The MIT Press has been a leader in open access book publishing for over two decades, beginning in 1995 with the publication of William Mitchell’s City of Bits, which appeared simultaneously in print and in a dynamic, open web edition.

The brain is a complex organ that controls thought, memory, emotion, touch, motor skills, vision, breathing, temperature, hunger and every process that regulates our body. Together, the brain and spinal cord that extends from it make up the central nervous system, or CNS. What is the brain made of? The spinal cord extends from the bottom of the medulla and through a large opening in the bottom of the skull. Supported by the vertebrae, the spinal cord carries messages to and from the brain and the rest of the body. Cerebellum How the Brain Works: The Facts Visually Explained published in 2020 by DK Media was written by John McCrone. Although the book itself did not win any awards, McCrone is a thirteen-time Australia Publisher of the Year Award winner. I honestly rate this book five stars. The pineal gland is located deep in the brain and attached by a stalk to the top of the third ventricle. The pineal gland responds to light and dark and secretes melatonin, which regulates circadian rhythms and the sleep-wake cycle. Ventricles and Cerebrospinal Fluid

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How Your Brain Works allows anyone to participate in the discovery of neuroscience. Gage and Marzullo help readers to learn: Midbrain. The midbrain (or mesencephalon) is a very complex structure with a range of different neuron clusters (nuclei and colliculi), neural pathways and other structures. These features facilitate various functions, from hearing and movement to calculating responses and environmental changes. The midbrain also contains the substantia nigra, an area affected by Parkinson’s disease that is rich in dopamine neurons and part of the basal ganglia, which enables movement and coordination. We are in the midst of Brain Awareness Week, dedicated to celebrating this most complex organ in the human body. And the workings of the brain are indeed mysterious: What are neural signals? What do they mean? How do our senses really sense? And how does our brain control our movements? Each region serves a different role. Gray matter is primarily responsible for processing and interpreting information, while white matter transmits that information to other parts of the nervous system. How does the brain work?

Pons. The pons is the origin for four of the 12 cranial nerves, which enable a range of activities such as tear production, chewing, blinking, focusing vision, balance, hearing and facial expression. Named for the Latin word for “bridge,” the pons is the connection between the midbrain and the medulla. Before the three arteries reach “their” brain region, where they split into smaller branches, they are close together below the brain. In this area, they are connected to each other by smaller blood vessels – forming a structure similar to a traffic circle. The arteries are connected to each other in other areas as well. The advantage of these connections is that blood supply problems in the brain can be compensated for to some extent: For example, if a branch of an artery gradually becomes narrower, blood can still flow to the part of the brain it supplies through these alternative routes (collateral blood flow). The vertebral arteries follow the spinal column into the skull, where they join together at the brainstem and form the basilar artery, which supplies blood to the rear portions of the brain.Have you ever asked yourself why you can't remember anything from before the age of three, why people experience deja vu, or how a bundle of cells in our heads can produce the remarkable phenomenon that is human consciousness? Drawing on the latest neuroscience research, this visual guide makes the hidden workings of the human brain simple to understand. Medulla. At the bottom of the brainstem, the medulla is where the brain meets the spinal cord. The medulla is essential to survival. Functions of the medulla regulate many bodily activities, including heart rhythm, breathing, blood flow, and oxygen and carbon dioxide levels. The medulla produces reflexive activities such as sneezing, vomiting, coughing and swallowing. Have your friend sit at a table with their dominant hand exposed over the edge, and have them make a pinching hold with their fingers. Grab a hold of the ruler by pinching it on the short side near the 30 cm mark and hold it upright such that the 0 cm end is just between your friend’s fingers.

The smallest branches (capillaries) of the arteries in the brain supply the brain cells with oxygen and nutrients from the blood – but they do not let other substances pass as easily as similar capillaries in the rest of the body do. The medical term for this phenomenon is the “blood-brain barrier.” It can protect the delicate brain from toxic substances in the blood, for example. The brainstem (middle of brain) connects the cerebrum with the spinal cord. The brainstem includes the midbrain, the pons and the medulla. A curved seahorse-shaped organ on the underside of each temporal lobe, the hippocampus is part of a larger structure called the hippocampal formation. It supports memory, learning, navigation and perception of space. It receives information from the cerebral cortex and may play a role in Alzheimer’s disease. Pineal GlandFrom the mechanics to the psychological each topic weaves its way into an overall picture of just how complex and amazing this mass of gray matter that sits on top of us is. Try as we might, and we do, we are trying to replicate the brain with our computer technology. In fact we seem to be hard at work trying to make our phones one day replace that organ. You see this everyday with folks driving around more occupied with it then the road. Yet we are still way, way away from duplicating this most superior biological machine. We will no doubt make great strides in the decades ahead but will we ever replicate it completely, doubtful. And we certainly should ask do we really want that. Are men’s and women’s brains really different? Why are teenagers impulsive and rebellious? And will it soon be possible to link our brains together via the Cloud? Cranial nerve 3: The oculomotor nerve controls pupil response and other motions of the eye, and branches out from the area in the brainstem where the midbrain meets the pons. Frontal lobe. The largest lobe of the brain, located in the front of the head, the frontal lobe is involved in personality characteristics, decision-making and movement. Recognition of smell usually involves parts of the frontal lobe. The frontal lobe contains Broca’s area, which is associated with speech ability. How the Brain Works begins with an introduction to the brain's anatomy, showing you how to tell your motor cortex from your mirror neurons. From anatomy, it moves on to function, explaining how the brain works constantly and unnoticed to regulate processes such as heartbeat and breathing and how it collects information from the external world to produce the experiences of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. The chapters that follow cover memory and learning, consciousness and personality, and emotions and communication.