the next neuron. However, neurons can function in many different ways; some of which researchers are still exploring. Some signals that the dendrites receive do not continue to the next neuron; instead they seem to change the way that the neuron handles the subsequent signals. This could help neurons function as part of a large network, but researchers still have many questions