Watching You.......

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Good Riddance (Time Of your Life) - Green Day

GOOD RIDDANCE ( TIME OF YOUR LIFE ) 
This song is about looking back on your life and seeing how you spent it. 
AND/OR.... 
I've heard (from an interview) that this is a song about being drunk. 
AND/OR.... 
This song was how Green Day said goodbye to their punk pals who turned their backs on them .

"Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)"

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test, and don't ask why
It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind
Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time
Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial
For what it's worth it was worth all the while

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

(This song i dedicate to in memory of Douglas Danggat a.k.a Billie, Sep 10,1986 - Mac 8,2011.)

Thank you, my best friend you are Punk rock forever

Hurt By the One You Love

In the simplest terms, emotional abuse is defined as behaviour and language designed to degrade or humiliate individuals by attacking their self-value or personality. While a normal couple may disagree about how to spend money, for example, an emotinal abuser will make his partner or spouse feel as tough she’s too stupid to understand the intricasies of finances. It can range from verbal abuse – yelling, blaming, shaming and name calling – to isolation, intimidation and threats. Such behaviours make victims feel alone and unimportant. Although there are few firm statistic on emotional abuse’s prevalence among couples, expert say as many as two-thirds experience it, one-third of them chronically. It effects can be devastating: Depression, anxiety and destroyed self –esteem. It’s very erosive, wether it’s overt or covert, the abuse negates a woman’s very being.

Finding The Escape Hatch.
Breaking up with an emotionally abusive partner or spouse is no easy task. These relationships can be like a physical addiction; when romantic love mixes with fear, the result is powerful and dangerous. Our bodies secrete chemicals when we engage ourselves in physical contact, and some – such as the neutrotransmitter dopamine – create pleasant sensations that we crave. We repeat the behaviour that makes our dopamine levels spike, so women who associate love with fear can be vulnerable to choosing men who will hurt them. Emotionally, abused woman also become used to the behaviour, and even if they don’t like it, they may not feel like they have the psychological or social or social resources to sever the toxic bonds. In trying to please abusive men, they’ve mad so many adjustments and accommodations that no sense of self is left. This is how some abusive men manage to coerce their partners into crimes.

Breaking up...

Experts say that the shattered confidence can also make it difficult to leave, even if the woman is miserable. Guilt can also make it harder to break things off. If a woman didn’t see or ignored the early warning signs and instead formed a deep bond with her partner, she’s going to feel guilt and shame about leaving. So, the important step is to recognise the abuse and our own limits in stopping it. The hope that their abusive partners will change is what keeps many women hanging on but, it’s often a futile dream. Individual therapy for abusers also tends not to help because therapists may identify with their patients ant not to be able to recognise the abuse.And couples therapy isn’t the solution if one partner is abusive, it can actually make things worse.


SOURCE : Nature and Health

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Top 10 Doomsday Prophecies

How will the world end?

It seems like every few years, someone comes out with a new doomsday prophecy. The latest apocalyptic craze places Earth's final day on Dec. 21, 2012 -- the end of the Great Cycle in the Mayan calendar. But whether the supposed agent of doom is aliens, asteroids, floods or earthquakes, the outcome is always the same -- the Earth manages to endure. Such predictions are nothing new. After Jesus' rumored ascension to heaven in the first century A.D., early Christians believed he would soon return, bringing an end to life as they knew it, as described in Mark 13:24-26: "But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory."

Since then, there has been no shortage of apocalyptic forecasts. But why? Why do people continue to predict the end of the world, and why do others insist on believing them? Perhaps some zealots feel the need to justify their preconceived worldviews through revelations about the latest celestial event or natural disaster. And maybe those who trust such doomsayers are simply hopeful for an escape from a world that seems cruel or chaotic. Whatever the case, you're sure to enjoy our list of 10 doomsday prophecies.

10: The Seekers, Dec. 24, 1955

In December 1954, a headline in the Chicago Tribune read, "Doctor Warns of Disasters in World Tuesday -- Worst to Come in 1955 He Declares." The doctor, Charles Laughead, was a follower of Dorothy Martin, a 54-year-old housewife from Oak Park, Ill. Martin believed that aliens from the planet Clarion had beamed down messages informing her that a massive flood would soon destroy the planet. Her wild prophecies attracted a small group of followers known as the "Seekers," many of whom had quit their jobs and sold their belongings in anticipation of the end. They gathered at Martin's home on Christmas Eve, 1955, singing Christmas carols while they waited to be saved by the aliens in their flying saucers. As the night wore on, Martin's followers became increasingly impatient. Finally, at 4:45 a.m. on Christmas Day, Martin announced that God had been so impressed by their actions that he would no longer destroy the Earth.

