Mayim Bialik Answers 50 of the Most Googled Neuroscience Questions | WIRED

how does the nervous system work the nervous system works with a lot of magic from the universe do i get another phd after i finish this hi i'm mayam bialik and i'm here with wired to answer the 50 most googled questions about neuroscience [Music] is neuroscience a biological science i'm gonna say yes it's about biological systems yes what nervous system controls breathing autonomic nervous system is in charge of breathing structures what nervous system controls heart rate that would be sympathetic parasympathetic yes how does the autonomic nervous system affect the heart rate by making it go up or making it go down how do hallucinogens affect the central nervous system wow hallucinogens affect the central nervous system by changing the distribution of neurotransmitter and specifically crossing modalities uh creating synesthetic experiences where auditory and visual information effectively gets crossed what neurotransmitters are involved in schizophrenia um schizophrenia is is a varied disorder that can involve paranoia and delusions um and depersonalization dopamine serotonin and obviously all of the other neurotransmitters but specifically those um for schizophrenia what is neurotransmitter testing neurotransmitter testing is testing i guess amounts of dopamine and serotonin uh which are typically done from um swabs but i guess you can do it from blood maybe super spinal fluid yeah which neurotransmitter acts to facilitate learning that's a really difficult question to answer i mean all of your neurotransmitters contribute to everything about you the way that we learn is really because of a lot of things it's because of attention it's because of mood it's because of reward activation mine's a more philosophical answer but i don't know the structure of the brain that they're talking about which is probably regulated so which neurotransmitter is associated with parkinson's disease uh parkinson's disease is a basal ganglia disease that would be dopamine as the primary neurotransmitter how information travels in the nervous system all sorts of crazy ways up down sideways inside out information travels from the brain to the spinal cord and out to the periphery and then from the periphery back into the spinal cord and back up to the brain how does a stroke affect the nervous system well it depends where the stroke is um there's specific kinds of regions of the brain where a stroke will lead to paralysis or the inability to speak certain strokes will affect very interesting things they'll make you think that you don't understand people's faces there's so many different things it can affect having the blood supply cut off will impair a region of the brain is the most basic definition of a stroke though what is neuroscience perspective a neuroscience perspective is seeing the world as a series of motivations and thoughts and feelings that impact biological processes and affect how we interact with the world how many neurons are in the nervous system i don't remember a lot what neurotransmitter controls the somatic nervous system the somatic nervous system is is the nervous system associated with sensory information uh for me that's gonna kind of be um many all of them i mean impulses are always regulated by by gabin by glutamate and um acetylcholine is one of them are eyes part of the nervous system i love this question yes the retina and the optic nerve are part of the nervous system what are excitatory neurotransmitters excitatory neurotransmitters are transmitters that have a plus sign as it were they they lead to an increase in secretion or an increase in activity what sends neurotransmitters toward the next neuron oh i could talk about this for days um neurotransmitters are are packaged in vesicles and they move along microtubule filaments along the axon what are neurotransmitters and how do they function holy toledo neurotransmitters are chemicals that are produced in the brain and the body that act on other parts of the brain and body they are the main communication module for the the nervous system they function by binding to receptors and the binding onto receptors opens up different channels and activity that then leads to other neurotransmitter being released how are hormones different from neurotransmitters hormones are typically generated outside of the nervous system as it were there are neuro hormones it really depends on what things are acting on and why and how um but neurotransmitters typically are generated in the central nervous system and hormones can be generated and modulated outside as well how does nicotine affect the nervous system nicotine affects the nervous system in a lot of excitatory ways nicotine also does have inhibitory effects and can lead to feelings of relaxation and decrease in agitation what is a synapse in the nervous system well i went to ucla and the cafe that we had in the neuroscience building was called cafe synapse because it's where things come together that's right folks a synapse is where two neurons meet and release information and that's where things come together how does the digestive system work with the nervous system pretty darn well for most people how does the nervous system and endocrine system work together well since my field is psycho neuroendocrinology i should know a lot about this and indeed i do the endocrine system is typically the hypothalamic pituitary axis hpa includes the adrenals and um hormones are released from the pituitary gland and then flow through the body and the hypothalamus and then become part of the nervous system where um they affect the brain and all sorts of behavioral and biological functions they work together really well how to keep your nervous system healthy well this is a wonderful question get a lot of sleep drink a lot of water eat as simply as possible do not drink alcohol at all if you can avoid it i would say avoid um as much pharmaceutical impact in your life as is possible and avoid illicit drugs and they're generally not good for your nervous system learn how to breathe properly meditate and please go to therapy what neurotransmitter causes migraines i get migraines and i don't know the answer to this i think migraines are caused by stress that's my unofficial non-doctor opinion i could list all the people that give me migraines and none of them are the names of neurotransmitters is neuroscience a good major hell yeah it is you get to learn about the brain and nervous system you get to learn about the fact that we exist we have consciousness we can communicate we can love we can hate we can change we can grow that's why it's not only a good major it's a good grounding for life so there how does caffeine affect the nervous system caffeine affects the nervous system by doing a lot of excitatory things it increases your heart rate it will make you go poop and pee because it's a diuretic and it does increase alertness and vigilance uh which also can lead to a crash a caffeine crash and it is addictive so it affects the nervous system by um getting the nervous system used