Nervous System

This is our "Information Highway." The Nervous System is our internal means of moving information. The brain is the head of our nervous system, the nerves penetrate virtually every part of our bodies and uses these pathways--nerves--to send the information to our brain via the spinal cord.

This brain of ours does some very important jobs, that's why it's so well protected. The skull and a layer of fluid cushion and protect our brains. Your brain receives information about what is happening all over your body at every moment, then it sends orders to organs and to muscles, but it also manages our emotions, memories, thoughts, imagination, helps us to learn, memorize, reason, it helps us create things from great art to entire operas to paper airplanes.

This very fine computer also controls functions that we never have to think about, like our heart beat and taking a breath.

Our brains can send these orders and communicate with the whole body through the nervous system. The spinal cord runs down the center of the spine and is a thick cord of nerve tissue that carries all of this information both ways, to and from the brain.

The nerve tissue is made up of cells called neurons. These cells are the longest cells in the body. They work on low-voltage electricity. Electrical impulses travel at incredible speeds, up to 250 miles per hour, so you can see that your brain can send information around the entire body in a fraction of a second.

Our nerve tissues can specialize and become receptors that respond to different stimuli. We are so sensitive to our environment that we can detect a slight temperature change or feel the lightest breeze.

When you consider it, we own the finest computer every designed, our brain. If you're old enough, you'll remember that our first computers were called "Electronic Brains."

The brain you have sitting in your skull is amazing. It weighs about 3 pounds, is totally portable, comes with its own power supply and requires little, if any, maintenance. It lasts a long time, upwards to 100 years and if it is damaged by injury or abuse, many times it can "re-wire" itself and work "good as new." It's so user friendly that babies can handle it. I'd say that this brain of ours was an incredible piece of equipment.

WHAT CAN GO WRONG

Since nerves stimulate all the tissues of the body, they are absolutely vital to every cell in the body. But there are some things that can go wrong with the nerves themselves.