Brain Dissection

1) 


2) Brain stem- regulates automatic systems such as heart beat and breathing
Cerebellum- coordinates voluntary movement
 Cerebrum- divided into four lobes and controls thought and action
Posterior- back part of the brain Anterior- front part of the brain

3) The myelin, part of the myelin sheath, help the electrical impulses move faster.

4) 



5) Thalamus- controls information between cerebral cortex and lower brain helping with sesnory interpretation
Corpus Callosum- bridge between two hemispheres
Medulla Oblangota- controls heartbeat and breathing Pons- controls information between cerebrum and cerebellum
Mid Brain- controls vision and hearing
Hypothalamus- helps control the endocrine system and hormone levels
Optic Nerve- transfers information from optic nerve to brain

6) 


Relate and Review
In this lab we opened up a sheep brain and located the different parts of the brain. In this unit we learned about the parts of the brain, and their functions. With the help of the clay model we did, this lab helped give us a better visual representation of what those parts look like, and how they all fit together. This dissection helped us understand the shape and functions of each of the parts as well as gave us hands on experience. I feel like I got a much better understanding of each part of the brain, and the smaller pieces that make up each part, like grey matter.

20 Time Individual Reflection

Working with Eric on this project has been difficult but very fun. Although Eric and I have known each other for a long time, our strong bond didn't necessarily help us with efficiently completing our final product and working productively. At first, it was hard to find a focus, because we only had a general idea of what we were going to do. When we finally cracked down to narrow our focus, we ended up coming up with tons and tons of different ideas, which was great, but challenging again for us to actually stick to one game plan. Eventually, we picked from our best ideas and combined those goals into one project with one particular mission statement. We will be revealing our thesis statement and our final product at the TED talk. Although this was difficult to get to working, we both knew we wanted to stick with this because of our own passions for the arts. While we might not cover all of the arts and cultures, Eric loves arts, the sketches, the colors, and I love music, the melodies, the arrangements, the rhythms. It's a really large scale that many artists similar to us fall under, and so we can easily use their expertise and experience to the advantage of our project. In the early stages, it was a lot of just researching and digesting and unloading onto our google doc. Information on the correlation between the arts and education and not only academics but wellroundedness in life as well. Then, we got to work as we worked on our passion projects, discovered others' works, held some interviews, and ultimately made huge progress on our final product during and after the spring break. Eric and I learned so much about how music and arts define other students, whether if its their family, their future, or their identity. We feel this is more valuable than all the numbers and "studies" online can bring to the table in terms of encouraging the arts in educational systems, as this information comes from real people with real lives and real emotions, who live currently in contemporary cultures and art forms. I think we actually paced ourselves well in this project. What's next is really up to everyone. I know Eric and I will continue to keep art in our lives, not only as a hobby, but as enrichment to our purposes in life. It's up to the people around us to pursue their own passions, and maybe incorporate what they've been missing as a crucial part of their emotional health and creativity health.

Sheep Eye Dissection Analysis

An excellent view of the cornea, the dark bluish section. The sclera, also known as the whites of the eye, are clearly seen around the cornea in contrast to the bright blue mat behind it.

Extrinsic muscles, fatty tissue, and especially the optic nerve sticking out are very noticeable features on the back of the eye we observed.

This is a beautiful view of the eye split into two hemispheres. The vitreous humor is the jelly and glossy liquid in the lower part, while the upper hemisphere remain rather empty. Some of the vitreous humor is also spilled onto the blue mat. 

Here you can identify the lens in the middle, and surrounding it the ciliary body and suspensory ligaments. Notice that the colors are cloudy, known as cataract. The lens is usually clear, but the eye we observed was from a dead sheep, and so there has been quite some time for this cloudy condition to grow as it continues to prevent or reduce the amount of light reaching the retina. 

Here we have the other hemisphere. It's quite an excellent picture of the sclera, the clearly white border on the outside, the retina, the aqueous humor, and the choroid, with the nice deep blue color.

After removing the pupil and the iris, we were able to isolate the lens and observe its shape.

In this lab, we were able to look at a lot of things which really gave us a deeper understanding of location, size, texture, and function of several parts of the eye. The sclera proved to be the tough boundary its supposed to be. The cornea was a very vibrant color, so we were able to identify it and really see how it worked. Usually, in a dissection we just locate muscles. But in this case, we see the cornea is ovalish and ellipsical in shape, and clearly shows the cloudy condition compared to our current transparent corneas. The fatty tissue is used to protect the eye, as our heads move around a lot, preventing the eye from taking damage from our skull or what not. The optic nerve in the back also really shows that it's going straight to the brain to make the connection so eyes can give proper feedback. As we take a look inside, the vitreous humor is the gooey liquid that surround the lens and the aqueous humor in front of the retina. The choroid, in the back of the eye, is a network of blood vessels that provides noursihment and oxygen to itself and the other layer of the eye. Along with it is tapetum lucidum, which reflects light onto the retina. We humans do not have this, as this only functions as night vision, which we don't have, because we don't particularly need it. We're supposed to have our eyes closed shut when we sleep at night. Additionally, the cilliary bodies are muscles that can control the eye to rotate up down left and right. Suspensory ligaments also help with movement. The pupil is located in the center of the iris, and several muscles layers determine how intense the light comes in. The lens is convex shaped and elastic in texture, which bends the light in. One condition that can occur is glaucoma, which is when fluid pressure becomes so high the eye takes physical damage from the pressure. 

