The Human Brain

​The brain is where we do our thinking. All our senses are tied into our brains allowing us to experience the outside world. We remember, have emotions, solve problems, worry about stuff, dream about the future, and control our bodies in our brains.

introduction

​For such an awesome organ, the brain doesn't look like much. It's a ball of gray looking wrinkled tissue about the size of two of your fists put together. The brain sits in our hard, thick skull with membranes and fluid around it to protect it.

How the Brain Communicates

The brain is part of the nervous system. Together with the spinal cord, it makes up the central nervous system. The brain connects to nerves that travel throughout the body. Nerves from our senses (hearing, seeing, touch, etc.) send signals to the brain to let the brain know what is going on in the outside world. The brain also sends signals using nerves to muscles in order to make our body move.

​The cerebrum is the biggest part of the brain. It's the gray wrinkly upper part. The surface of the cerebrum is called the cerebral cortex. Different parts of the cerebrum deal with different parts of the body. The back part deals with vision while other parts deal with other functions like movement, hearing, language, and touch. Smart or thinking people are sometimes called cerebral.

​At the back and bottom of the brain is the cerebellum. This part of brain deals with motor movement. It processes all the incoming motor messages from the nerves and figures out what to do with them. The cerebellum can learn motor movements with practice allowing us to do stuff like riding a bike or typing without even thinking about it. Hey, I didn't think about typing this once!

​Brain stem or medulla: this is where the brain connects to the spinal cord. Many automatic functions are controlled here like keeping the heart beating, breathing and digesting food.