ScribePost: March 15
heyo, so today we didn't really cover too much, so I'll explain what stuck out to me best.
sort of quick review...
Nerves are bundles of axons
Ganglia are swellings associated with nerves that contain cell bodies
now there are two kinds of nerves, Cranial Nerves and Spinal Nerves. at this point mr. mac explained one of my life long questions- how exactly does brain freeze occur? the secret is in the Cranial Nerves, which are attached to the brain and are either sensory or motor. when we drink a freezing cold beverage, these nerves send crazy little messages up to the brain. and since they are related to the face, neck and head as well, we experience discomfort.
some other stuff that I organized nicely in my notes came out looking like this:
Peripheral Nervous System
......./ ...............................\
.Somatic................ Autonomic
(reflexes) ...........((homeostatic)
............................/.......................\
..................sympathetic .......parasympathetic
.................((fight/flight) .........(rest and digest)
for me I just find that it's easier to understand the divisions and subdivisions of things when they're organized like this- hope it helps you guys also!
ok. so all of this is great and all but the thing that I think I will most likely remember from today's lesson is that something as beautitful as this (http://2aday.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/slurpee.jpg) could cause me such pain, and that the answer to this lies in the Cranial Nerves.