This story has a side note that is almost as interesting as the prophecy itself. A small group of psychologists and students organized by University of Minnesota social psychologist Leon Festinger infiltrated the Seekers in an effort to study and better understand apocalyptic cults. Festinger revealed his findings in the 1956 book, "When Prophecy Fails: A Social and Psychological Study of a Modern Group that Predicted the Destruction of the World." This work was an early exploration of the psychologist's now-famous theory of "cognitive dissonance," a term that refers to the human tendency to rationalize when one's thoughts and actions are in disagreement.

9: Mayan Calendar, 2012

The Mayan calendar marks Dec. 21, 2012 as the end of a Great Cycle.

The 2009 movie, "2012," is a 158-minute showcase of apocalyptic eye candy, with enough death and destruction to bring up the question, "What's so bad about 2012?" It depends on who you ask. The fear is based on the way some people interpret the Mayan Long Count calendar, which is divided into Great Cycles lasting approximately 5,125 years. One of these cycles ends on Dec. 21, 2012, giving some doomsdayers the ammunition they need to declare the impending apocalypse. They also have numerous theories about how exactly the world will end. Some claim that a mysterious planet known as Nibiru, Planet X or Eris, or a large meteor, will collide with Earth. Another popular theory is that the Earth's magnetic poles will reverse, causing the planet's rotation to reverse as well.

Scientists have already dismissed these theories as laughable. They contend that if a celestial body were on a crash course with Earth, they would have already noticed it. And while astronomers recognize that the magnetic poles do reverse every 400,000 years or so, they insist that this event does not affect the Earth's rotation and will not harm life on Earth. Perhaps the most interesting part of this whole apocalyptic fad is that the Mayans themselves don't expect that the world will end in 2012, rather, they expect it to be a time of great celebration and luck when the planet completes the current Great Cycle.

8: Harold Camping, May 21, 2011

The Bible is pretty clear about doomsday prophecies: "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father," reads Mark 13:32. But that hasn't stopped some believers from trying to make predictions anyway. One such man is Harold Camping, a retired engineer who believes that the Bible is a numerical code book that can be deciphered to reveal clues about the end times. Camping, the founder of the independent ministry Family Radio International first predicted that the world would end in September 1994. But when the apocalypse failed to materialize, he attributed the error to incomplete research.

Camping recently gained additional attention for his latest doomsday prediction: May 21, 2011. In an interview with New York Magazine on May 11, 2011, the 89-year-old was brimming with confidence, saying, "God has given sooo much information in the Bible about this, and so many proofs, and so many signs, that we know it is absolutely going to happen without any question at all." Camping was so certain that his ministry spent millions of dollars plastering the Judgement Day message on more than 5,000 billboards and 20 recreational vehicles as a warning to the general public. When May 21 came and went without interruption, Camping did what any good doomsayer would -- he blamed the mistake on a mathematical error and moved the date back to October 21.

7: William Miller, 1843-1844

Miller believed Jesus would return to Earth in 1843.

William Miller and the Millerites may sound like a good name for a 1960s pop act, but in the 1840s, they were a fairly successful doomsday cult. That is, if you measure success by the number of followers, not the eventual occurrence of the predicted apocalypse.

Miller was a product of the Second Great Awakening, a period of intense religious revival from which several modern denominations were born, including the Mormons and the Seventh Day Adventists. A farmer-turned-preacher, Miller crested this wave of spiritual fervor with his prediction that Jesus would return to Earth in March 1843. He derived his prophecy from a complex system of mathematical calculations and promoted it by giving sermons and passing out pamphlets during the 1830s and early 1840s. Scholars estimate that of the some 1 million people who heard his message, about 100,000 actually chose to follow him. As March 1843 neared, many of these believers sold all of their possessions, donned white robes, and climbed to the tops of mountains and hills to await their rapture into heaven. When nothing happened, Miller moved the date to October 1844, which also proved to be a bust, leading some to label the non-event "The Great Disappointment." Most of the preacher's followers then abandoned him, and some went on to form the Adventist Church.

6: Halley's Comet, May 1910

Halley's Comet is a ball of icy dust that's visible from Earth every 76 years.

A unique astronomical event is a surefire way to inspire a doomsday prophecy. Enter Halley's Comet, a ball of icy dust that is visible from Earth every 76 years. When this celestial body was scheduled to make a pass in 1910, the claims of impassioned astronomers at Chicago's Yerkes Observatory inspired fear in a surprising number of people. They insisted that the comet's tail was made of poisonous cyanogen gas, and when Earth passed through it on May 18, the toxic fumes would cause widespread death. Some opportunists tried to profit from the hysteria, selling "comet pills," masks and bottled oxygen intended to help people survive the noxious Armageddon.

