page 214 Nervous System (Photo credit: perpetualplum)
Human brain – anterior-inferior view (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Human brain lateral view (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Human brain, medial view (Photo credit: EUSKALANATO)
The human brain (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Human brain NIH (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
For You created my inmost being;
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Your works are wonderful; I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
Your eyes saw my unformed body.
Psalm 139:13-16 NIV
For You formed my inward parts;
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
Psalm 139:13-16 NKJV
Subject: Harvard scientists map most complicated terrain in the universe - the inside of the human brain
Subject: Land of dreams: Harvard scientists map most complicated terrain in the universe - the inside of the human brain
Land of dreams: Harvard scientists map most complicated terrain in the universe - the inside of the human brain
· Magnetic resonance scanner builds first 3D interior maps of brain
· Could allow treatment of brain disorders
· Scans up until now 'have not shown the real brain,' say researchers
· Harvard scientists have developed hi-tech new methods to explore inside the human brain using magnetic resonance scanning.
Professor Jan Wedeen claims that the rainbow-coloured scans offer the first real insight into the pathways of the human brain's 100 billion cells - and how it works.
‘The brain we’ve been looking at with conventional scans all these years is not the real brain,' says Wedeeen. 'We’re just seeing a shadow of its surfaces.’
Using just three colours he is able to tag nerve cells with a certain colour before tracing the connections - a task that would take hundred thousand years using traditional methods.
Lichtman said, 'The human brain is the most complicated object in the known universe. It holds our memories and our fears, processes information and allows us to see, hear and feel.
'But we don’t have real tools to understand it it. There’s a whole class of disorders of the nervous system that people suspect are due to defects in the connections between nerve cells, but we just don’t have the means to trace the connections.'
These pathways can then be used by scientists to create a 3-D map of the intricate networks that make up our brain.
What’s more, this grid structure has now been revealed in amazing detail as part of a brain imaging study by a new state-of-the-art magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner.
Van Wedeen, of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), who led study, said: ‘Far from being just a tangle of wires, the brain's connections turn out to be more like ribbon cables - folding 2D sheets of parallel neuronal fibers that cross paths at right angles, like the warp and weft of a fabric.
Thomas R Insel, the director of the National Institute for Mental Health, said: ‘Getting a high-resolution wiring diagram of our brains is a landmark in human neuroanatomy.
‘This new technology may reveal individual differences in brain connections that could aid diagnosis and treatment of brain disorders.’
The Connectom MRI scanner was installed at MGH last year and can visualise the networks of criss-crossing fibers – by which different parts of the brain communicate with each other – in 10-fold higher detail than conventional scanners, according to Wedeen.
He said: ‘This one-of-a-kind instrument is bringing into sharper focus an astonishingly simple architecture that makes sense in light of how the brain grows. The wiring of the mature brain appears to mirror three primal pathways established in embryonic development.’
As the brain gets wired up in early development, its connections form along perpendicular pathways, running horizontally, vertically and transversely.
If they can turn in just four directions: left, right, up or down, this may enforce a more efficient, orderly way for the fibers to find their proper connections – and for the structure to adapt through evolution, suggest the researchers.
Obtaining detailed images of these pathways in human brain has long eluded researchers, in part, because the human cortex, or outer mantle, develops many folds, nooks and crannies that obscure the structure of its connections.
Although studies using chemical tracers in neural tracts of animal brains yielded hints of a grid structure, such invasive techniques could not be used in humans.
It’s thought that with previous technology 25 per cent of the brain’s structure was revealed – the new scanner shows 75 per cent of it.
· Could allow treatment of brain disorders
· Scans up until now 'have not shown the real brain,' say researchers
· Harvard scientists have developed hi-tech new methods to explore inside the human brain using magnetic resonance scanning.
Professor Jan Wedeen claims that the rainbow-coloured scans offer the first real insight into the pathways of the human brain's 100 billion cells - and how it works.
‘The brain we’ve been looking at with conventional scans all these years is not the real brain,' says Wedeeen. 'We’re just seeing a shadow of its surfaces.’
