MCB80x

MCB80x, the fundamental of neuroscience, is a free, open, online Neuroscience course from HarvardX led by Professor David Cox. Animation by Daniela Sherer + Music by Dan Deacon. Edited by Alex Auriema.

Welcome

• Harvard
• brain
• Three parts
  • explore science in Harvard and Boston
  • guided interactivity
  • DIY science
• Modules
  • THE ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF THE NEURON
    • signal generating, transfering
  • NEURONS AND NETWORKS
    • groups of neurons
  • THE BRAIN
    • society, intelligence

• Basics
  • 1.3 million named and catalogued species on earth, and scientists estimate there are over 7 million no
  • Why human distinct ?
    • human behavior, 30~300 thousand years ago, when our ancestor’s brains began to structurally and functionally resemble our own
    • think symbolically
      • raise language, art, music, religion, philosophy, science
      • circumvent (规避) evolutionary and environment constraints
    • brain is the key
      • not size, whale, elephant, dolphin
      • but inner wiring
  • CNS, central nervous system
    • brain
    • spinal cord 脊髓
  • PNS, peripheral nervous system 周围神经系统
  • specialized cells
  • brain, made up of some 100 billion neurons, plus a myriad (无数的) of other cell types
  • Networks of neurons exchange information among dozens of brain areas specialized for different tasks
  • and researchers suspect that it is something about the organization and function of these networks that may hold the key to our uniquely human brain.