Mayim Bialik Answers 50 of the Most Googled Neuroscience Questions

How does the nervous system work?

The nervous system works with a lot of

magic from the universe.

Do I get another PhD after I finish this?

[bell ringing]

Hi, I'm Mayim Bialik and I'm here with Wired

to answer the 50 most Googled questions about neuroscience.

[hip hop music]

Is neuroscience a biological science?

I'm going to say yes. [bell ringing]

It's about biological systems, yes.

What nervous system controls breathing?

Autonomic nervous system [bell ringing]

is in charge of breathing structures.

What nervous system controls heart rate?

That would be sympathetic/parasympathetic?

[bell ringing]

Yes.

How does the autonomic nervous system affect the heart rate?

By making it go up or making it go down.

[bell ringing] [imitates honking]

[laughs]

How do hallucinogens affect the central nervous system?

Wow.

Hallucinogens affect the central nervous system

by changing the distribution of neurotransmitter

[bell ringing] and specifically,

crossing modalities, creating synesthetic experiences

where auditory and visual information

effectively gets crossed. [bell ringing]

What neurotransmitters are involved in schizophrenia?

Schizophrenia is a varied disorder

that can involve paranoia,

and delusions, and depersonalization.

Dopamine, serotonin, [bell ringing]

and obviously all of the other neurotransmitters,

but specifically those for schizophrenia.

What is neurotransmitter testing?

Neurotransmitter testing is testing,

I guess amounts of dopamine and serotonin,

[bell ringing] which are typically done from

swabs, but I guess you could do it from blood maybe?

Cerebrospinal fluid?

Yeah.

Which neurotransmitter acts to facilitate learning?

That's a really difficult question to answer.

All of your neurotransmitters contribute

to everything about you.

The way that we learn is really because of a lot of things,

it's because of attention, it's because of mood,

it's because of reward activation.

Mine's a more philosophical answer,

but I don't know the structure of the brain

that they're talking about, which is probably

glutamate regulating. [bell ringing]

Which neurotransmitter is associated

with Parkinson's disease?

Parkinson's disease is a basal ganglia disease,

that would be dopamine as the

[bell ringing] primary neurotransmitter.

How information travels in the nervous system.

All sorts of crazy ways, up, down, sideways, inside out.

Information travels from the brain to the spinal cord

and out to the periphery,

[bell ringing] and then from the periphery

back into the spinal cord, and back up to the brain.

How does a stroke affect the nervous system?

Well, it depends where the stroke is.

There's specific kinds of regions of the brain

where a stoke will lead to paralysis

or the inability to speak.

Certain strokes will affect very interesting things,

they'll make you think that you don't understand

peoples' faces, there's so many different things

it can affect.

[bell ringing] Having the blood supply

cut off will impair a region of the brain,

is the most basic definition of a stroke, though.

What is neuroscience perspective?

Neuroscience perspective is seeing the world

as a series of motivations, and thoughts, and feelings

[bell ringing] that impact biological

processes and affect how we interact with the world.

How many neurons are in the nervous system?

I don't remember.

A lot.

[bell ringing] [laughs]

What neurotransmitter controls the somatic nervous system?

The somatic nervous system

is the nervous system associated with sensory information.

For me, that's gonna kind of be

many, all of them?

I mean, impulses are always

regulated by GABA, by glutamate, and

[bell ringing] Acetylcholine is one of them.

Are eyes part of the nervous system?

I love this question.

Yes. [bell ringing]

The retina and the optic nerve

are part of the nervous system.

What are excitatory neurotransmitters?

Excitatory neurotransmitters are transmitters

that have a plus sign, as it were.

They lead to an increase [bell ringing]

in secretion or an increase in activity.

What sends neurotransmitters toward the next neuron?

Oh, I could talk about this for days.

Neurotransmitters are packaged in vesicles

and they move along microtubule filaments

[bell ringing] along the Axon.

What are neurotransmitters and how do they function?

Holy Toledo.

Neurotransmitters are chemicals that are produced

in the brain and the body that act on

other parts of the brain and body.

[bell ringing] They are the main

communication module for the nervous system.

They function by binding to receptors

and the binding onto receptors opens up different channels

and activity that then leads to other neurotransmitter

being released. [bell ringing]

How are hormones different from neurotransmitters?

Hormones are typically generated

outside of the nervous system, as it were.

There are neurohormones.

It really depends on what things are acting on,

and why, and how,

but neurotransmitters, typically, are generated

in the central nervous system [bell ringing]

and hormones can be generated and modulated

outside, as well.

