It’s three in
the morning. Nature calls. You stagger from your bed, squinting in the darkness
as you blindly weave your way past a bookshelf, around the glass cabinet, and
down the corridor into the smallest room in the house. Not only do the
scientists John O’Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser understand how your
brain managed this – they earned themselves a Nobel Prize in the process.
May-Britt and Edvard found a type of nerve cell in a strip of tissue
connecting the hippocampus to other parts of the brain. Described as grid cells
(due to the pattern of their activation), these nerves seemed to act like a
coordinate system. Together, these cells provide you with a mental map and a
coordinate system that tells the rest of your brain where your body is in relation
to its surroundings. This way you’re able to move around even while you’re
unable to see, hear, or smell anything. For their research, John, May-Britt and Edvard were awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Many neurological conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease, can dramatically affect the hippocampus region. Knowing more about these cells and how they work can provide new insights and possibly new treatments for those who suffer spatial memory loss.
No comments:
Post a Comment