Brainzzzz

Last Thursday, I had my first lab for my Mammalian Neuroanatomy class. We got some human brains to look at, touch and play with a little, and then sheep brains to begin the dissection. Well, it was mostly preparation because it was the first day. We cut off the dura mater (the outer meninge, or membrane, that covers the brain/spinal cord), and took a peek at the pineal gland (in olden days, the purported seat of the soul) before returning the brains.

The term dura mater literally means "tough mother", and it really is a tough mother of a membrane. The pia mater, the innermost of the three layers, is soft and sticks to the brain. The arachnoid mater is a spider-webby network of membrane in between the two, through which cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flows. But the dura (from what I could tell through my gloves) feels a bit like tightly woven cloth, and is not very stretchy.

See that stuff peeled off to the side and labeled "1"? That's the dura mater. That's really how thick it is.

The dura dives into the gap between the two hemispheres of the cerebrum with a clever little move called the falx cerebri ("4" in the above picture). In the human brain, the separation goes quite deep, but even the millimetric depth of falx cerebri in the sheep brain made it extremely difficult to cut (it was hard to get the scissors under it without poking into the brain tissue).

All in all, it was a pretty cool lab, except for the pungent odor of formaldehyde. We didn't realize just how thoroughly we had to wash our brains to get rid of it before we began, and fumes from the remaining formaldehyde stung our eyes whenever we leaned in for an extended period of time. That of course meant three out of every four minutes, because our tasks involved things like identifying tiny little cranial nerves and cutting off the dura mater while sparing as many of those tiny little cranial nerves as possible.

Don't worry though, my dearies. That was only because we didn't prepare well enough. Next time, the brainwashing will be complete! Muahahaha!

Phone Trouble

I have a bumblebee-colored Sony Ericsson w760a. It's great. But I think that ever since my India trip, it's been angry at me. Since my phone is locked, I couldn't just grab a new SIM there and drop it in my phone. I did get a SIM card, but I borrowed my uncle's new phone (since he didn't really want to switch from his old, simple-to-use phone).

This new phone was a Nokia. It had lots of games and held a charge for more than 1.5 days, and I was playing with it all the time. Diamond Rush, City Bloxx, and that game with the cute little bouncing red ball were all very addictive ways to pass the time.

Well, I think my w760 felt betrayed. No matter how much I explained that the situation was not what it seemed, and that it was purely a work relationship, it still thought I was cheating on it. After we came back, it acted normal for almost a week. And then it started throwing tantrums. The center button (you know, the one that you need to press to select basically any option) has conditionally stopped working.

What do I mean conditionally? Well it still works - but only when the slider is closed. It refuses to work when the slider is open. And now, its intransigence (see, I'm actually remembering some of those GRE words!) has spread to the "C" button as well.

At any rate, we're going to the therapist, I mean, the AT&T store, today to see if we can't work this out with a little help.

Fate of the Updates

We played this song in band in middle school, and for some reason, I remembered it today. It's pretty epic, and pretty too. I don't remember if I played first or second flute, but I think I still have a copy of it in my music folder at home.



Now that I have bribed you with a song, I apologize for the infrequent posts of late (please put down that tomato!). I have returned to the USA, but my frequency of posting is still not very high. Mea culpa.

Right now, though, I'm trying to focus on studying for my GREs. I have a month before the General test and 6 weeks before the Biochem subject test, but I have a whole lot of material to cover for the Biochem test and I'm pretty sure I won't have nearly as much time a week from now.

Hell, I'm busy already. School started Thursday and I had a Japanese vocabulary quiz on Friday. Not review, but new words. Tomorrow (Monday), I have a kanji quiz, with a whole new set of kanji as well. Once we get into the listening quizzes, oral quizzes, written quizzes as well as reading homework, grammar homework, and kanji homework, it's going to get even busier.

Plus, because I can't bear the thought of dropping either one, I'm taking two language classes! Intermediate Telugu and Intermediate Japanese. This, in addition to Mammalian Neuroanatomy, the Psychology of Sleep, the Global Poverty reflection course for my practice (which only meets every other week), research, yongmudo, and salsa is probably a bit much...

It's okay, I'll take Telugu P/NP.

This is the Final Countdown!

I went to Berkeley to move my stuff back into my apartment, and it was a seriously gorgeous day. I finally reunited with my roomie and another friend after 2.5 months, which made me very happy. I got to meet our new roommate, who seems very sweet, so I'm excited for the year to come.

More than anything, though, it's difficult to believe that I'm a senior. I mean, has it really been 3 years since I was one of those clueless freshmen registering at Unit 2 and struggling to get all my boxes onto a cart and up the elevator? 3 years since I first began living away from home? 3 years since I left high school and a little bit of my shyness behind?

Has it really been 2 years since I moved into an apartment and had to start cooking (or microwaving) food? 2 years since I started living with my friend from middle school and her two high school friends who I had never met?

Do I really only have one more year with all these wonderful people before I go off to grad school or TeachForAmerica or a year working at Genentech or some other company?

I guess so.

Better make the most of it.

Hippocampus

In the brain, the hippocampus is the center for memory. This is where memories are first consolidated and stored, where associations are formed and activation of a few cells in the pattern can evoke the whole memory.

The Latin root for the word hippocampus is sea horse.

So, naturally:

The brain, languages, and puns (notice the brain coral?) all together in one beautiful shirt? I would've bought this, but unfortunately it didn't make it past Honorable Mention status on Woot.

Home Is Where My Comfort Is

I miss home.

I miss Berkeley.

I miss my friends.

I miss sleeping in my bed.

I miss wearing jackets and not having mosquito bites and eating pasta.

I miss being able to lock my door, walk out the gate and go wherever I want to go.

 

Just a week and a half and I get to go back to my life. Like I said, being here is a relief in some ways, but it's difficult in others.

It's Been More Than Two Weeks...Sorry!

I have been rather negligent in keeping up with this blog for the last few weeks. Well, the reason for that is that I've been traveling/vacationing with family (still in India) now that my project is done. With all that and studying for the GRE and trying to read/skim a chapter every two days of the Lodish text because there's no way I'll actually get it done once school starts, it's pretty difficult to keep up with two blogs. So once again, I will redirect you to my project blog, Hands-On Science.

In fact, let me start you off with a recent post to give you a little background on just how well the educational system is working here. This is the reason I chose to do this project, though at the time it was more based on a general knowledge of my cousins' experiences. I didn't have such fine stories to tell until now.

And if that's not you cup of tea, then bear with me for a couple more weeks. This blog will be back to normal when I'm back in the US (and have gotten over my jet lag).