Fundamentals of Neuroscience/What is Neuroscience

From Wikiversity

Contents 1 Goals 2 What is Neuroscience? 3 Major Neuroscience Questions 4 Subfields of Neuroscience 5 Why Study Neuroscience? 6 Assignments 7 See Also

[edit] Goals

1. To define neuroscience.
2. To learn the differences between various subfields of neuroscience.
3. To familiarize students with the fundamental questions in the field.

[edit] What is Neuroscience?

Neuroscience is a field devoted to the scientific study of the nervous system. It is one of the most interdisciplinary of areas, incorporating both the sciences and the humanities. Neuroscientists may come from a variety of backgrounds, including psychology, computer science, biology, statistics, philosophy, physics, and medicine. It advances the understandings of the humanities by explaining the underlying mechanisms of thought, emotion, and behavior. Neuroscientists use an ever increasing range of tools, including fMRI, MEG, EEG, Computers, and even dyes and microscopes to explore molecules, DNA, Nerve Cells, Networks, Brain Systems, and Behavior. From these studies they learn how the nervous system develops, operates normally, and fails in the case of neurological or psychiatric diseases.

[edit] Major Neuroscience Questions

How do synapses form, stabilize, and achieve their specificity? How do we learn and remember? How are neurons and glia generated? How does myelination happen? Why don’t severed CNS axons regenerate and why do synapses degenerate in Alzheimer’s disease, among other neurodegenerative diseases? ^[1]

[edit] Subfields of Neuroscience

[edit] Why Study Neuroscience?

As Edward O. Wilson wrote, "every college student should be able to answer the following question: What is the fundamental relation between science and the humanities, and how is it important for human welfare"? In no field is this as crucial as in neuroscience. Although most subfields of neuroscience are highly specialized, the broad picture of neuroscience is that it is an attempt to scientifically study who we are, as described by the humanities. It is the instructor's philosophy that not only should you be familiar with the basic information, but you should also able to synthesize this information into the broader picture. In other words, you should be able to answer, for the field of Neuroscience, the question posed by Wilson.

Why not try to answer it today? (See Assignments.)

[edit] Assignments

• Familiarize yourself with the neuroscience society websites accessible by the links on the course main page. Think about their differences in disciplinary focus.

[edit] See Also

1. ↑ Barres B.A. (2008). The Mystery and Magic of Glia: A Perspective on Their Roles in Health and Disease. Neuron, 60; 430-440