A
fluorescent 'brainbow' map of the connecting nerve cells in a brain by
Harvard's Jeff Lichtman, which shows patterns of fibres interconnecting
to form a 3D brain-***EXCLUSIVE*** HARVARD UNIVERSITY, MA - UNDATED: A
fluorescent 'brainbow' map of the connecting nerve cells in a brain by
Jeff Lichtman. YOU could call them Brainbows - as these colourful
images were created by neurobiologists while mapping our minds. Boffins
from Harvard Medical School in the USA have set about meticulously
logging more than 100 billion nerve cells and neurones in the human
brain. Using advanced MRI screening technology they are uncovering the
anatomical features of our minds that have previously been undetectable.
And the results have produced these psychedelic images - where swirling
streaks of colour shoot in all directions. NEEDED PHOTOGRAPH BY Jeff
Lichtman / SPL / Barcroft Media UK Office, London. T +44 845 370 2233
W www.barcroftmedia.com USA Office, New York City. T +1 212 796
2458 W www.barcroftusa.com Indian Office, Delhi. T +91 11 4053 2429
W www.barcroftindia.com
The
3D maps will allow us to see 'inside' the workings of the brain for the
first time, claim the scientists-***EXCLUSIVE*** HARVARD UNIVERSITY,
MA - UNDATED: A map of the human brain showing the connecting nerve
cells in our minds by Van Wedeen. YOU could call them Brainbows - as
these colourful images were created by neurobiologists while mapping our
minds. Boffins from Harvard Medical School in the USA have set about
meticulously logging more than 100 billion nerve cells and neurones in
the human brain. Using advanced MRI screening technology they are
uncovering the anatomical features of our minds that have previously
been undetectable. And the results have produced these psychedelic
images - where swirling streaks of colour shoot in all directions.
NEEDED PHOTOGRAPH BY Van Wedeen / SPL / Barcroft Media UK Office,
London. T +44 845 370 2233 W www.barcroftmedia.com USA Office, New
York City. T +1 212 796 2458 W www.barcroftusa.com Indian Office,
Delhi. T +91 11 4053 2429 W www.barcroftindia.com
Professor
Jeff Lichtman, also from Harvard, has developed a related technique
used for tracing the connecting pathways between each neuron on animal
brains.Using just three colours he is able to tag nerve cells with a certain colour before tracing the connections - a task that would take hundred thousand years using traditional methods.
Lichtman said, 'The human brain is the most complicated object in the known universe. It holds our memories and our fears, processes information and allows us to see, hear and feel.
'But we don’t have real tools to understand it it. There’s a whole class of disorders of the nervous system that people suspect are due to defects in the connections between nerve cells, but we just don’t have the means to trace the connections.'
These pathways can then be used by scientists to create a 3-D map of the intricate networks that make up our brain.
For
a long time it was thought that the brain was a mass of tangled wires,
but researchers recently found that its fibers are actually set up like a
chess board, crossing at right-angles-***EXCLUSIVE*** HARVARD
UNIVERSITY, MA - UNDATED: A map of the connecting nerve cells in a mouse
brain dubbed a brainbow artwork. YOU could call them Brainbows - as
these colourful images were created by neurobiologists while mapping our
minds. Boffins from Harvard Medical School in the USA have set about
meticulously logging more than 100 billion nerve cells and neurones in
the human brain. Using advanced MRI screening technology they are
uncovering the anatomical features of our minds that have previously
been undetectable. And the results have produced these psychedelic
images - where swirling streaks of colour shoot in all directions.
NEEDED PHOTOGRAPH BY Ju Lu / SPL / Barcroft Media UK Office, London. T
+44 845 370 2233 W www.barcroftmedia.com USA Office, New York City.
T +1 212 796 2458 W www.barcroftusa.com Indian Office, Delhi. T +91
11 4053 2429 W www.barcroftindia.com
Thomas
R Insel, the director of the National Institute for Mental Health,
said: ¿Getting a high-resolution wiring diagram of our brains is a
landmark in human neuroanatomy.-***EXCLUSIVE*** HARVARD UNIVERSITY, MA -
UNDATED: A fluorescent 'brainbow' map of the connecting nerve cells in a
brain by Jeff Lichtman. YOU could call them Brainbows - as these
colourful images were created by neurobiologists while mapping our
minds. Boffins from Harvard Medical School in the USA have set about
meticulously logging more than 100 billion nerve cells and neurones in
the human brain. Using advanced MRI screening technology they are
uncovering the anatomical features of our minds that have previously
been undetectable. And the results have produced these psychedelic
images - where swirling streaks of colour shoot in all directions.
