Neuroscience
A review in the paper today of two new books about the way the brain works. The first one sounds very intriguing to me. It suggests a new way of thinking about the brain and the process behind thinking. The current model of thinking is based on electrical signals passing from one neuron to another. This book suggests that the glia, the surrounding network of cells which make up 85% of the brain, may play at least as large a role as the neurons.
"Labs around the country are finding that glial cells are involved in epilepsy, fetal brain development, mental illness, and even the generation of new neurons in adults. Others form a kind of super-aggressive commando unit that can tunnel through the snarls of dendrites and attack intruding organisms. Still others serve more like maniacal sidewalk sweepers, collecting and absorbing discarded potassium ions that are released by neurons when they fire.
All these roles, Fields believes, suggest the possibility that information travels not only through our neurons, but through a much vaster cellular network. “What would it mean to our current understanding of the mind and medicine,’’ he wonders, “if information flowed not only through neural circuits, but through glia as well?’’
Einstein’s brain, after all, contained as many neurons as yours or mine. But the numbers of Einstein’s glia? Off the charts."
The book that focuses on the role of the glial cells is THE OTHER BRAIN: From Dementia to Schizophrenia, How New Discoveries about the Brain Are Revolutionizing Medicine and Science
The other book reviewed is THE HIDDEN BRAIN: How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars, and Save Our Lives