As the deadly date approached, some concerned citizens stuffed towels under their doors and covered their keyholes with paper to protect themselves from the gas cloud. Others refused to go to work, choosing instead to stay at home with their families or seek refuge in their churches. Conversely, those not taken by the apocalyptic predictions watched the night pass without incident at rooftop "comet parties" held across the United States.

5: Large Hadron Collider, 2009-2012

The Large Hadron Collider can accelerate hydrogen protons to 99.9999991 percent of the speed of light. At these speeds, the particles will complete 11,245 laps around the 17-mile (28-kilometer) collider per second [source: Johnson].

To anyone without a particle physics degree, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) may seem like a scary piece of advanced machinery. The massive particle accelerator's circular tunnel, located just outside of Geneva, Switzerland, measures 17 miles (28 kilometers) in total circumference. It can send hydrogen protons crashing in to one another nearly of the speed of light, allowing scientists to discover new elements and particles that may shed light on the creation of the universe. That is, if everything goes as planned.

Some theorists suggest that the massive energies created during such collisions could potentially form black holes capable of engulfing the entire planet. These fears came to a head in March 2008 when Walter L. Wagner and Luis Sancho filed a lawsuit in a U.S. court to stop the LHC from beginning operation until scientists produced a safety report and environmental assessment. While most scholars acknowledge the possibility of black holes, they dismiss the danger, insisting that any such anomaly would only last a matter of seconds -- hardly long enough to swallow the earth. Despite the controversy, researchers fired up the LHC in 2009 and have accomplished some remarkable feats, including the creation of a soupy mass of matter thought to resemble the conditions of the universe just after the Big Bang. By the end of 2010, no black holes had been detected in the LHC but according to doomsayers, that doesn't mean we're in the clear. Something could always happen before scientists conclude the project in 2012.

4: Shoko Asahara, 1997-2000

Why wait for the apocalypse if you can make it happen yourself? This was the mindset of the Japanese doomsday prophet Shoko Asahara. Born Chizuo Matsumoto in 1955, Asahara was completely blind in one eye and partially sightless in the other. His rise as a cult leader began after he was arrested in 1982 for selling fake cures from his traditional Chinese apothecary business. The would-be prophet was reportedly crushed by the incident, which left him embarrassed and bankrupt.

In 1984, Asahara opened a yoga studio, boasting that he had achieved satori, a Japanese term for enlightenment, and claiming that he could levitate. He established the Aum Shinrikyo religion in 1987, a name derived from a sacred Hindu symbol and a Japanese word that translates as "supreme truth." He soon gained more than 10,000 followers in Japan and 30,000 to 40,000 in Russia, and even produced several candidates to run in the 1990 Japanese legislative elections [source: Onishi]. As Asahara's success increased, his behavior became increasingly peculiar. He began encouraging his followers to drink his bathwater and blood, and claimed that he could save them from the apocalypse, which he believed would occur after a poison gas attack sometime between 1997 and 2000. Perhaps in an effort to speed along this process, Aum members boarded five trains on March 20, 1995, releasing toxic sarin into three subway lines. The attack killed 12 people and injured another 5,500 [source: Onishi]. Asahara was soon arrested by Japanese authorities and sentenced to death in February 2004.

3: Heaven's Gate, 1997

Heaven's gate logo

Marshall Applewhite, with his piercing, wide-eyed stare, looks like a man who was destined to lead a doomsday sect. He was the leader of Heaven's Gate, a cult founded in Texas during the early 1970s. The group soon moved to the American southwest where Applewhite began to preach about a spaceship that would spare true believers from the apocalypse and take them to the heavenly "Level Above Human." After two decades proselytizing in the desert, Heaven's Gate moved to California where they started a Web consulting business called "Higher Source" to fund their activities. There they lived in a sprawling Spanish-style house and reportedly watched episodes of "X-Files" and "Star Trek" religiously.

Heaven's Gate took a grim turn in 1997, the year that the comet Hale-Bopp shined brightly in the night sky. It all started on Nov. 14, 1996, when Applewhite and his followers were listening to Art Bell's "Coast to Coast," a radio show dedicated to UFO topics. During the program, an amateur astronomer called in and claimed to have photographed a mysterious object hiding in Hale-Bopp's tail. This was all the evidence that Applewhite needed to confirm his spaceship prophecy from the 1970s. He and his group soon began preparations to board the UFO through the execution of a mass suicide. When police entered the California compound on March 26, 1997, they found 39 bodies dressed in black tunics with a cloth draped over their heads. They had killed themselves with a cocktail of vodka and barbiturates, or by smothering themselves with plastic bags.

