Inside our brain

The brain is made up of millions of ‘cells’. The ‘thinking’ cells of the brain are ‘nerve cells’, which control all our bodily functions. The brain also contains another kind of cell called ‘glia’, meaning ‘glue’. They physically stick the nerve cells together, feed them, keep the brain clear of toxic chemicals, and insulate the brain wiring, allowing superfast high speed signalling. When glia malfunction the brain becomes ‘unstuck’: nerve cells don’t work properly, with devastating consequences. This is what happens in Multiple Sclerosis, stroke, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease.

Electricity travelling along nerve fibres allows our bodies to work. It allows cells in one part of the body to send signals to another. An example is how the brain signals to our muscles to move, or how information from our skin or eyes travels to the brain to give us touch and vision. Within the brain itself, networks of nerve cells communicate using electrical impulses and result in consciousness and memory. This wonderfully shocking talk will discuss our internal electricity circuit; record brain waves live and see what happens when we ‘shock’ the brain with an external stimulator!