Scientists at the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle are probing neurons to understand how those cells let us think and act in ways that other animals can’t, Laura Sanders reported in “How pieces of live human brain are helping scientists map nerve cells” (SN: 8/17/19, p. 22).
“The
excellent article on neurons … mentions that the answer to humanity’s
difference may not lie in the neurons at all, but in other cells, such as the
glial cells,” reader Devin J. Starlanyl wrote. “I have contacted quite a
few people doing neuron research over the years,” she wrote. “When I ask them
why they are working with neurons, their reply has always been the same. The
answers might be with the glial cells, but the money goes to the neuron
research.”
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