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The Discovery FilesMapping The Brain!
The human brain has billions of neurons that communicate by sending chemical and electrical signals. Mapping these electrical signals is critical to successful brain surgery and treatment of diseases like Epilepsy and Parkinson's. Researchers have developed an array of brain sensors that record electrical signals directly on the surface of the brain at a higher resolution than before, improving a surgeon's ability to remove brain tumors with minimal risk of damaging healthy tissue and to identify areas where epileptic seizures are born. Learn more at NSF's "The Discovery Files."
Credit: National Science Foundation
Mapping The Brain!
Hi! I'm Mo Barrow with The Discovery Files, from NSF -- the U.S. National Science Foundation.
The average human brain contains some 86 billion nerve cells, called neurons, that communicate with each other by sending chemical and electrical signals.
Identifying and mapping these electrical signals is critical to successful brain surgery and the treatment of neurological diseases such as Epilepsy and Parkinson's.
With support in part from NSF, a team of engineers, surgeons and researchers from the University of California, San Diego, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Oregon Health and Science University have developed an array of brain sensors that can record electrical signals directly from the surface of the brain, in extraordinary detail.
Surgeons are already using sensor grids on the surface of the brain to guide them in surgeries and treating drug-resistant Epilepsy, but these new, higher-resolution recordings could improve a surgeon's ability to remove brain tumors with minimal risk of damaging healthy tissue and identify areas where epileptic seizures are born.
Those 86 billion neurons in your brain are in constant communication. Now, thanks to this research, surgeons can map the conversation.
Discover how the U.S. National Science Foundation is advancing research at nsf.gov.
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