Word: cortexes
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Born on March 21 and dead 10 days later, Theresa Ann experienced nothing during her brief life--if life it may be called--because she was born without a cerebral cortex. The only functioning part of her brain was the portion of the brain stem which controls breathing and heartbeat...
Such a precedent would permit parents of children like Theresa Ann to make realistic choices about the fate of their babies without implying a "Final Solution" for other patients with a real possibility of a functioning cerebral cortex...
...Johns Hopkins cells originally came from the brain of an 18-month-old girl. In 1988 the child, who suffered uncontrollable seizures, had nearly one- third of her right cortex removed. Within minutes of the surgery, Solomon Snyder, director of the Johns Hopkins department of neuroscience, and his colleagues had the tissue in the lab. There the team used a blender to separate the gray matter into individual cells and soaked them in a combination of growth hormones and nutrients. Although most of the cells died within three weeks, two clusters survived and have since flourished...
Dowling, who is Leverett House master and the author of a recent book on human sight, said advances in neuroscience could lead to new treatments for previously incurable disorders. He said blind people might someday "see" through a system of electrodes connected to the brain's visual cortex...
Finally, experts in fetal development argue that at twelve weeks a fetus cannot move "purposefully," as Nathanson asserts, nor can it perceive danger; the cerebral cortex, which coordinates perception and thought, is not yet developed. As for the silent scream, says Johns Hopkins Neurobiologist David Bodian, doctors have no evidence that a twelve-week-old fetus can feel pain, though "there is a possibility of a reflex movement" in response to stimuli like surgical instruments. Hobbins suggests that the dramatic scream may have been a fetal yawn, because "the fetus spends lots of time with its mouth open." Indeed...