She rocks at science! Lecturer & Neuroscientist @UTAS_, Director @theASMR1 + @epilepsyTas. 🏆: @Tas_YAAwards @ausoftheyear @tallpoppiesAIPS #superstarsofSTEM
Apr 12 • 13 tweets • 4 min read
Two #neurons connecting
You might have seen this video before
I'm the #neuroscientist who captured the footage moments before binning the petri dish. Lucky!
People repost it saying "this is memory! This is healing from emotional trauma!" ...it is not
The reality is way cooler 1/n
This represents how our nervous system develops, and what it tries to do to after a physical injury.
But how do neurons know who to connect with in a brain of 86 billion other neurons, and navigate through a body to connect the body to the brain in exactly the right way?
2/n
Jun 15, 2022 • 13 tweets • 4 min read
FINDING THAT CONNECTION
You’re watching two neurons that I saw under the microscope sensing one another + connecting.
There are 86 billion neurons in the brain - how do they know how to connect to other neurons?
A thread 👇1/n #WomenInSTEM@ScienceAU@UTAS_#science@elonmusk
They use these webbed hand-like structures called “growth cones” that you can see in this video. The finger like projections (called “filopodia”) actively reach out to sense the environment around it.
