Word: spinal
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...Cartesian model of pain, like the Cartesian model of consciousness, began to be seriously challenged in the 60s. In 1965, Ronald Melzack and Patrick Wall proposed the "gate-control" model of pain, which involved a gate in the spinal cord that could increase or decrease pain impulses. What was most revolutionary about the model was not the idea of the gate per se, but the contention that the gate was controlled not just by sensory impulses, but signals that came from the brain, signals, for example, like emotions. How we felt could control what we felt...
...newer model the point of the perception of pain is not the mid-point of the spinal cord but the brain itself. According to this theory, the pain impulse doesn t go through a gate. In fact, it doesn t go anywhere. It is produced where it is perceived: in the brain. The stimulus arriving from the sensory nerve alerts the brain, which produces the pain experience on its own. The pain perceptions are like the tracks on a record or compact disk, waiting to be "played." The arrival of the nerve stimulus, as Gawande writes, simply hits the play...
...brain manages to think is a conundrum with a millennial time scale. All animals have brains so as to be able to move about. Signals from the senses--eyes, ears, nostrils or skin, as the case may be--send messages to the spinal cord, which moves the limbs appropriately. But thinking involves the consideration of alternative responses, many of which have not been experienced but have been merely imagined. The faculty of being conscious of what is going on in the head is an extra puzzle. A century from now, electronics shops (or websites) will be advertising all kinds...
...March 8 is a similar new one, Rock Candy. Though the ideas are great here (interview Quiet Riot at a concert for nudists), the execution isn't nearly as sharp as it is on Rock of Ages. Still, rock comedy hasn't been this smart since This Is Spinal...
...Gusella was one of over 50 scientists who were nominated for the award. An international committee was formed to judge this pool of candidates, which included scientists ranging from neurologists to spinal cord researchers...