2: Y2K, 2000

Y2K did not end the world, but it did create headaches for some IT professionals.

The year 2000 sparked a number of doomsday scares, but none was more prominent than the supposed Y2K computer glitch. The problem was this: When computer codes were first written, dates were abbreviated to two digits in order to save memory; for example, "1998" would simply be written as "98." This system worked just fine until 2000, when the date code "00" threatened to cause inaccurate calculations. A 1998 feature story from Microsoft offers an excellent example to illustrate the perceived problem:

"For example, say you buy a new refrigerator in 1999 with a credit card. The bank will run into problems in 2000 when it tries to calculate the interest owed and subtracts the transaction date (99) from the current date (00). The computer is going to come up with the number -99" [source: Crawford].

Some people believed that this glitch would cause apocalyptic consequences. According to these gloomy predictions, at the stroke of midnight on Jan. 1, 2000, airplanes would drop from the sky, elevators would plummet from the tops of skyscrapers, and the world economy would come to a screeching halt. In response to these fears, the U.S. government and American corporations spent a total of $108.8 billion on Y2K computer fixes [source: Karl]. In the end, nothing fell from the sky, but the world's computers did manage to disrupt some credit card terminals in Britain and send out some bills supposedly due in 1900. To the relief of billions, civilization survived almost completely unscathed.

1: The Sun Becomes a Red Giant, 7.6 billion years from now

Not all apocalyptic predictions are steeped in religious fervor or science fiction; some are based solidly upon respected science. Most scholars agree that 7.6 billion years from now, the sun will enter its red giant phase when it has converted all of its hydrogen into helium. This will cause the sun to expand to a size 20 percent greater than that of Earth's orbit and shine 3,000 times brighter [source: Appell]. Once this stage is complete, the sun will then collapse into a white dwarf.

Whether this process will actually destroy the planet is a topic of debate in the scientific community. If Earth were to stay in its current orbit, it would undoubtedly be engulfed and vaporized by the expanding sun. However, as the sun swells it will also lose mass, meaning that Earth will drift further away from it and perhaps escape total destruction. Either way, this process would destroy life as we know it, that is, if there were any life left to destroy.

Lots More Information

Related Articles

• Are major solar flares coming in 2012?
• How the Doomsday Ark Works
• How the Mayan Calendar Works
• How Nostradamus Works
• How the Year 2000 Problem Worked
• How Cults Work
• Is a major planetary alignment coming in 2012?
• Top 10 Space Conspiracy Theories
• Why do scientists think we're nearing the end of the world?
• Will the world really end in 2012?

More Great Links

• Apocalypse Pictures, National Geographic
• Judgement Day? Five Failed End-of-the-World Predictions, Christian Science Monitor
• Ten Notable Apocalypses that (Obviously) Didn't Happen, Smithsonian
• Top 10 End-of-the-World Prophecies, Time Magazine

