Quotes for All
Where did feelings go when they disappeared? Did they leave a chemical trace somewhere in our minds, so that if we could look inside ourselves we would see via the patterns of neurons some of the important things that had happened to us in our lifetimes? Evelyn Lau
The most obvious – and easiest! – way to gain perspective is to put your work away for a while. The truth is, we don’t know how taking a break frees up the mind, but it does: Somehow it freshens our little neurons, or perhaps it prompts the brain to create more cleverness molecules. If … Read more
For the last century of neuroscience, lots of people have tried to control neurons using all sorts of different technologies – pharmacology (drugs), electrical pulses, and so on. But none of these technologies are precise. With optogenetics, we can aim light at a single cell, or a set of cells, and turn just that set … Read more
We are compelled to drive toward total knowledge, right down to the levels of the neuron and the gene. When we have progressed enough to explain ourselves in these mechanistic terms…the result might be hard to accept. E. O. Wilson
The newborn infant is now seen to be wired with awesome precision… This marvelous robot will be launched into the world under the care of its parents… But to what extent does the wiring of the neurons, so undeniably encoded in the genes, preordain the directions that social development will follow? E. O. Wilson
The structure of the human brain is enormously complex. It contains about 10 billion nerve cells (neurons), which are interlinked in a vast network through 1,000 billion junctions (synapses). The whole brain can be divided into subsections, or sub-networks, which communicate with each other in a network fashion. All this results in intricate patterns of … Read more
When carbon (C), Oxygen (o) and hydrogen (H) atoms bond in a certain way to form sugar, the resulting compound has a sweet taste. The sweetness resides neither in the C, nor in the O, nor in the H; it resides in the pattern that emerges from their interaction. It is an emergent property. Moreover, … Read more
If my dramatic career doesn’t work out, I will go on to research and find cures for Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s and other motor neuron diseases. It’s a very exciting field of research. But I’d like to continue in drama, so it wouldn’t be very smart of me if I blew this amazing opportunity with an … Read more
Octopuses have hundreds of suckers, each one equipped with its own ganglion with thousands of neurons. These ‘mini-brains’ are interconnected, making for a widely distributed nervous system. That is why a severed octopus arm may crawl on its own and even pick up food. Frans de Waal
Consciousness is somehow a by-product of the simultaneous, high frequency firing of neurons in different parts of the brain. It’s the meshing of these frequencies that generates consciousness, just as tones from individual instruments produce the rich, complex, & seamless sounds of a symphony orchestra Francis Crick