Today's class started with answers to some of the nun's questions. They asked about learning science for the first time and teaching science. One nun asked about the limitations of discovery using Western Science and using Buddhist philosophy and another asked what happens when the corpus callosum is cut.
We also finished our discussion of the cortex, thalamus, brain stem, cerebellum and other parts of the brain. Before our break for tea, we went outside the science center for a photograph of us all wearing the brain hats we made the day before.
After tea, we started on the structure of the neuron and neurotransmission. We talked about how a neuron establishes a resting potential and generates an action potential. When I mentioned the parts of a neuron (dendrites, cell body, axon, terminal), I mentioned that the word "dendrite" comes from the Greek word meaning tree. I then asked the nuns for the Tibetan word for "dendrite." I don't remember the Tibetan word, but I asked if it also meant "tree." They said, "No." The Tibetan word for "dendrite" means something like "the part that takes information to the cell body." I also asked what the Tibetan word for "axon" meant. They said that their word for "axon" means "the part that takes information away from the cell body." The Tibetan language apparently gives function to these parts of the neuron which makes it easier to remember what they do.
We then made simple string models of neurons and then went to a large room on the top floor of the science center to model neurotransmission and saltatory conduction. The day ended with some examples of animal neurotoxins and how they affect the release of neurotransmitters, block ion channels or block receptors.
Soon it was time for lunch and I told the nuns that fugu (pufferfish; an animal that contains tetrodotoxin, a sodium ion channel blocker and served as sushi in Japan) was not on the menu.
String Neuron Models
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