NEEDED PHOTOGRAPH BY Jeff Lichtman / SPL / Barcroft Media UK Office,
London. T +44 845 370 2233 W www.barcroftmedia.com USA Office, New
York City. T +1 212 796 2458 W www.barcroftusa.com Indian Office,
Delhi. T +91 11 4053 2429 W www.barcroftindia.com
A
team from Harvard Medical School in the USA have set about meticulously
logging more than 100 billion nerve cells and neurons in the human
brain-***EXCLUSIVE*** HARVARD UNIVERSITY, MA - UNDATED: A fluorescent
'brainbow' map of the connecting nerve cells in a brain by Jeff
Lichtman. YOU could call them Brainbows - as these colourful images
were created by neurobiologists while mapping our minds. Boffins from
Harvard Medical School in the USA have set about meticulously logging
more than 100 billion nerve cells and neurones in the human brain. Using
advanced MRI screening technology they are uncovering the anatomical
features of our minds that have previously been undetectable. And the
results have produced these psychedelic images - where swirling streaks
of colour shoot in all directions. NEEDED PHOTOGRAPH BY Jeff Lichtman /
SPL / Barcroft Media UK Office, London. T +44 845 370 2233 W
www.barcroftmedia.com USA Office, New York City. T +1 212 796 2458 W
www.barcroftusa.com Indian Office, Delhi. T +91 11 4053 2429 W
www.barcroftindia.com
Professor
Van Wedeen's team has cracked how to 'map' the interior of the brain
for the first time--***EXCLUSIVE*** HARVARD UNIVERSITY, MA - UNDATED:
Professor Van Wedeen poses for a photograph. YOU could call them
Brainbows - as these colourful images were created by neurobiologists
while mapping our minds. Boffins from Harvard Medical School in the USA
have set about meticulously logging more than 100 billion nerve cells
and neurones in the human brain. Using advanced MRI screening technology
they are uncovering the anatomical features of our minds that have
previously been undetectable. And the results have produced these
psychedelic images - where swirling streaks of colour shoot in all
directions. NEEDED PHOTOGRAPH BY Van Wedeen / SPL / Barcroft Media UK
Office, London. T +44 845 370 2233 W www.barcroftmedia.com USA
Office, New York City. T +1 212 796 2458 W www.barcroftusa.com
Indian Office, Delhi. T +91 11 4053 2429 W www.barcroftindia.com
For
a long time it was thought that the brain was a mass of tangled wires,
but researchers recently found that its fibers are actually set up like a
chess board, crossing at right-angles.What’s more, this grid structure has now been revealed in amazing detail as part of a brain imaging study by a new state-of-the-art magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner.
Van Wedeen, of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), who led study, said: ‘Far from being just a tangle of wires, the brain's connections turn out to be more like ribbon cables - folding 2D sheets of parallel neuronal fibers that cross paths at right angles, like the warp and weft of a fabric.