The Clay Brain

Left Hemisphere                                                        Right Hemisphere

The task was to use a visual diagram made from clay to show the parts of the brain.
The left hemisphere is a view from a sagittal plane, and the right hemisphere has a lateral view.
Working with my new group wasn't difficult, but making it look even remotely like a brain was very challenging. From our point of view, when we first laid down the building blocks of our plan, it looked fine and everything was in place accordingly. However, as time passed, we realized we didn't have enough colors, and overlapping parts also made our jobs trickier than it already was. Thankfully, we put all the pieces together in a timely fashion.

The Woman with a Hole in Her Brain

Reading this article, I realized how short it was and actually how little information it gave (or just how curious I was). I wanted to find out whether her cerebellum did not grow as she was developing in the womb, or it did but just faded away or something because of how small it is. I don't know, I'm just throwing out ideas because obviously the article didn't really go into detail about it. However, it was interesting to learn what it did to her in her early years, such as the speech impediment and the walking clunkiness and the headaches. It's always fascinating to know miracles like this can happen. She may have some issues, but she's alive isn't she?

The precentral gryus ties directly with the primary motor cortex, and specifically has control over the leg area medially, the head and face laterally, and hand and arm motors. So essentially, if the precentral gyrus was missing or somehow damaged, we would be looking at someone who has facial palsy, or paralysis in the face. Additionally, we'd be finding weakness in the arms and legs, and even hemiparesis, which is weakness in an entire side of the body, left or right. Such weakness could range from stuck in a wheelchair, to possibly assisted walking with some sort of brace. There's definitely still a huge chance of survival, however, as this doesn't exactly affect any cognitive or respiratory or some other lethal mishap. With help from others and a nonthreatening environment, there's a high chance of survival. The postcentral gyrus and central sulcus could potentially be tapped into for support of the motors, but for the kind of strength and endurance of a normal person, you'd really need the precentral gyrus.

Unit 7 Reflection

chicken lab
https://lgsuhsd.instructure.com/courses/2493/assignments/24868/submissions/802?download=122891

Reflection
From the very beginning of this unit, we were tested in our vocabulary regarding the different movements of the synovial joints and muscles. These key actions were actually very helpful as we went through the rest of the unit, and it served as a sturdy foundation for us to learn about how these movements were made possible. Simple ones like rotation and elevation/depression seemed easy to understand, but supination/pronation and plantar flexion/dorsiflexion were harder to pick up. All the movements, however, really showed us how many different types of movements different body parts made, as they couldn't be all the same, or that would make life a lot harder for us. The contraction and stretching of a muscle really got to me the most as we learned about just how each muscle contracted. There are so many smaller elements like the fibers and the actin and the myosin that really make the process a little bit more complicated than step 1: contract the muscle. There's chemical processes with Ca2+ and ATP and there's also physical processes like the power moves and all of them work together to do one task. Additionally, in our extremely hands on chicken dissection lab, although we only looked through some uncooked food, in reality we actually discovered a lot of names of the different muscles within the bodies of a chicken. While not all of them were sized and shaped like the ones in our bodies, there were similarities between limb muscles that really helped us realize the real life application and learning about the muscles in our own bodies. Learning location and function of each muscle really broadened our horizon on just "muscle." Also learning about the conditioning and steroid abuse helped us gain some world view on how things are happening now, and also how we should take care of our own muscles and our body health to avoid health hazards. There was just so much to absorb, and I know I learned all of the material when I was reading, listening, and noting. I just hope I still remember all of the information by the end of it. Times are surprisingly tough as a second semester senior, and I think there's still a lot of pressure that I really wish wasn't there. I still have the drive and the push to excel in academics, but there are a lot of challenging obstacles in the way. No matter what though, I'm powering through. That's how I've always done it and I'm getting through this dip and moving on.

Performance Enhancements Advertisement

Reflection

I've definitely heard of steroids before, but I had no idea how bad the side effects were. I thought they only had long term negative effects on the muscles, but there were a couple defects I didn't know about, like the reduction of sperm, or even something close to gender swapping, with the women's voice dropping and men developing breasts. It all makes sense, but it still is jaw dropping. I think most of the man made techniques and products are quite hazardous, but there are a few that I would regard as safer. Massages seem to only be positive, and while caffeine definitely can cause insomnia and even addiction, I can't tell you how many times I needed that extra boost to get me through school. Also, the diets were quite interesting, with the carbs and the proteins. I was doing some web surfing, and actually actors like Chris Evans, Hugh Jackman, and Chris Pratt often had to turn to certain protein diets and daily workout sessions to reach a certain physique for the role they were to cast. Most of their days consisted of lifting and eating pounds of chicken and fish, and simple greens like broccoli, but avoiding sugar and alcohol. It's definitely uncomfortable from what I've read, but that's probably because humans weren't exactly made to just be work out machines. It's fascinating that we can learn so much about these things which have so much real life application.