{"product_id":"neuroanatomy-of-the-brain-and-its-functionalities-by-stephenk-marchant","title":"Neuroanatomy of The Brain and its Functionalities by Stephen.K. Marchant","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe human brain is truly a masterpiece of creation! The human brain is one-of-a-kind: our extraordinary cognitive ability has enabled us to invent the wheel, build the pyramids and land on the moon. Indeed, scientists have referred to the human brain as the “crowning achievement of evolution.” But what exactly is it about our brains that make them so unique? Some of the most persuasive arguments have been that our brains have more neurons and expend more energy than would be expected for our size. Asides from this, our cerebral cortex, which is responsible for higher cognition, is disproportionately large—accounting for more than 80% of our total brain mass. The rise of more robust data collection techniques is one reason scientists can now unravel these more nuanced differences between the human brain and those of other species. Scientists at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, for example, have created detailed atlases of the expression patterns of thousands of genes in various species including adult mouse and human brains. Researchers used these massive data sets in a study published last week in Nature Neuroscience to look for patterns of gene expression that are shared across the human population. They were able to find 32 distinct signatures among 20,000 genes that appear to be shared across 132 brain regions in six people (see a map here). This one-of-a-kind genetic code may help explain what gives rise to our distinctly human characteristics. This discovery may have another significant implication: the capacity for plasticity; researchers have discovered that glia plays an important role in brain shaping. “One interesting thing in the context [of the uniqueness of the human brain] is that you could imagine that one way to enhance the system would be, to make it more plastic—I’m speculating here, but [glia] could potentially be one route to do that,” says senior author and Allen neuroscientist Ed Lein. “However, we still need to conduct the analysis to determine whether this is unique to humans or widespread among primates.” Plasticity may be at the root of the specific differences in our brains that result in our unique cognitive abilities. According to a study published last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, human brains may be less genetically inheritable and thus more plastic than those of our closest ancestors. Read more\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Stephen.K. Marchant","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48142922318009,"sku":"1915018021","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0793\/7871\/0713\/files\/9781915018021-right-three-quarter.jpg?v=1784784778","url":"https:\/\/www.bestbuybook.com\/products\/neuroanatomy-of-the-brain-and-its-functionalities-by-stephenk-marchant","provider":"BestBuyBook","version":"1.0","type":"link"}