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Analysis Of The Article ' Secrets Of The Brain ' Essay

Decent Essays

I read the article, “Secrets of the Brain”, found in the February 2014 issue of National Geographic written by Carl Zimmer. I chose this subject because I have been fascinated with the brain and how it works. The research of the brain has been ongoing for many centuries now. The history in this article is interesting. It explained how scientists used to understand the brain and its inner workings. For example, “in the ancient world physicians believed that the brain was made of phlegm. Aristotle looked on it as a refrigerator, cooling of the fiery heart. From his time through the Renaissance, anatomists declared with great authority that our perceptions, emotions, reasoning, and actions were all the result of “animal spirits”—mysterious, unknowable vapors that swirled through cavities in our head and traveled through our bodies.” (Zimmer, p. 38)

It was the 17th century British scientist Thomas Willis who recognized that the custard like tissue of the brain was where our mental world existed. The brain is an electric organ. Now we know that instead of animal spirits, voltage spikes travel through it and out into the body’s nervous system.

Scientists are motivated for the need to understand the brain to explain neurological diseases such as Autism, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Schizophrenia, and many more. The cure to many of these may just be found hidden in the brain. Could it really be just simple as rewiring the brain or replacing defective or missing parts? The

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