Brain ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
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By: Liz
table of Contents Title
PAGE
Introduction
1
The Whole Thing
1
The Nervous System
2
The Spinal Cord
2
Brain history
3
I am the Mind
3
What? It Grows!
4
citing sources
5
Glossary
6
About the Author
7
Introduction The brain is by far the most important part of your body. The brain is responsible for everything that happens in your body all the time. You need to move, think, breathe and eat to live, all of which your brain controls. Your brain makes sure your body digests the food you eat and get the nutrition from it that you need to live. The brain uses some of the energy you take in –– the oxygen you breathe and nutrition brought by blood –– it even works when you’re asleep!
A diagram of the Human Brain.
The Whole Thing There are 3 main parts to the brain: the cerebrum, cerebellum and brain stem. The frontal lobe in the cerebrum is in charge of planning, problem-solving and speech, whereas the temporal lobe is for memories. The brain is usually split into 2 halves called hemispheres. The left hemisphere is for language and math, and the right brain controls creative tasks. Underneath the gray mass, there’s your limbic system, which controls your emotions. The thalamus is like the brain’s switchboard for passing messages to body parts and receiving messages, too. The hypothalamus controls your body temperature and food intake. Without it, you’ll keep eating and never feel full! The cerebellum is underneath and to the rear of the cerebrum and it coordinates your body’s movements. The brain stem monitors and controls little automatic function that keep you alive: heartbeat, breathing, blood pressure and so on.
The Nervous System The Spinal Cord The brain tells your body what to do by sending messages. The body is divided into a number of different parts called organs, which are all controlled by the organ called the brain. The brain flashes messages to all the organs along fine threads in your body called nerves. These nerves make up the nervous system. The brain gets messages from other organs all the time. In fact, your brain is getting millions of messages right now! If your brain didn't send messages to other parts of your body, or if your body doesn’t have a nervous system, you'd be dead!
The sending of messages is actually really complicated. Nerves can be connected to the brain directly, or they might have to travel through a power line. The nerves also carry messages from other places back to the brain. For example, it takes messages from the eyes, ears and skin. Some nerves are linked directly to the brain, while others need to go down a power line down the spine. The power line is called the spinal cord. Even if the messages travel through the spinal cord, they still travel really fast, up to 200 miles, or 322 kilometers per hour!
Brain History A long time ago the brain was a mystery to people. There weren’t many scientists back then to study the brain. However, they knew that the head was an important part of the body. A heavy blow to the head could knock someone out, or even kill someone. Some warriors from parts of the world thought they could gain magic power that would beat their enemies by keeping heads of the people they killed. Later on, people started studying the brain and found out more. You should know that you are lucky to live in the 21st century!
I Am the Mind The brain is really talented and complicated. The brain can do tasks not even a most advanced supercomputer can do. It allows you to speak, play, solve problems, make music, paint pictures, the list is endless. Brains not only tell you (your body parts, to be exact,) what
to do, they also are humongous information storehouses. Everything you ever did, every thought you ever thought of, Spirits that got into your head was a thought from everything you ever saw, every the olden days. Early people thought that all sound you ever heard, everything sicknesses and diseases were caused by evil spirits you ever felt has been filed into that have somehow gotten into their heads. They your brain. The brain can also think thought that one way to get rid of an evil spirit was and remember. We usually call this to cut a hole in the patient’s head. Priests from long part the mind. ago believed that a way to drive out spirits of madness is by blowing smoke up people’s noses, or making very loud noises to scare away the evil. You can tell spirits aren’t real, but watch out for spirits that come into your head!
What? It grows! A brain can change as you grow. A newborn baby has a brain that weighs less than 1 pound, or 0.5 kilograms. When you’re 6 years old, your brain is full weight, which is around 3 pounds, or 1.4 kilogram. Your brain learns faster during the first six years of life. That’s why lots of parents get children to learn lots of new things when the child is still very young. The brain is really ns, i a complex, but it r ig b b g n grows along : havi t ht? s g c i n i r a h , F lp er n be o t n a d r c u with you! a f F sm ain do r m r b e a h e t t tha ve h kes k a n i m You’ t th s That i ize. t ? s n t e t i h rig e sc y, no h t i T x ! e ng mpl o c Wro r by e t r sma
Bibliography
Pictures Background Picture: http://disease-blog.info/wp-content/ uploads/2013/08/image-of-brain-stem-upb1eeft.jpg Picture 1: http://disease-blog.info/wp-content/uploads/ 2013/08/image-of-brain-stem-upb1eeft.jpg Picture 2: https://amazingmedicine.org/cm/Media/images/ HighQuality/amazingBrain002.jpg Books “The Brain and Nervous System” Mark Lambert 1988 Websites "Your Brain & Nervous System." KidsHealth. Ed. Yamini Durani. The Nemours Foundation, 01 Jan. 2013. Web. 27 Jan. 2014. <http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/ brain.html#a_Pituitary_Gland_Controls_Growth>. "Brain." BrainPOP. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2014. <http:// www.brainpop.com/health/bodysystems/brain/>. Encyclopedias "Brain." World Book Online. N.p., n.d. Web. <http:// worldbookonline.com/>.Books
Glossary Word
Definition
brain stem
The bottom stem of your brain (explains in page 1)
cerebrum
The biggest part of the brain, the gray, twisty matter (explains in page 1)
cerebellum
The part of your brain located under the Cerebrum (explains in page 1)
complexity
The quality of being complicated
coordinates
work together in harmony
hemisphere
An even Half
nerves
Fine threads that the brain sends messages through
organs
Parts of your body that work to keep you alive
Priests
A minister in a church
storehouses A building used to store goods
About the Author Liz was born in San Francisco, California in April. She spent her life living in Taiwan and China. Her hobbies include playing the Flute, Math and jewelry.
Thanks For Reading!