Sources

• "A Conversation With Harold Camping, Prophesier of Judgment Day." New York Magazine. May 11, 2011. (June 15, 2011) http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/05/a_conversation_with_harold_cam.html
• Appell, David. "The Sun Will Eventually Engulf Earth--Maybe." Scientific American Magazine. Sept. 8, 2008. (June 15, 2011) http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-sun-will-eventually-engulf-earth-maybe
• Brumfiel, Geoff. "No Black Holes Formed at Large Hadron Collider." Scientific American. Dec. 14, 2010. (June 15, 2011) http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=no-black-holes-formed-at-large
• Burke, Garance. "Doomsday Date Was Miscalculated, Says Harold Camping." May 26, 2011. (June 15, 2011) http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/0526/Doomsday-date-was-miscalculated-says-Harold-Camping
• Crawford, Kathryn. "Tick Tock: The Year 2000 Problem." Microsoft. May 4, 1998. (June 15, 2011) http://www.microsoft.com/misc/features/features_2000.htm
• Derbyshire, David. "Birth of the Universe 'Re-created': Large Hadron Collider Generates 'Mini Big Bang.'" The Daily Mail. Nov. 9, 2010. (June 15, 2011) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1327769/Large-Hadron-Collider-creates-mini-Big-Bang.html
• Johnson, John Jr. "The End of the World As We Know It." Los Angeles Times. April 13, 2008. (June 15, 2011) http://articles.latimes.com/print/2008/apr/13/science/sci-collider13
• Karl, Jonathan. Y2K Precautions: Successful or Excessive?" CNN. Jan. 2, 2000. (June 15, 2011) http://archives.cnn.com/2000/US/01/02/y2k.hyped/index.html
• Maeder, Jay. "Doomsday: When Halley's Comet Came To Town, 1910." New York Daily News. March 28, 1998. (June 15, 2011) http://articles.nydailynews.com/1998-03-29/news/18068556_1_edmond-halley-great-comet-skies
• Minard, Anne. "Red Giant Sun May Not Destroy Earth." National Geographic News. Sept. 14, 2007. (June 15, 2011) http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/09/070914-red-giants.html
• Moser, Whet. "Apocalypse Oak Park: Dorothy Martin, the Chicagoan Who Predicted the End of the World and Inspired the Theory of Cognitive Dissonance." ChicagoMag.com. May 20, 2011. (June 13, 2011) http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/The-312/May-2011/Dorothy-Martin-the-Chicagoan-Who-Predicted-the-End-of-the-World-and-Inspired-the-Theory-of-Cognitive-Dissonance/
• Newman, Sharan. "The Real History of the End of the World." New York: Berkley Books, 2010.
• O'Carroll, Eoin. "Judgment Day? Five End-of-the-World Predictions." May 2011. (June 13, 2011) http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/0518/Judgment-Day-Five-failed-end-of-the-world-predictions/October-22-1844
• "One Year Later, Heaven's Gate Suicide Leaves Only Faint Trail." CNN. March 15, 1998. (June 15, 2011) http://articles.cnn.com/1998-03-25/us/9803_25_heavens.gate_1_cult-members-marshall-applewhite-wayne-cooke?_s=PM:US
• Onishi, Norimitsu. "After 8-Year Trial in Japan, Cultists is Sentenced to Death." The New York Times. Feb. 28, 2004. (June 15, 2011) http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/28/world/after-8-year-trial-in-japan-cultist-is-sentenced-to-death.html?ref=shokoasahara&pagewanted=1
• Overbye, Dennis. "Asking the Judge to Save the World, and Maybe a Whole Lot More." The New York Times. March 29, 2008. (June 15, 2011) http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/science/29collider.html
• "Profile: Shoko Asahara." BBC News. Feb. 27, 2004. (June 15, 2011) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3504237.stm
• Purdum, Tom S. " In Serene Setting in California, A Suicide Investigation Unfolds." The New York Times. March 30, 1997. (June 15, 2011) http://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/30/us/in-serene-setting-in-california-a-suicide-investigation-unfolds.html?ref=heavensgate&pagewanted=1
• Robinson, Wendy Gale. "Heaven's Gate: The End?" Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. December 1997. (June 15, 2011) http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol3/issue3/robinson.html
• Sanders, John. "Y2K Bug Has No Bite." The Globe and Mail. Jan. 1, 2000. (June 15, 2011) http://www.theglobeandmail.com/archives/y2k-bug-has-no-bite/article577373/
• Strauss, Mark. "Ten Notable Apocalypses That (Obviously) Didn't Happen." Smithsonian. Nov. 12, 2009. (June 15, 2011) http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Ten-Notable-Apocalypses-That-Obviously-Didnt-Happen.html
• Walsh, James and Edward W. Desmond. "Shoko Asahara: The Making of a Messiah." Time. April 3, 1995. (June 15, 2011) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,982749-1,00.html
• Weber, Eugen. "Apocalypses: Prophesies, Cults, and Millennial Beliefs through the Ages." Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999.
• White, L. Michael and Paul Boyer. "William Miller and the Second Great Awakening." Frontline. 2011. (June 15, 2011) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/apocalypse/explanation/amprophesy.html
• Yeomans, Don. "2012--A Scientific Reality Check." NASA. Nov. 10, 2009. (June 15, 2011) http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/yoemans20091110.html

How Your Brain Works

The human nervous system

Every animal you can think of -- mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, amphibians -- has a brain. But the human brain is unique. Although it's not the largest, it gives us the power to speak, imagine and problem solve. It is truly an amazing organ.

The brain performs an incredible number of tasks including the following:

• It controls body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate and breathing.
• It accepts a flood of information about the world around you from your various senses (seeing, hearing,smelling, tasting and touching).
• It handles your physical movement when walking, talking, standing or sitting.
• It lets you think, dream, reason and experience emotions.

All of these tasks are coordinated, controlled and regulated by an organ that is about the size of a small head of cauliflower.

Related Articles How Albert Einstein's Brain Worked How Brain Death Works Curiosity Project: 5 Ways Science is Studying the Brain

Your brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves make up a complex, integrated information-processing and control system known as yourcentral nervous system. In tandem, they regulate all the conscious and unconscious facets of your life. The scientific study of the brain and nervous system is called neuroscience or neurobiology. Because the field of neuroscience is so vast -- and the brain and nervous system are so complex -- this article will start with the basics and give you an overview of this complicated organ.

We'll examine the structures of the brain and how each section controls our daily functions, including motor control, visual processing, auditory processing, sensation, learning, memory and emotions.

