The fatty armor keeping signals strong
Chapter 1

How nerves send lightning messages

Chapter 2

Inside the brain's command center

Chapter 3

The body's automatic survival systems

Chapter 4

The brain's incredible shape-shifting power

YOUR GOAL

Master of The body's electrical highway

Ch 1 · How nerves send lightning messages
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artiteacher The fatty armor keeping signals strong

Jul 11

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artiteacher How nerves send lightning messages

Electric sparks fly, / Faster than a race car, / Flash to the brain!

Jul 10

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artiteacher Speeding faster than a racecar

Jul 11

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The fatty armor keeping signals strong

artiteacher A protective layer of fat wraps around your nerves to keep electrical messages from leaking out.

Jul 10

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Speeding faster than a racecar

artiteacher Signals zoom through your nerve fibers at speeds that rival the world's fastest high-speed trains.

Jul 10

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Sparky Nerves
BETA

artiteacher Tap the neural pathways to discover how electrical signals travel from brain to body.

Jul 7

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Fun Fact

Nerve length: If you lined up all the nerves in an adult body end-to-end, they would stretch about 45 miles long.

Jul 10

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Glossary
action potential (noun)
A momentary change in electrical potential associated with the passage of an impulse along a nerve cell. Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley first recorded this electrical signal in 1939 using a giant squid axon.

Jul 10

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Gossip

If you could test your reflexes, which challenge sounds most exciting?

Jul 10

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Quiz

Which scientist discovered chemical neurotransmitters in 1921 using frog hearts?

Jul 10

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artiteacher The microscopic messengers inside us

Jul 11

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Quiz

What is the maximum speed that nerve signals can travel through the human body?

Jul 10

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artiteacher The tiny chemical leaps between nerves

Jul 11

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Quiz

What is the name of the protective, insulating layer that wraps around nerve fibers?

Jul 10

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Quiz

Approximately how many neurons are found in a healthy human brain?

Jul 10

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Quiz

Which German scientist coined the term "neuron" in 1891?

Jul 10

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Quiz

What would be the total length of an adult human's nerves if stretched end-to-end?

Jul 10

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Quiz

What is the main function of neurotransmitters in the human nervous system?

Jul 10

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Quiz

How wide is the average synaptic gap between two communicating neurons?

Jul 10