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Monday, January 27, 2014

Neuron Models with licorice and fruit leather, and Neural Connections drawing

Abe's neuron
There are so many ways to model a neuron, and I don't know that this one is particularly better than any other, except that I do like the way the myelin sheath fits neatly around the axon in this model. We used fruit leather for the soma, and the pull-apart type of licorice for the dendrites and axon. The regular Red Vines (they are hollow) allow the thin pull-apart licorice to be threaded through. Fun!
Ky's neuron
Daisy is so proud of hers!
Seb's neuron
I should add that the neurons aren't the only nerve cells worth talking about! One day when we were reviewing neurons, Malachi said, "Nobody appreciates the glia" [sad face]. It's true. Poor, poor glia. We made sure we appreciated them (and in fact, our model contains them---the myelin sheath is made by one type of glial cell).


We also drew pictures like this, which I got the idea for . . . somewhere . . . ? It's to illustrate (in much-simplified form) the complexity of the neural network---how the chains of neurons aren't just nice neat pathways, in other words.

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