Mariana Apostolatos
Mr. Ippolito
January 13, 2020
Current Event 13
Sanders, Laura. “Some People with Half a Brain Have Extra Strong Neural Connections.” Science News, 19 Nov. 2019, https://www.sciencenews.org/article/some-people-with-half-brain-have-extra-strong-neural-connections.
According to a recent article by Laura Sanders, some people with half a brain have extra strong neural connections. Sanders described a study of six adults who, as children, had half of their brain removed to treat severe epilepsy. This study revealed how brains can reorganize and bounce back. She continues by stating that as extreme as the surgery is, most people keep or recover language and thinking skills. Sanders then offered evidence from a new study from Caltech. During the study, while the six participants rested in an MRI scanner, researchers measured blood flow in seven brain regions that handle jobs such as vision, attention and movement. Sanders explains that in the experiment, “blood flow served as a proxy for brain activity” and “when activity in one part of the brain changes in lockstep with activity in another, that implies that the regions are working together and sharing information.” These strong connections offer evidence of a healthy brain. In fact, this study revealed that the connections between those seven systems were even stronger than such connections in six people with whole brains.
Understanding more about how the brain reorganizes itself after a big change could lead to new approaches to speed people’s recoveries from common brain injuries. The brain is one of the largest and most complex organs in the human body. It is made up of more than 100 billion nerves that communicate in trillions of connections, controlling our thoughts, memory and speech, movement of the arms and legs, and the function of many organs within our body. The fact that the people with half a brain could function no differently than those with a normal brain is an astonishing discovery and can lead to the cure of more brain injuries.
This article was very well written and informative. It was very easy to read and follow, even providing an image of an MRI scan of half a brain. All of the information was introduced in chronological order and the author was very straight-foward and to the point. However, I felt that the article was lacking some information that could have helped deepen a reader’s understanding. The article was very short and I wished the author went more in depth about how this discovery could lead to new approaches to speed people’s recoveries from common brain injuries. The author didn’t explain specific connections this discovery will have on society. Overall, the article was easy to understand, engaging, and not too long, keeping the information relevant and to the point.
Amanda Troy
ReplyDelete1/20/20
AP Biology
Current Event 14
Sanders, Laura. “Some People with Half a Brain Have Extra Strong Neural Connections.”
Science News, 19 Nov. 2019,
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/some-people-with-half-brain-have-extra-strong-neural-conneCitions.
https://bronxvilleapbiology.blogspot.com/2020/01/some-people-with-half-brain-have-extra.html
I read Mariana’s review of the article, “Some People with Half a Brain Have Extra Strong Neural Connections” by Laura Sanders. First, Mariana described the study that took place. A detailed study of six adults who, as children, had half of their brain removed to treat severe epilepsy, shows how brains can bounce back and recover language and thinking skills. Next, Mariana goes into more detail about the study and concludes with the surprising discovery that connections between the seven systems in the brain that had undergone the surgery were stronger than such connections in six people with the whole brain. Next, Mariana notes why this study is so important: Understanding more about how the brain reorganizes itself after a drastic procedure could lead to new approaches to quicken people’s recoveries from common brain injuries.
While Mariana did a fantastic job reviewing this article, there is room for improvement. I wish Mariana would have included more quotes from the article, as this would have created a more professional review. Additionally, I wish Mariana touched more upon the amazing discovery that the connections between the seven systems in the brain were stronger than the connections of those who had not undergone surgery. However, this is not totally Mariana’s fault as the original article did not elaborate on this finding, but I found this to be very fascinating and would have loved to learn more.
I really enjoyed this current event as Mariana produced a very holistic, and comprehensive review of a very intriguing article. I find that learning about the brain and all of its endless complexities to be very eye-opening and it is these types of articles that make me realize just how powerful the brain is.