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Pyramidal cells in visual cortex
This composite of layer 2 to 3 pyramidal cells in the visual cortex depicts a volley of spikes emerging from the cell bodies and traveling down their axons. The pyramidal cells in the primary visual cortex process visual information received from the retina (via the lateral geniculate nucleus) and begin the task of converting the image into an understandable scene. These cells send their output to other layers within the primary visual cortex, as well as to cells in other parts of the brain.
More about this Image
This still image was derived from animations developed by Greg Hood, John Burkardt and Greg Foss of the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center. The work contributed to the planetarium show "Gray Matters: The Brain Movie," which debuted in 1999 at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
"Gray Matters" was a collaboration among the Studio for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University, the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition and PSC. The work was supported in part by a U.S. National Science Foundation grant (9705491). (Year of image: 1999)
Credit: Courtesy Greg Hood, John Burkardt and Greg Foss; Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center
Special Restrictions: Permission is granted to use this image for personal, educational or nonprofit/non-commercial purposes only. Permission to use this image in a manner not stated here must be obtained from the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center via e-mail at ghood@psc.edu or foss@psc.edu.
Images and other media in the National Science Foundation Multimedia Gallery are available for use in print and electronic material by NSF employees, members of the media, university staff, teachers and the general public. All media in the gallery are intended for personal, educational and nonprofit/non-commercial use only.
Images credited to the National Science Foundation, a federal agency, are in the public domain. The images were created by employees of the United States Government as part of their official duties or prepared by contractors as "works for hire" for NSF. You may freely use NSF-credited images and, at your discretion, credit NSF with a "Courtesy: National Science Foundation" notation.
Additional information about general usage can be found in Conditions.
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