How does nicotine affect the nervous system?

Nicotine affects the nervous system

in a lot of excitatory ways. [bell ringing]

Nicotine also does have inhibitory effects

[bell ringing] and can lead to feelings

of relaxation and decrease in agitation.

What is a synapse in the nervous system?

Well, I went to UCLA, and the cafe that we had

in the neuroscience building was called Cafe Synapse

because it's where things come together.

That's right, folks, a synapse is where two neurons meet

[bell ringing] and release information

and that's where things come together.

How does the digestive system work with the nervous system?

Pretty darn well [bell ringing]

for most people!

[laughs]

How does the nervous system and

endocrine system work together?

Well, since my field is psychoneuroendocrinology,

I should know a lot about this, and indeed I do.

The endocrine system is typically the

hypothalamic pituitary axis.

HPA includes the adrenals,

and hormones are released from the pituitary gland,

and then flow through the body and the hypothalamus,

and then become part of the nervous system,

where they affect the brain

and all sorts of behavioral and biological functions.

[bell ringing repeatedly]

They work together really well.

How to keep your nervous system healthy.

Well, this is a wonderful question!

Get a lot of sleep, drink a lot of water,

eat as simply as possible,

[bell ringing] do not drink alcohol at all

if you can avoid it.

[bell ringing] I would say avoid

as much pharmaceutical impact in your life

as is possible, [bell ringing]

and avoid illicit drugs.

They're generally not good for your nervous system.

[bell ringing] Learn how to breathe properly,

meditate, and please go to therapy.

What neurotransmitter causes migraines?

I get migraines and I don't know the answer to this.

I think migraines are caused by stress.

[laughs]

That's my unofficial, non-doctor opinion.

[buzzer ringing] I could list all the people

that give me migraines and none of them

are the names of neurotransmitters.

Is neuroscience a good major?

Hell yeah, it is!

[bell ringing] You get to learn about

the brain and nervous system,

you get to learn about the fact that

we exist, we have consciousness,

we can communicate, we can love, we can hate,

we can change, we can grow, that's why it's

not only a good major, it's a good grounding for life.

[claps hands] So there.

How does caffeine affect the nervous system?

Caffeine affects the nervous system

by doing a lot of excitatory things.

[bell ringing] It increases your heart rate,

it will make you go poop and pee

'cause it's a diuretic, and it does increase

alertness and vigilance,

which also can lead to a crash,

a caffeine crash, and it is addictive,

so it affects the nervous system by

getting the nervous system used to having it

as a normal way to function

and it resets your sense of normal,

so that's why when you quit caffeine,

you go into withdrawal.

How the nervous system works with other systems.

[hums in interest]

The nervous system works with other systems

by being connected through the series of peripheral nerves

that exist, meaning [bell ringing]

all organs send information to the nervous system.

I like to think of the nervous system as

the main system because it's your brain,

your spinal cord, and all of the nerves

that serve the rest of your body,

so it's kind of the master system.

How does the skeletal system work with the nervous system?

Certain skeletal systems support

the most important aspects of the nervous system,

so the skull, this thing,

it's actually the holding place for the brain,

the lobes of the brain, and all the things about the brain,

and the entire vertebral system,

the vertebrae of your spinal cord

are actually protecting a very, very important

passage of information from your brain

to the rest of your body,

so the skeletal system [bell ringing]

is the scaffold to protect the nervous system.

Where are neurotransmitters made?

Neurotransmitters are made anywhere you want them to be.

Brain,

organs,

mostly brain.

In the middle of the brain. [bell ringing]

Yes, all the little parts.

That's a terrible answer. [laughs]

Are cranial nerves part of the central nervous system?

Cranial nerves I think would be considered

the peripheral nervous system. [bell ringing]

Brain, spinal cord, periphery.

[hums]

For the love of Pete.

How many neurotransmitters are there?

Let's say between three and four dozen.

[bell ringing]

Is acetylcholine a neurotransmitter?

Yeah, it is. [bell ringing]

How does diabetes affect the nervous system?

Because of the changes in blood glucose levels,

this can cause strain on blood vessels.

[bell ringing] I'm thinking as I'm answering.

There are also cognitive shifts that happen

because of diabetes.

What kind of chemical is released at a synapse?

A neurochemical. [bell ringing]

Also known as a neurotransmitter.

Which neurotransmitter is associated with depression?

