Biology is designed for multi-semester biology courses for science majors. It is grounded on an evolutionary basis and includes exciting features that highlight careers in the biological sciences and everyday applications of the concepts at hand. To meet the needs of today’s instructors and students, some content has been strategically condensed while maintaining the overall scope and coverage of traditional texts for this course. Instructors can customize the book, adapting it to the approach that works best in their classroom. Biology also includes an innovative art program that incorporates critical thinking and clicker questions to help students understand—and apply—key concepts.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Identify the spinal cord, cerebral lobes, and other brain areas on a diagram of the brainDescribe the basic functions of the spinal cord, cerebral lobes, and other brain areas

In this episode of Crash Course Psychology, we get to meet the brain. Hank talks us through the Central Nervous System, the ancestral structures of the brain, the limbic system, and new structures of the brain. Plus, what does Phineas Gage have to do with all of this?

Chapters:
Introduction: Phrenology
Localized Parts of the Brain Control Different Functions
Basics of the Central Nervous System
The Curious Case of Phineas Gage
Brain Structures
Ancestral Structures of the Brain
"Old Brain" - Brain Stem, Medulla, Pons, Thalamus, Reticular Formation, Cerebellum
Limbic System - Amygdala, Hypothalamus, Hippocampus, Pituitary Gland
Gray Matter & Brain Hemispheres
Cerebral Cortex
Frontal, Parietal, Occipital, and Temporal Lobes
Specialized Regions: Motor Cortex, Somatosensory Cortex, & Association Areas
Review & Credits
Credits

Surveys general principles and specific examples of motor control in biological systems. Emphasizes the neural mechanisms underlying different aspects of movement and movement planning. Covers sensory reception, reflex arcs, spinal cord organization, pattern generators, muscle function, locomotion, eye movement, and cognitive aspects of motor control. Functions of central motor structures including cerebellum, basal ganglia, and cerebral cortex considered. Cortical plasticity, motor learning and computational approaches to motor control, and motor disorders are discussed.

Vision is the primary sense of many animals and much is known about how vision is processed in the mammalian nervous system. One distinct property of the primary visual cortex is a highly organized pattern of sensitivity to location and orientation of objects in the visual field. But how did we learn this? An important tool is the ability to design experiments to map out the structure and response of a system such as vision. In this activity, students learn about the visual system and then conduct a model experiment to map the visual field response of a Panoptes robot. (In Greek mythology, Argus Panoptes was the "all-seeing" watchman giant with 100 eyes.) A simple activity modification enables a true black box experiment, in which students do not directly observe how the visual system is configured, and must match the input to the output in order to reconstruct the unseen system inside the box.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Insufficient blood supply to the brain and a resulting oxygen shortage are collectively referred to as hypoxic ischemia (HI). During HI, accumulation of the neurotransmitter glutamate (Glu) in synapses can lead to neuron damage. Another neurotransmitter, NAAG, can help protect brain cells during HI by binding to the Glu receptor mGluR3 and preventing excess Glu signaling, but exactly how NAAG helps maintain synaptic networks isn’t clear. To learn more, researchers recently examined NAAG/Glu signaling and synaptic plasticity in the brains of newborn pigs subjected to HI via carotid artery clamping. The levels of NAAG and mGluR3 increased during HI, especially after 12–24 h, and then decreased, consistent with an initial anti-Glu defense mechanism. Next, the researchers inhibited the NAAG-degrading enzyme in piglets to increase brain NAAG levels..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.