• Question: have you nacy ever tuched a brain

    Asked by to Nancy, Elaine on 20 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Elaine Gardener

      Elaine Gardener answered on 20 Jun 2014:

      I have never touched a brain, I’d love to one day, they fascinate me how everything we think and do and our entire body relies on it. It’s amazing

    • Photo: Nancy Carlisle

      Nancy Carlisle answered on 23 Jun 2014:

      I have been able to touch ‘plasticized’ sheep brains, and also looked at shark brains, fish brains, and cat brains during a course I took (then taught) called ‘Comparative anatomy of vertebrates’. (Note: vertebrates are animals who, like ourselves, have spinal cords.) When the brains are going to be touched frequently, often they are ‘plasticized’ meaning that they are injected with a substance to make them more firm. Plasticized brains feel like a rubber.

      Real brains are super squishy- like jelly! They float around in our skulls in cerebrospinal fluid so that their squishiness doesn’t get rammed into our hard skulls. Normally, this fluid protects our brains so that they don’t get damaged, but if you hit your head really hard (like if you are in a car crash) sometimes your brain does get smashed against the inside of your skull. This can cause bruising or swelling that can then create more damage.

      Overall, brains are really cool- you should check out some images of different kinds of brains here: http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/WhoAmI/FindOutMore/Yourbrain.aspx
      Check it out! 😉

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