Brains are squishy and slippery!

I dissected a brain today!

It was super-slippery and squishy.

(Sorry, I'm sure some of my friends are like "EWWWW! What kind of sick and gross person are you?") I was almost paralyzed by the thought of it myself, until I decided to simply do it, and not really "think" about it. It was quite fascinating and educational once I got over my initial apprehension.

Let's see how much I remember about lab today. This is from memory, my books are still in my car.

The brain is covered in meninges. There are 3. The top layer is the dura mater. Apparently this is Latin for "Tough Mother." It is quite tough. Almost feels like thin, flexible plastic.

The second layer is the anachroid, like a spider.

The third layer is the dia pater. Wait, that's not right....ummm...it is the...crap...ummm....I suck. OH, it's Pia Mater. (not sure what pia means in Latin.)

Beneath the arachnoid is the subarachnoid space. This is where liquid is.

There are ventricles which make cerebrospinal fluid, which bathes the spinal cord and brain in happy-juice. The ventricles make the fluid in the center of the brain, between the right and left hemispheres. In the middle there somewhere.

The ventricles take what it wants from the blood and doesn't allow other stuff to come inside. What is left after the ventricles take what it wants from the blood is called cerebrospinal fluid. The brain is very picky regarding what it wants around it. The brain is allowed to be picky cause it is so important. A body part such as the little toe...not so important. The little toe doesn't get to make it's own fluid to bathe in.

Then there are glands, medula oblongatas, hypothalamuses, cerebellums and cerebrums and this and that and other stuff too!

I'm going back for an open lab tomorrow from 9am-12noon.

Study. Study. Study.

There is WAY to much to learn. It's rather ridiculous.