Neuron Structure

The basic design of a neuron

Your brain is made of approximately 100 billion nerve cells, called neurons.Neurons have the amazing ability to gather and transmit electrochemical signals -- think of them like the gates and wires in a computer.

Neurons share the same characteristics and have the same makeup as other cells, but the electrochemical aspect lets them transmit signals over long distances (up to several feet or a few meters) and send messages to each other.

Neurons have three basic parts:

• Cell body or soma. This main part has all of the necessary components of the cell, such as the nucleus (which contains DNA), endoplasmic reticulum and ribosomes (for building proteins) and mitochondria (for making energy). If the cell body dies, the neuron dies.
• Axon . This long, cablelike projection of the cell carries the electrochemical message (nerve impulse or action potential) along the length of the cell. Depending upon the type of neuron, axons can be covered with a thin layer of myelin sheath, like an insulated electrical wire. Myelin is made of fat and protein, and it helps to speed transmission of a nerve impulse down a long axon. Myelinated neurons are typically found in the peripheral nerves (sensory and motor neurons), while non-myelinated neurons are found in the brain and spinal cord.
• Dendrites or nerve endings. These small, branchlike projections of the cell make connections to other cells and allow the neuron to talk with other cells or perceive the environment. Dendrites can be located on one or both ends of a cell.

Basic Neuron Types

Meet the neurons!

Neurons come in many sizes. For example, a single sensory neuron from your fingertip has an axon that extends the length of your arm, while neurons within the brain may extend only a few millimeters.

They also have different shapes depending on their functions. Motor neurons that control muscle contractions have a cell body on one end, a long axon in the middle and dendrites on the other end. Sensory neurons have dendrites on both ends, connected by a long axon with a cell body in the middle. Interneurons, orassociative neurons, carry information between motor and sensory neurons.

These fundamental members of the nervous system also vary with respect to their functions.

• Sensory neurons carry signals from the outer parts of your body (periphery) into the central nervous system.
• Motor neurons (motoneurons) carry signals from the central nervous system to the outer parts (muscles, skin, glands) of your body.
• Interneurons connect various neurons within the brain and spinal cord.

The simplest type of neural pathway is a monosynaptic (single connection) reflex pathway, like the knee-jerk reflex. When the doctor taps the right spot on your knee with a rubber hammer, receptors send a signal into the spinal cord through a sensory neuron. The sensory neuron passes the message to a motor neuron that controls your leg muscles. Nerve impulses travel down the motor neuron and stimulate the appropriate leg muscle to contract. The response is a muscular jerk that happens quickly and does not involve your brain. Humans have lots of hardwired reflexes like this, but as tasks become more complex, the pathway circuitry gets more complicated and the brain gets involved.

Brain Parts

As you proceed up the evolutionary ladder from fish toward humans, check out the changes in the brain. For example, the cerebrum gets bigger, takes up a larger part of the total brain and becomes folded.

The simplest possible creatures have incredibly basic nervous systems made up of nothing but reflex pathways. For example, flatworms and invertebrates don't have centralized brains. They have loose associations of neurons arranged in straightforward reflex pathways. Flatworms haveneural nets, or individual neurons linked together that form a net around the entire animal.

Most invertebrates (such as the lobster) have modest "brains" that consist of localized collections of neuronal cell bodies called ganglia. Each ganglion controls sensory and motor functions in its segment through reflex pathways, and the ganglia are linked together to form a simple nervous system. As nervous systems evolved, chains of ganglia evolved into more centralized simple brains.

Brains evolved from ganglia of invertebrates. Regardless of the animal, brains have the following parts:

• The brain stem, which consists of the medulla (an enlarged portion of the upper spinal cord), pons and midbrain (lower animals have only a medulla). The brain stem controls the reflexes and automatic functions (heart rate, blood pressure), limb movements and visceral functions (digestion, urination).
• The cerebellum integrates information from the vestibular system that indicates position and movement and uses this data to coordinate limb movements.
• The hypothalamus and pituitary gland are responsible for visceral functions, body temperature and behavioral responses such as feeding, drinking, sexual response, aggression and pleasure.
• The cerebrum (also called the cerebral cortex or just the cortex) consists of the cortex, large fiber tracts (corpus callosum) and some deeper structures (basal ganglia, amygdala and hippocampus). It integrates info from all of the sense organs, initiates motor functions, controls emotions and holds memory and thought processes (emotional expression and thinking are more prevalent in higher mammals).

Brains for Instinct

Here we're looking at the underside of the brain, showing the brain stem and cranial nerves.

Lower animals, such as fish, amphibians, reptiles and birds, don't do much "thinking," but instead concern themselves with the everyday business of gathering food, eating, drinking, sleeping, reproducing and defending themselves.