Geoff
Lichtman's 'tagging' technique 'lights up' the fibres of a mouse
brain***EXCLUSIVE*** HARVARD UNIVERSITY, MA - UNDATED: A map of the
connecting nerve cells in a mouse brain dubbed a 'Brainbow by Jeff
Lichtman. YOU could call them Brainbows - as these colourful images
were created by neurobiologists while mapping our minds. Boffins from
Harvard Medical School in the USA have set about meticulously logging
more than 100 billion nerve cells and neurones in the human brain. Using
advanced MRI screening technology they are uncovering the anatomical
features of our minds that have previously been undetectable. And the
results have produced these psychedelic images - where swirling streaks
of colour shoot in all directions. NEEDED PHOTOGRAPH BY Jeff Lichtman /
SPL / Barcroft Media UK Office, London. T +44 845 370 2233 W
www.barcroftmedia.com USA Office, New York City. T +1 212 796 2458 W
www.barcroftusa.com Indian Office, Delhi. T +91 11 4053 2429 W
www.barcroftindia.com
Using
advanced MRI screening technology they are uncovering the anatomical
features of our minds that have previously been undetectable
***EXCLUSIVE*** HARVARD UNIVERSITY, MA - UNDATED: A 'Brainbow' map of
the connecting nerve cells in a mouse brain by Jeff Lichtman. YOU could
call them Brainbows - as these colourful images were created by
neurobiologists while mapping our minds. Boffins from Harvard Medical
School in the USA have set about meticulously logging more than 100
billion nerve cells and neurones in the human brain. Using advanced MRI
screening technology they are uncovering the anatomical features of our
minds that have previously been undetectable. And the results have
produced these psychedelic images - where swirling streaks of colour
shoot in all directions. NEEDED PHOTOGRAPH BY Jeff Lichtman / SPL /
Barcroft Media UK Office, London. T +44 845 370 2233 W
www.barcroftmedia.com USA Office, New York City. T +1 212 796 2458 W
www.barcroftusa.com Indian Office, Delhi. T +91 11 4053 2429 W
www.barcroftindia.com
A
map of the human brain showing the connecting nerve cells in our minds
by Van Wedeen-***EXCLUSIVE*** HARVARD UNIVERSITY, MA - UNDATED: A map
of the human brain showing the connecting nerve cells in our minds by
Van Wedeen. YOU could call them Brainbows - as these colourful images
were created by neurobiologists while mapping our minds. Boffins from
Harvard Medical School in the USA have set about meticulously logging
more than 100 billion nerve cells and neurones in the human brain. Using
advanced MRI screening technology they are uncovering the anatomical
features of our minds that have previously been undetectable. And the
results have produced these psychedelic images - where swirling streaks
of colour shoot in all directions. NEEDED PHOTOGRAPH BY Van Wedeen /
SPL / Barcroft Media UK Office, London. T +44 845 370 2233 W
www.barcroftmedia.com USA Office, New York City. T +1 212 796 2458 W
www.barcroftusa.com Indian Office, Delhi. T +91 11 4053 2429 W
www.barcroftindia.com
Curvature
in this image of a whole human brain turns out to be folding of 2D
sheets of parallel neuronal fibers that cross paths at right angles
‘This grid structure is continuous and consistent at all scales and across humans and other primate species.’Thomas R Insel, the director of the National Institute for Mental Health, said: ‘Getting a high-resolution wiring diagram of our brains is a landmark in human neuroanatomy.
‘This new technology may reveal individual differences in brain connections that could aid diagnosis and treatment of brain disorders.’
The Connectom MRI scanner was installed at MGH last year and can visualise the networks of criss-crossing fibers – by which different parts of the brain communicate with each other – in 10-fold higher detail than conventional scanners, according to Wedeen.
He said: ‘This one-of-a-kind instrument is bringing into sharper focus an astonishingly simple architecture that makes sense in light of how the brain grows. The wiring of the mature brain appears to mirror three primal pathways established in embryonic development.’
As the brain gets wired up in early development, its connections form along perpendicular pathways, running horizontally, vertically and transversely.
Revelation: The fabric-like 3D grid structure of connections in a monkey brain
This
grid structure appears to guide connectivity like lane markers on a
highway, which would limit options for growing nerve fibers to change
direction during development.If they can turn in just four directions: left, right, up or down, this may enforce a more efficient, orderly way for the fibers to find their proper connections – and for the structure to adapt through evolution, suggest the researchers.
Obtaining detailed images of these pathways in human brain has long eluded researchers, in part, because the human cortex, or outer mantle, develops many folds, nooks and crannies that obscure the structure of its connections.
Although studies using chemical tracers in neural tracts of animal brains yielded hints of a grid structure, such invasive techniques could not be used in humans.
It’s thought that with previous technology 25 per cent of the brain’s structure was revealed – the new scanner shows 75 per cent of it.
‘Before,
we had just driving directions. Now, we have a map showing how all the
highways and byways are interconnected,’ said Wedeen. ‘Brain wiring is
not like the wiring in your basement, where it just needs to connect the
right endpoints. Rather, the grid is the language of the brain and
wiring and re-wiring work by modifying it.’
Results of the study appear in the journal Science.
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