Life History of Brain
The history of our quest to understand the brain is certainly as long as human history itself. Use this extensive timeline to meander through some of the high-lights (and low-lights) of this great journey of understanding. There are many evidences of anci
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In the structure of the human frame, the brain is the most extraordinary organ. The functions of all its parts are, however, not quite understood but the knowledge we possess of the functions of the brain is of most superficial character and is quite incommensurate with the economy of this wonderful apparatus. Maharaj Sahab Pandit Brahm Sankar Misra (Discourses on Radhasoami Faith, 1960)
2.1 Introduction The history of our quest to understand the brain is certainly as long as human history itself. Use this extensive timeline to meander through some of the high-lights (and low-lights) of this great journey of understanding. There are many evidences of ancient civilization which show that people were conducted surgery on head (Brain). In Hindu religion, Lord Ganesh had the head of elephant, Incarnation of Lord Narsingha, etc. Today due to fast progress of neuro-science, we are at the verge of understanding that how brain functions and what is the relationship between mind and brain, which may provide a basis for understanding consciousness. At this juncture, let us discuss an episode from the Hindu Epic: “Ramayana”. It is said that demon king Ravana attained the status of the Gods in heavens. It is said that he used his enormous power in his spiritual battery to fly his airplane called Puspak, by which he abducted Sitaji to his palace in Lanka. In this regard, let us only confine ourselves to the fact of harnessing consciousness by the demon king Ravana to propel his plane, myriad millennium ago. This would indeed be a point to meditation to top one’s consciousness and explain methodology to harness consciousness in machine. Plato hypothesized that the brain was the seat of the soul and also the center of all control. It is somewhat surprising that he came to this correct D.K. Chaturvedi: Soft Computing Techniques and its Applications in Electrical Engineering, Studies in Computational Intelligence (SCI) 103, 11–22 (2008) c Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2008 www.springerlink.com
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2 Life History of Brain
conclusion in spite of the fact he rejected experiment and observation, and believed that true knowledge came only from pure reasoning and thought such as that involved in mathematics. It is also mentioned that our pleasure, joys, laughter and jests as well as our sorrows, pains, grief and tears every thing is closely controlled by the brain condition.
2.2 Development of Brain with Age A baby’s brain A baby’s brain is a mystery whose secrets scientists are just beginning to unravel. The mystery begins in the womb – only 4 weeks into gestation the first brain cells, the neurons, are already forming at an astonishing rate: 250,000 every minute. Billions of neurons will forge links with billions of other neurons and eventually there will be trillions and trillions of connections between cells. Every cell is precisely in its place, every link between neurons carefully organized. Nothing is random, nothing arbitrary. One way a newborn is introduced to the world is through vision. The eyes and the visual cortex of
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