Brain Activating Reading Passage
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Brain Activating Reading Passage
Paragraph A:
In 1937, a classic description of the brain at work was laid out by the neuroscientist Sir Charles Scott Sherington of the University of Oxford. While working, it is like a point of light signaling the activity of nerve cells and their connections. He proposed that only some remote parts of the brain would twinkle while in deep sleep. It resembles the starry night sky. Sherington reflected that it will be like the milky way entered upon some cosmic dance, when awakening. He continues, “Swiftly the head-mass becomes an enchanted loom where millions of flashing shuttles weave a dissolving pattern, always a meaningful pattern though never an abiding one; a shifting harmony of subpatterns.”
Paragraph B:
His poetic metaphor gained a significance as an important idea even though Sherrington did not realize it at that time, which is the brain reveals its inner workings optically. Still, one of the most complicated problems in all of biology is to understand how neurons work together to generate thoughts and behaviour, since scientists cannot see whole neural circuits in action. A simple understanding is only gained with the standard approach of probing one or two neurons with electrodes. It is just a tiny fragment of a bigger puzzle, other pieces are needed to guess the big picture. If one is able to find how neurons are communicating, it could be easier to deduce how brain circuits are laid out and how they function. This interesting idea has inspired neuroscientists to attempt to realize the vision of the Sherrington.
Paragraph C:
Their efforts opened up a new field called optogenetics, a combination of genetic engineering and optics to study particular cell types. Investigators have already succeeded in visualising the functions of various groups of neurons. In addition, the approach makes them control the neurons simply by toggling a light switch. These achievements could open the brain’s circuitry to neuroscientists and even help physicians to treat certain medical disorders.
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