These are instinctual processes [source: National Geographic]. Therefore, their brains are organized along the major centers that control these functions.

We humans perform these functions as well, and so have a "reptilian" brain built into us. That means we have the same parts of the brain found in reptiles, namely the brain stem and the cerebellum.

Ready to learn about the lower brain? We'll discuss that on the next page. 

Lower Brain

A peek at the lower brain

The basic lower brain consists of the spinal cord, brain stem and diencephalon (the cerebellum and cortex are also present, but will be discussed in later sections). In turn, the brain stem comprises the medulla, pons, midbrain, hypothalamus and thalamus [source: Health Pages].

Within each of these structures are centers of neuronal cell bodies, called nuclei, which are specialized for particular functions (breathing, heart-rate regulation, sleep):

• Medulla -- The medulla contains nuclei for regulating blood pressure and breathing, as well as nuclei for relaying information from the sense organs that comes in from the cranial nerves. It's also the most ancient part of the brain.
• Pons -- The pons contains nuclei that relay movement and position information from the cerebellum to the cortex. It also contains nuclei that are involved in breathing, taste and sleep, and physically connects medulla to the midbrain.

Spinal Cord The spinal cord can be viewed as a separate entity from the brain, or merely as a downward extension of the brain stem. It contains sensory and motor pathways from the body, as well as ascending and descending pathways from the brain. It has reflex pathways that react independently of the brain, as in the knee-jerk reflex.

• Midbrain -- The midbrain contains nuclei that link the various sections of the brain involved in motor functions (cerebellum, basal ganglia, cerebral cortex), eye movements and auditory control. One portion, called thesubstantia nigra, is involved in voluntary movements; when it does not function, you have the tremored movements of Parkinson's disease.
• Thalamus -- The thalamus relays incoming sensory pathways to appropriate areas of the cortex, determines which sensory information actually reaches consciousness and participates in motor-information exchange between the cerebellum, basal ganglia and cortex.
• Hypothalamus -- The hypothalamus contains nuclei that control hormonal secretions from the pituitary gland. These centers govern sexual reproduction, eating, drinking, growth, and maternal behavior such as lactation (milk-production in mammals). The hypothalamus is also involved in almost all aspects of behavior, including your biological "clock," which is linked to the daily light-dark cycle (circadian rhythms). 

Balancing Act

The Vestibular System The vestibular system is responsible for maintaining posture, balance and spatial orientation. Part of the system is located in the inner ear. It also includes the vestibulocochlear nerve (the eighth cranial nerve) and certain parts of the brain that interpret the information the vestibulocochlear nerve receives.

The cerebellum, also known as the "little brain" because it's folded into many lobes, lies above and behind the pons. As the second biggest area of the brain, it receives sensory input from the spinal cord, motor input from the cortex and basal ganglia, and position information from the vestibular system.

The "little brain" then integrates this information and influences outgoing motor pathways from the brain to coordinate movements. To demonstrate this, reach out and touch a point in front of you, such as the computer monitor -- your hand makes one smooth motion. If your cerebellum were damaged, that same motion would be very jerky, as your cortex initiated a series of small muscle contractions to home in on the target point. The cerebellum may also be involved in language (fine muscle contractions of the lips and larynx), as well as other cognitive functions.

Higher Brains

External parts of the human brain

The cerebrum is the largest part of the human brain. It contains all of the centers that receive and interpret sensory information, initiate movement, analyze information, reason and experience emotions. The centers for these tasks are located in different parts of the cerebral cortex, which is the outside layer of the cerebellum and is comprised of gray matter. The inside is made up of white matter.

Major Parts of the Cerebral Cortex


The cortex dominates the exterior surface of the brain. The surface area of the brain is about 233 to 465 square inches (1,500 to 2,000 cm²), which is about the size of one to two pages of a newspaper. To fit this surface area within the skull, the cortex is folded, forming folds (gyri) and grooves (sulci). Several large sulci divide the cerebral cortex into various lobes: thefrontal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe and temporal lobe. Each lobe has a different function.

Get to know the interior of your brain a bit better.

When viewed from above, a large groove (interhemispheric fissure) separates the brain into left and right halves. The halves talk to each other through a tract of white-matter fibers called the corpus callosum. Also, the right and left temporal lobes communicate through another tract of fibers near the rear of the brain called the anterior commissure.

If you look at a cutaway view of the brain, you see that the cortical area above the corpus callosum is divided by a groove. This groove is called the cingulate sulcus. The area between that groove and the corpus callosum is called the cingulate gyrus, also referred to as the limbic system orlimbic lobe. Deep within the cerebrum are the basal ganglia, amygdala and hippocampus.

