The Spinal Cord

Perceiving, thinking, acting – what defines us are the abilities of our brain. These are important abilities, no question, but reducing perception and action to the brain borders on discrimination. Even we reveal ourselves to be brain snobs with our name, thebrain.info. This is a fact that spinal cord expert Nobert Weidner gently pointed out to us. 

After all, the central nervous system comprises the brain AND the spinal cord. This is where all connections to and from the brain run: whenever the stomach growls or the foot hits the ball, i.e., when sensory and motor functions are involved, nothing works without the spinal cord. And it's not just a matter of cables running up and down – the spinal cord can do much more than that...

Nora Schulz provides an initial insight into the fascinating anatomy of the centipede with a horse's tail, and Christian Wolf reports on the often fatal consequences when the bridge between the head and the bodybecomes fragile.