The Brain

Coming up on the Children's Hour, join the kids crew and me, Katie Stone, as we explore the incredible human brain with experts from the Mind Research Network at the University of New Mexico. We'll learn how our minds control our bodies, how neurons fire to make thoughts and feelings, and why our brains can rewire themselves throughout our lifetimes. We'll also find out how scientists study the brain and what makes animal brains different from human brains and why bird brain is no insult.

We've got a learning guide with this episode. You can find it at childrenshour.org. Look for The Brain. Stick with us. The Children's Hour is an independent production of The Children's Hour Incorporated, a New Mexico-based nonprofit. We're distributed by Native Voice One, the Native American radio network. It's time for The Children's Hour. Kids Public Radio. Why does the brain put up with doing all the work?

I don't know why. It doesn't mind. It's time for the Children's Hour. Kids Public Radio. and drop them in a teacup and take them down to the riverside and throw them over the east side to be swept up by a current and take them to the ocean to be eaten by some fishes who were eaten by some fishes and swallowed Think about your troubles is the asylum street spankers from their kids CD. Mommy says no.

You're listening to the Children's Hour. We have a pretty small crew today. I'm going to say hello to everybody though. Hi, this is Katie Stone. So happy to be with you. Hello. Happy day. It's Maya. Hi, I'm Isaac. Hello, it's Evan. Hello, it's Amadeus. Hello, it's Zen. Well, I'm so excited to be with you all here today because we are talking about one of my very favorite topics, which is the brain, the human body, and the organ called the brain.

What do you guys know about the brain? Anything? I know that it controls the body. I know that your brain is the size-ish of your two fists put together. Wow. Now everybody's putting their two fists together and saying, that's awfully small.

I think there's this one thing about the brain that's really cool. There's two halves of the brain, and they kind of work together, right? There's the left side and the right side. For me, this relates to me in a way because I have dyslexia. When you're dyslexic... Apparently, your right brain is trying to read even though it's not really good at it. Yes, it can kind of read, but the left brain is the specialist in language and more like logic, right?

Wow. So that's cool. So do you think that when like if you have dyslexia and you have any kind of intervention or whatever for dyslexia, is that part of what the therapist is trying to teach is to like let that other side of the brain learn the skill of reading? Yeah, it's kind of like getting my left side of the brain to do the reading instead of having to force the responsibility onto my right brain. Very cool.

Well, I think it's kind of cool that our brain takes, you know, if you look at a diagram at the brain exhibit that was here in the Natural History Museum, there was a diagram showing the... brains of many different animals and it showed that basically all of the separate parts that a lizard would have, a bird would have, so basically each animal would add on to what the previous animal had had in terms of brain power and

And so the human brain is combined with all of them. You know, it has aspects from the lizard brain, the bird brain, all the many stuff and things. Correct me if I'm wrong, because Zen knows a heck of a whole lot more than I do. I think you got it pretty good. Basically, all of our ancestors... Those who are like lizard-like and those who kind of look like a raccoon. Our brain is basically taking stuff from their brain and adding on to it.

Wow. Well, we have a lot to learn today about the brain. You can learn even more with our learning guide. Find it at childrenshour.org. Look for this episode called The Brain. And this is Taylor Woodward. Stick with us. We've got a lot more coming up.

It pumps blood through your body when it relaxes and contracts But if somebody gave you a magical love potion Your heart would not be the spot To process the emotion Your brain is a blob It's floating in your skull In cerebrospinal fluid

and makes love possible your brain has more to do with your state of twitter patient so we should change the way we say our words of admiration so they're more scientifically accurate do i love you with all of my brain i love you with all of my brain i know sometimes love

I love you with all of my brain There's a part of the cortex called tomato sensory And every time we kiss this area receives multitude of signals coming from the face because the lips and fingertips take up a lot of space oxytocin

helps us feel close when it's released from the hypothalamus the amygdala is calmed and dopamine released Butterflies and starry eyes Our love will just increase I'll love you with all I my brain your hippocampus doors your side of the story so you can fill things in where my side gets blurry We can tell the grandkids when we're gray and old Decisions we made with our frontal lobes We said I love you I love you with all of my brain. We can do, we can plan side by side. If I love my brain

You're listening to The Children's Hour, and today on the show, we're learning about the brain. Our guests are Ingrid Lane and Nick Acey. Welcome to The Children's Hour. Thank you. Thank you. And you're from the Mind Research Network. That's at the University of New Mexico. And the Mind Research Network studies brains. It sure does. Are you neurologists, neuroscientists? How do you describe yourselves? So a bunch of different fields end up studying the brain. So I'm a biomedical engineer.