This ends our tour of the major structures of the cortex. Now, let's see what those structures do.

Hard-wired

Sure, this homunculus looks rather strange, but that's because the representation of each area is related to the number of sensory neuronal connections, not its physical size.

The brain is hard-wired with connections, much like a skyscraper or airplane is hard-wired with electrical wiring. In the case of the brain, the connections are made by neurons that link the sensory inputs and motor outputs with centers in the various lobes of the cerebral cortex. There are also linkages between these cortical centers and other parts of the brain.

Several areas of the cerebral cortexhave specialized functions:

Parietal lobe -- The parietal lobe receives and processes allsomatosensory input from the body (touch, pain).

• Fibers from the spinal cord are distributed by the thalamus to various parts of the parietal lobe.
• The connections form a map of the body's surface on the parietal lobe. This map is called ahomunculus.
• The rear of the parietal lobe (next to the temporal lobe) has a section called Wernicke's area, which is important for understanding the sensory (auditory and visual) information associated with language. Damage to this area of the brain produces what is called sensory aphasia, in which patients cannot understand language but can still produce sounds.

Frontal lobe -- The frontal lobe is involved in motor skills (including speech) and cognitive functions.

• The motor center of the brain (pre-central gyrus) is located in the rear of the frontal lobe, just in front of the parietal lobe. It receives connections from the somatosensory portion in the parietal lobe and processes and initiates motor functions. Like the homunculus in the parietal lobe, the pre-central gyrus has a motor map of the brain (for details, see A Science Odyssey: You Try It: Probe the Brain Activity).
• An area on the left side of the frontal lobe, called Broca's area, processes language by controlling the muscles that make sounds (mouth, lips and larynx). Damage to this area results in motor aphasia, in which patients can understand language but cannot produce meaningful or appropriate sounds.
• Remaining areas of the frontal lobe perform associative processes (thought, learning, memory).

Occipital lobe -- The occipital lobe receives and processes visual information directly from the eyes and relates this information to the parietal lobe (Wernicke's area) and motor cortex (frontal lobe). One of the things it must do is interpret the upside-down images of the world that are projected onto the retina by the lens of the eye.

Temporal lobe -- The temporal lobe processes auditory information from the ears and relates it to Wernicke's area of the parietal lobe and the motor cortex of the frontal lobe.

• Basal ganglia: Also located within the temporal lobe, the basal ganglia work with the cerebellum to coordinate fine motions, such as fingertip movements.
• Limbic system: Located deep within the temporal lobe, the limbic system is important in emotional behavior and controlling movements of visceral muscles (muscles of the digestive tract and body cavities). The limbic system is comprised of the cingulate gyrus, corpus callosum, mammillary body, olfactory tract, amygdala and hippocampus.
• Hippocampus: The hippocampus is located within the temporal lobe and is important for short-term memory.
• Amygdala: The amygdala is located within the temporal lobe and controls social and sexual behavior and other emotions.
• Insula: The insula influences automatic functions of the brainstem. For example, when you hold your breath, impulses from your insula suppress the medulla's breathing centers. The insula also processes taste information, and separates the temporal and frontal lobes.

Water on the Brain

The human brain's ventricular system

Your brain and spinal cord are covered by a series of tough membranes calledmeninges, which protect these organs from rubbing against the bones of the skull and spine.

For further protection, the brain and spinal cord "float" in a sea ofcerebrospinal fluid within the skull and spine. This cushioning fluid is produced by the choroid plexus tissue, which is located within the brain, and flows through a series of cavities (ventricles) out of the brain and down along the spinal cord. The cerebrospinal fluid is kept separate from the blood supply by the blood-brain barrier.

As you can see, your brain is a complex, highly organized organ that governs everything you do. Now that you are familiar with the anatomy of the brain, keep reading for more articles on how it works.

Lots More Information

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Sources

• Bryn Mawr University. "Brain Structures and their Functions." June 3, 2005. (June 13, 2011).
  http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/kinser/Structure1.html
• Children's Hospital Boston. "The Neuron." 2007. (June 13, 2011).
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• Healthpages.org. "Anatomy of the Brain." Feb. 28, 2011. (June 15, 2011).
  http://healthpages.org/anatomy-function/brain-anatomy/
• McGill University. "The Brain From Top To Bottom." (June 14, 2011).
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• National Geographic. "Command Central." 1996-2011. (June 14, 2011).
  http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/health-and-human-body/human-body/brain-article/
• The Science Museum. "What makes the human brain unique." Sciencemuseum.org. (June 13, 2011).
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• Washington University, Neuroscience for Kids. "Types of Neurons." 1996-2011. (June 13, 2011).
  http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/cells.html