Final 20 Time Post

The product me and Taylor have created is a blog with various hiking posts that I am proud of. We organized a clean up and made a real tangible change in our environment so I also consider that a product of our 20 time assignment. We have worked every Monday to type up trail descriptions, hiking info, and trash awareness posts that were focused around the saratoga/Santa Cruz mountains. In our Ted talk we discussed our accomplishments and covered the major aspects of our 20 time process. We covered our setback and goals swell as our own personal stories! I'll link the Ted talk itself at the bottom of this post! It was fun me and Taylor enjoyed telling our class about we had been working on and sharing about all the fun we had. We had a lot to say, and unfortunately we went over the time limit but it's because we wanted to get all our information across. I'm hoping that we can maybe keep with the blog and update it with posts and pictures. I also hope to organize another clean up, even if it's just casual it feels good to help keep the mountains we love clean. The 20 time project taught me how much I value nature and that commitment is hard, but ends up being worth it.

https://m.youtube.com/watchlist=PLXVa0vGCksTaQxb0DUCUENbC9LuWRDKTr&v=NrPiVPu32bM

Your Brain Map

1. The frontal lobes manages your behavior.
2. Selective attention is the ability to focus on specific memories, and more selective attention is best for learning because it helps generate better memory
3. The last part of the brain to develop is the frontal lobe, to keep it healthy focus on reasoning rather than memory.
4. The neo cortex controls your senses, sense of direction, and motor skills.
5. The prefrontal cortex is what determines personality.
6. There is no such thing as multi tasking its just your brain changing tasks very quickly, seeming almost simultaneous
7. Broca's area controls communications like speech and language. If it is damaged, other parts of the brain can work to try take over the damaged areas responsibilities.
8. The somatosensory cortex responds to environmental factors like temperature.
9. The visual cortex corresponds with vision and processes images seen with the eyes. 
10. The occipital lobe manages creativity or imagination. It also understands the difference between short and long term memories.
11. Without the temporal lobe, you would have amnesia and no way to hold onto memories long term.
12. Your 'fast brain' obtains signals and info in milliseconds.
13. Omega-3 fatty acids, socializing, and healthy living (exercise) help for healthy synaptic function.
14. Patterns and memory aids like mnemonic devices help decomplexify dendritic pathways and allow your brain to work/remeber faster.
15. Big picture thinking also simplifies dendritic pathways resulting in faster brain function. 
16. Oxytocin is important because stops the body from over stressing.
17. The corpus callosum holds your left and right hemispheres together.
18. The corpus callosum is made stronger by playing music.
19. The thalamus receives the signals from senses and send them to the cortex to be processed.
Relate and Review!
This homework assignment was a great review. We have covered many of these terms in class already but there were some new ones like oxytocin and the broker's area. The brain is constantly working thats why the idea of multi tasking seems possible because the brain moves that fast. It's important to keep the brain healthy and strong especially during it's development. I learned that the frontal lobe develops last so that is one to focus on. Many of these structures were seen during our brain dissection but it is always nice to reinforce the information. 

Brain Dissection

In this dissection we observed the brain. We first looked at the exterior and identified the major structures. We saw the cerebrum which controls higher brain function, thought and action. We observed the Cerebellum which is more toward the anterior and coordinates and regulates muscular activities. And finally the brain stem, which transports information and signals too and from the brain to the rest of the nervous system. Then we cut through the Corpus callous which holds together the two hemispheres of the brain to see interior structures. We observed what we studied in the eye dissection: the optic nerve. This is the nerve that processes light and signals from the eye. We located the medulla oblongata which controls functions like breathing, swallowing and digestion. It is the center for respiration and circulation. We then found the pons which is near the medulla oblongata on the brain stem. This structure is responsible for managing things like hearing, taste and balance. The hypothalamus was harder to locate but we knew it was the structure where many hormones are created and released into the body. Lastly we saw the midbrain which is the area of the brain that controls temperature regulation, vision and the sleep cycle. These structures and more were discussed in our lectures but it was interesting to visualize all the lobes and actually see the structures we learned about. Finally we cut into the cerebellum and observed the whit and grey matter inside. The grey matter is composed mostly of nerve cell bodies that are not myelinated while white matter is myelinated. White matter affects how the brain learns and functions while the grey matter is involved with processing and cognition. Myelinated fibers in the white matter allow for faster cell/nerve communication and makes signals travel faster than unmyelinated fibers.

