Bio Questions

1. How do neurons (nerve cells) transmit information?
2. Modern medical technology allows us to see which parts of the brain are working as we do different activities. How do you think this technology can help scientists research the brain? How can it help people with brain damage or disease?
3. What part of the brain is responsible for learning new motor skills? Which routine activities do we "memorize" so well that we can perform them on "autopilot"? Why is it important that we can do these things easily and without thinking?
4. Why do you think that one-fourth of our brain is devoted to vision adn to processing things that we see? How would our lives be different if the same percentage of our brainpower was devoted to hearing? to touch? To smell? To taste?
5. What do you think human beings would be like today if we had never developed opposable thumbs? Would human society have ever developed? If so, what things would be different?
6. How are memories formed? Speculate about why humans usually can't remember anything from the first moments-- let alone the first few months and years-- of their lives.
7. Human beings have more complicated social relationships than other animals. we also have more complex brains. How would these two factors be related? Why would we need more complex brains to help us deal with other people?
8. What effect does alcohol have on the brain?