Neuroscience

Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system, spanning its structure, function, development, disorders, and relationships to behavior and cognition.

Neuron: A specialized cell that receives, processes, and transmits information through electrical and chemical signals. Neurons are the principal signaling cells studied across neuroscience.
Resting membrane potential: The voltage difference across a cell membrane when the cell is not firing an action potential. It establishes the electrical conditions that let neurons generate signals.
Electroencephalography: A method that records electrical activity from the scalp using electrodes. EEG reveals population-level brain rhythms and is used in both research and clinical care.
Santiago Ramón y Cajal: A Spanish neuroscientist whose drawings and research established neurons as distinct cells in the nervous system. His work helped establish the neuron doctrine and modern cellular neuroscience.
Consciousness: The condition of having subjective experiences or awareness. Neuroscience seeks neural explanations for conscious experience without yet resolving how it arises.
Glial cell: A non-neuronal cell in the nervous system that supports, protects, or regulates neural activity. Glia shape neural signaling and maintain the environments in which neurons function.
Ion channel: A membrane protein that permits selected ions to cross a cell membrane. Ion channels create and regulate the electrical signals central to neural function.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging: An imaging method that estimates brain activity from changes in blood oxygenation. Functional MRI maps activity associated with tasks and mental processes.
Camillo Golgi: An Italian physician and scientist who developed a silver-based method for staining nervous tissue. Golgi's stain made individual neurons visible, enabling detailed anatomical study.
Neural plasticity: The capacity of nervous-system structure or function to change with experience, development, or injury. Its limits and mechanisms shape questions about learning, recovery, and adaptation.

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