Black Pin: anterior 

White pin: posterior

Green pin: Cerebellum

Yellow pin: Cerebrum

Red pin; Brain Stem

Yellow: Thalamus

Green:Optic Nerve

Red: Corpus callosum

Silver: Medulla Oblongata

Black: pons

Blue: Midbrain

White: Hypothalumus 

Grey and White matter in the Cerebellum

Eye Dissection Analysis

From the outside (anterior) in!
From an anterior view of the eye you can see three main things: the cornea, the sclera, and fatty tissues. The fatty tissue supports and cushions the eye. The sclera or "the white of the eye" that acts as a tough protection from injury, and provides attachment for the  muscles that control and move the eye. The cornea is considered the eyes outer most lens and also provides protection,while controlling and focusing the entry of light. Underneath these outer structures lies the: pupil, iris, lens, vitreous humor, ciliary bodies, and suspensory ligaments. The pupil is the focal point of the eye, and the size of the pupil determines how much light is to enter the eye. The iris is the colored part of the eye and it works with the pupil to help control light entry. The lens is like the focus button on a camera, it works to create clear images of objects from various distances. The vitreous humor is the large sack attached to the lens. This gelatinous structure provides shape and size to the eye. The ciliary bodies is a structure in the eye that release  clear liquid called the aqueous humor. The suspensory muscles connect to ciliary muscle and help shape the lens and hold it in place. Then theres the retina: a thin layer of tissue on the back of the eye. The retina is where light is received and transformed into signals for the brain which creates the image. Then there is also the blindspot which is where the optic nerve reaches the inside of the eye. This tiny area does cannot be seen but humans make up for it with their other eyes. Then, finally, there is the optic nerve which is where all nerve signals are received from the retina and transmitted to the brain for imaging. Lots of terms that can be visualized below!
Looking through the back of the eye to see the thin opening in the center or the pupil

the retina and blindspot of the left and the vitreous humor on the right

the lens attached to the vitreous humor!

Clay Brain

IN this activity my lab group created two clay models of the brain. On the left it is a side view and on the right it is a view of the outside! We named various lobes and structures that can be seen on our labels and through our key!

Hole in the Brain

The article, "The Woman with a Hole in Her Brain", describes a rare condition found in a 24 year old woman where the individual was missing a part of her brain: her entire cerebellum. She never knew she was missing her cerebellum until a CAT scan made it perfectly clear. As a child she struggled with learning to walk and talk and developed these skills later than most children. The cerebellum is the known as the "little brain" and contains 50 percent of the brains total neurons and controls voluntary movement and balance, which explains the poor coordination during the woman's childhood. This woman case, though rare and slightly confusing, shows how adaptable the brain is as an organ and how people can evolve to survive. 

Missing parietal lobe?

The parietal lobe is responsible for processing many sensory details. The parietal lobe is where things like, touch, taste, and temperature are handled. The parietal lobe is also responsible for things like spacial sense and navigation. If someones parietal lobe was somehow damaged or lost all together, the individual would be lacking in many sensory areas. The individual would likely not be able to sense or feel anything in terms of touch and the person would struggles to feel temperature. I don't see how survival would be possible for an infant who couldn't process touch but the chance that the individual could live still exist. 

Unit 7 Reflection

In unit 7 we learned about the anatomy and physiology of muscles. We explored the different variations of movement that our muscles allow for, and described and demonstrated the terminology in front of the class in dance form. We learned about the different classifications for muscles, like size, shape, and function. We dived into the microscopic anatomy of muscles in our muscle contraction, stop motion skit which I will post below this very post. These different types of activities were not only fun but helpful in memorizing the information learned in class and helpful reinforcing what we learn for homework. We lectured on the affects of performance enhancers on muscles and the people who use them. We went into detail on the different types of muscle twitches and what kind of actions they help perform. One of my favorite readings was the reading no stretching, because it highlighted the importance of stretching for keeping healthy muscles and opened my eyes to the fact that I need to stretch more. We also kept up with our 20 time which has been fun because me and taylor have come across all sorts of weird and interesting creatures and plants on our hikes and are really enjoying the fitness aspect. We dissected full chickens which was interesting because a lot of the chickens anatomy is comparable to the anatomy of a human. This unit overall involves lots of details so studying for the test will probably be rigorous but the activities and labs we've done will help keep the information locked in my brain.

Link to muscle contraction stop motion skit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNMQfa-OCI0&feature=youtu.be