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Question: If you were to cut a brain in half what would it look like?
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Fiona Randall answered on 23 Jun 2010:
Hey, here is a link to a picture… it is too hard to describe! http://uk.images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fuk.images.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3DhumAN%2Bbrain%2Bhalf%26b%3D22%26ni%3D21%26ei%3Dutf-8%26xargs%3D0%26pstart%3D1%26fr%3Dyfp-t-702&w=640&h=480&imgurl=www.umanitoba.ca%2Ffaculties%2Fmedicine%2Funits%2Fanatomy%2Fimages%2Fventriclesa.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.umanitoba.ca%2Ffaculties%2Fmedicine%2Funits%2Fanatomy%2Fjvbmrgrbrsp.html&size=62k&name=ventriclesa+jpg&p=humAN+brain+half&oid=168c89230482875e&fr2=&no=33&tt=520&b=22&ni=21&sigr=129nadt1a&sigi=128lihhqa&sigb=13k2f3t20
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Joanna Brooks answered on 23 Jun 2010:
Hello! If you started in the middle and cut the brain from front to back – you would be cutting along a long natural split called a ‘fissure’ which every brain has. You would then end up with two halves of brain called the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere. Each side is identical in the way that it looks – wrinkly on the outside surface but much smoother on the inside. You would also be able to see the brain stem on each side more clearly – the brain stem joins the brain to the spinal cord.
Think about cutting a cauliflower in half (or even a walnut) – that’s kind of how the brain looks! Although each side looks the same there are differences in function that we have talked about before.
Click here for an interactive tour of the brain!
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William Davies answered on 23 Jun 2010:
hey gandalftgrey! was going to try and post a picture of half my brain from an MRI scan that I had done a few years ago. check this out instead
Basically you’ve got the spinal cord coming up in front of the cerebellum (responsible for delicate movements) – this then turns into the medulla oblongata and pons (responsible for basic functions like breathing). Towards the bottom of the brain is the hypothalamus (responsible for chemical balance and sexual behaviour amongst other things) – in the middle is the hippocampus (memory) and thalamus (responsible for integrating sensory information and acting accordingly). The white bit in the centre is the corpus callosum which allows both sides of the brain to communicate. The outer layer (the pink, wrinkly bit) is the cortex, and this is responsible for most higher cognitive functions.
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Michelle Murphy answered on 23 Jun 2010:
Hey
As the brain is mainly fat think about the texture of cutting butter. It looks like a solid smooth surface with different shades of grey (assumining you cut right to left). If you look at pictures the dark grey/black areas are what we call ventricles or gaps in the brain that are filled with fluid. We use a book of pictures of slices of the brain called an atlas to help us tell where about in the brain we have cut as there are differences in regions towards the front of the brain compared to towards the back of the brain. In our lab we take really fine slices of the brain and stain the nuclei of cells to help us find regions of interest this is similar staining to what you do with cells from onions or your cheeks at school.
Comments
Joanna commented on :
Oh! I should have just uploaded a picture! Ha ha I tried for ages to think of the best way to describe it!