to having it as a normal way to function and it resets your sense of normal so that's why when you quit caffeine you go into withdrawal how the nervous system works with other systems the nervous system works with other systems by being connected through the series of peripheral nerves that that exist meaning all organs send information to the nervous system i like to think of the nervous system as the main system because it's your brain your spinal cord and all of the nerves that serve the rest of your body so it's kind of the master system how does the skeletal system work with the nervous system certain skeletal systems support the the most important aspects of the nervous system so the skull this thing it's actually the holding place for the brain the lobes of the brain and all the things about the brain and the entire vertebral system the vertebrae of your spinal cord are actually protecting a very very important uh passage of information from your brain to the rest of your body so the skeletal system is is the scaffold to protect the nervous system where are neurotransmitters made neurotransmitters are made anywhere you want them to be brain organs mostly brains in the middle of the brain yes all the little parts that's a terrible answer are cranial nerves part of the central nervous system cranial nerves i think would be considered the peripheral nervous system brain spinal cord periphery for the love of pete how many neurotransmitters are there let's say between three and four dozen is acetylcholine a neurotransmitter yeah it is how does diabetes affect the nervous system because of the changes in blood glucose levels this can cause strain on blood vessels i'm thinking as i'm answering there are also cognitive shifts that happen because of diabetes what kind of chemical is released at a synapse a neurochemical also known as a neurotransmitter which neurotransmitter is associated with depression that would be serotonin dopamine sometimes is implicated as well and because everybody's brain is different um not everyone has the same kind of depression and if you have depression that is part of manic depression you might need a different kind of treatment or understanding of your neurotransmitter system but classical depression serotonin how do neurotransmitters influence behavior by communicating every thought every movement we have the the way that you exist is because of electrical signals caused by the release of neurotransmitter there is nothing about you even love that cannot be explained by neurotransmitter how does alcohol affect the nervous system alcohol is a depressant um alcohol will first affect the cells of the cerebellum those are the ones back here and they affect the things that you most frequently see when you do a sobriety test the ability to do fine motor control to walk a line to do this one it affects the general nervous system with a lot of psychological and psychiatric impact that's going to vary by human and alcohol is a toxin so your body perceives it as such and all of the changes that happen when you have alcohol are essentially your body processing so that it can get rid of the alcohol how does the nervous system help the body maintain homeostasis well the nervous system is what maintains homeostasis uh through a lot of different things the the hypothalamus is is your main your main friend for this the hypothalamus maintains body temperature um urinary levels hunger puberty circadian rhythms basically regulating every single organ system um like homeostasis is the nervous system that's it's gold is dopamine a neurotransmitter oh yeah which neurotransmitter is associated with sleep mood and appetite it really depends on what's happening with sleep mood and appetite i'm going to go ahead and go for serotonin will mess up all of those what is neuroscience psychology uh neuroscience psychology or neuropsych as we call it um is an emphasis on the underlying nervous system substrates of psychological phenomenon how does cannabis affect the nervous system how doesn't cannabis affect the nervous system really should be this question cannabis affects the nervous system by binding to cannabinoid receptors duh and those receptors do a lot surrounding relaxation relaxation of muscles literally cannabis stimulates appetite if you think people who use it medicinally for example for for chemotherapy um it it can reduce nausea and it has analgesic effects it has numbing effects that's sort of like high feeling that people report it's typically an an ability to have a strong connection with your sensory systems and that can make you feel really really happy what does multiple sclerosis do to the nervous system multiple sclerosis um causes demyelination of axons myelin is the the fat that that lines axons which is how a neuron communicates information from the cell body to the dendrites and once that that myelin that fat is broken down it makes it much harder for electrical impulses to travel so um it makes communication between cells harder why nervous system important why is the nervous system important because it is the foundation of your existence as a human both physically and metaphysically the brain and the nervous system your spinal cord and all your nerves are everything about how you interact with the world including what you love what you hate how you can even process what i'm saying right now and your position in space and your acknowledgment that we are hurtling through the universe at high speed and not flying off the planet and we exist now and will exist tomorrow all that is your nervous system is epinephrine a neurotransmitter yes which systems comprise the nervous system uh there's the central nervous system that's the brain and the spinal cord and there's the peripheral nervous system which is the nerves on the periphery what are nervous system disorders uh there are a lot of nervous system disorders let's see multiple sclerosis alzheimer's parkinson's muscular dystrophy epilepsy pretty much all of psychiatric challenges you know depression anxiety obsessive compulsive disorder dissociative identity disorder i could go on how does the nervous system work the nervous system works with a lot of magic from the universe it does information that's produced in the brain that's sent down the spinal cord to the peripheral nervous system receives information from the outside world brings it back in sends it up the spinal cord then your brain processes it and you act and think and feel and exist what is the nervous system the nervous system is the series of cells that comprise the brain and the spinal cord and allows you to perceive your body your feelings and interact with the outside world feel and think your nervous system is you those were the 50 most googled questions on neuroscience thank you for watching hope i did okay

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Id: JBmlqcpBq2Q

Length: 15min 43sec (943 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 26 2020

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[u/0xD153A53]

Her answer for how hallucingens work was wonderfully concise.