That would be serotonin. [bell ringing]

Dopamine sometimes is implicated as well,

and because everybody's brain is different,

not everyone has the same kind of depression,

and if you have depression that is

part of manic depression, you might need

a different kind of treatment or understanding

of your neurotransmitter system.

But classical depression, serotonin.

How do neurotransmitters influence behavior?

By communicating every thought,

every movement we have.

[bell ringing] The way that you exist

is because of electrical signals caused by

the release of neurotransmitter.

There's nothing about you, even love,

that cannot be explained by neurotransmitter.

How does alcohol affect the nervous system?

Alcohol's a depressant.

[bell ringing]

Alcohol will first affect the cells of the cerebellum,

those are the ones back here,

and they affect the things that you most frequently see

when you do a sobriety test.

Your ability to do fine motor control,

to walk a line, to do this one.

It affects the general nervous system

with a lot of psychological and psychiatric impact

that's gonna vary by human,

and alcohol's a toxin, so your body perceives it as such,

and all of the changes that happen when you have alcohol

are essentially your body processing

so that it can get rid of the alcohol.

How does the nervous system

help the body maintain homeostasis?

Well, the nervous system is what maintains homeostasis

[bell ringing] through a lot of

different things.

The hypothalamus is your main friend for this.

The hypothalamus maintains body temperature,

urinary levels, hunger, puberty, circadian rhythms,

basically regulating every single organ system.

Homeostasis is the nervous system, that's its goal.

Is dopamine a neurotransmitter?

[bell ringing] Aw yeah.

Which neurotransmitter is associated

with sleep, mood, and appetite?

It really depends on what's happening

with sleep, mood, and appetite.

I'm gonna go ahead and go for [bell ringing]

serotonin will mess up all of those.

What is neuroscience psychology?

Aw.

Neuroscience psychology, or neuropsych, as we call it,

is an emphasis on

[bell ringing] the underlying nervous system

substrates of psychological phenomenon.

How does cannabis affect the nervous system?

How doesn't cannabis affect the nervous system

really should be this question.

Cannabis affects the nervous system

by binding two cannabinoid receptors, duh,

and those receptors do a lot surrounding relaxation,

relaxation of muscles, literally.

Cannabis stimulates appetite.

If you think of people who use it medicinally,

for example, for chemotherapy,

it can reduce nausea and it has analgesic effects,

it has numbing effects.

That sort of, like, [bell ringing]

high feeling that people report

is typically an ability to have

a strong connection with your sensory systems,

and that can make you feel really, really happy.

What does multiple sclerosis do to the nervous system?

Multiple sclerosis causes demyelination of axons.

[bell ringing] Myelin is the fat

that lines axons, which is how a neuron

communicates information from the cell body

to the dendrites, and once that myelin,

that fat is broken down, it makes it much harder

for electrical impulses to travel.

So, it makes communication between cells harder.

Why nervous system important?

Why is the nervous system important?

Because it is the foundation of your existence as a human,

both physically and metaphysically.

[bell ringing] The brain and the

nervous system, your spinal cord, and all your nerves

are everything about how you interact with the world,

including what you love, what you hate,

how you can even process what I'm saying right now,

and your position in space, and your acknowledgement

that we are hurdling through the universe at high speed

and not flying off the planet,

and we exist now, and we'll exist tomorrow.

All that is your nervous system.

Is epinephrine a neurotransmitter?

Yes. [bell ringing]

Which systems comprise the nervous system?

There's the central nervous system,

that's the brain and the spinal cord,

and there's the peripheral nervous system,

[bell ringing] which is the nerves

on the periphery.

What are nervous system disorders?

There are a lot of nervous system disorders.

Let's see, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's,

muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, pretty much all

of psychiatric challenges.

You know, depression anxiety, [bell ringing]

obsessive compulsive disorder,

dissociative identity disorder,

I could go on. [bell ringing]

How does the nervous system work?

The nervous system works with a lot of

magic from the universe.

It has information that's produced in the brain

that's sent down the spinal cord

to the peripheral nervous system,

receives information from the outside world,

brings it back in, sends it up the spinal cord,

then your brain processes it,

[bell ringing] and you act, and think,

and feel, and exist.

What is the nervous system?

The nervous system is the series of cells

that comprise the brain and the spinal cord

[bell ringing] and allows you to perceive

your body, your feelings,

and interact with the outside world, feel, and think.

Your nervous system is you.

Those were the 50 most googled questions on neuroscience.

Thank you for watching, hope I did okay.

[laughs]