And I'm a computer scientist. Wait. Studying the brain. Yeah. Wow. Well, we have a lot of questions for you, and Maya's going to kick it off right here.

So I know that the brain controls our entire body, but how does it work? So the brain works by using chemicals to help. What we want to do, communicate with our muscles for those to move. So one big part is the spinal cord. So that... The line that we have in our back is part of how the brain is able to tell our muscles what to do. And opposite sides of the brain...

communicate with the opposite side of your body so the left part of your brain tells the right part of your body what to do and the right part talks to the left part. Is there any time when... Is there a specific movement where the two sides work together? Actually, yes, there is. There's a big divide between the two sides of the brain called the corpus callosum.

And that allows for communication between the two sides. What are the parts of the brain and what do they do? So there's a bunch of different parts of the brain. There's the front part of our brain that we call the frontal lobe. There's the temporal lobes, which are on the sides. The part of our brain that processes what we listen to and hear.

is on those two sides and then the part of our brain that processes what we see is called the occipital lobe and that's in the back of our head. And so the front part is kind of like the part of your brain that helps make decisions. What other parts of the brain control other parts of the body? There are a lot of regions within those lobes that have various functions. For instance, there's two regions Broca's area and Wernicke's area.

in the left part of the brain and they're in charge of language. So they help you understand what people are saying and they help you talk. They help you write and read and they're very important locations.

But if somebody has an injury on one part of their brain, can't the functions that that part of the brain controlled migrate to another part of the brain? Kind of like what Zen was saying earlier about his dyslexia. Yes, they can. Sometimes. Sometimes. Sometimes people have, there's something we call strokes and it more often happens when you're a bit older.

like our grandparents, you know, like 70s or 80s. And so sometimes those parts of the brain that are damaged will be okay, other times not. But often for children, if there's any kind of injury, they will recover really. much more quickly. I've heard it said that the brain can be described for kids as plastic. When we hear that, what does that mean? We typically refer to that as neuroplasticity.

And the brain is constantly rewiring itself. It's been rewiring itself since we started this program, actually, in all of us. And it's really an impressive area of research that we're only now getting into. As you grow, your brain develops more and more connections. But then there's also a point when you're in your teens or thereabouts where your brain starts to, we call it prune.

And so then it solidifies the connections that are really wise for it to have. And it kind of lets go of some of those other ones that aren't as useful. I've heard that we only use a certain amount of our brain power.

Is that true? No, it's not, actually. We use our entire brain. Yeah, that was an idea that I don't know quite how that got around as much, but we use, often it's that we're using parts of our brain. and then other parts of our brain. So let's say at one point you might want to be resting. So that's more likely your salience network.

which is just a fancy way of kind of saying like your brain's sort of, you know, not doing as much. And then there's another, if your brain is more active, that might be, we call it the executive network, if you're like thinking or taking a test. And so that part of the brain might not be used when you're sleeping, but it doesn't mean that we're really only using 10% of our brains.

At the beginning of the show, Maya said that the brain is the size of two fists put together. Is that true? Roughly. It's a little bit larger. It's about three pounds. And it's... If you were to unwind it, you've seen it. It looks like a big ball of yarn almost. If you were to unwind it, it's huge. Wait, so the brain is made up of like a long... string that's all crammed together basically like a thick cord that's all crammed together and we call that

Those folds are the sulci and the gyri. So that's how our brain is able to do so much. It's kind of been able to put a lot of things into a smaller space. So wait, is it actually possible to take the brain? Obviously not a living brain, but is it possible to take a brain and like stretch it out? Is it really all one thing that's just folded into itself? So the folds are more on the outside. And so inside it does just look like a thick tissue, perhaps.

But when you look at the outside, there are a bunch of folds and that is what's able to maximize the possibility for what our brain is able to do. Like if you look at a mouse, the mouse doesn't have any of those folds. And that's why we're able to do so much more than mice. We're able to talk and think and go to school.

Today on the show, we're talking about brains with Nick Acey and Ingrid Lane from the Mind Research Network at the University of New Mexico. This is Daniel the Brave with Bilbo's Song. I sit beside the fire and think of all that I have seen. Of meadow flowers and butterflies and summers that have been.

Of yellow leaves and gossamer In autumns that there were With morning mist and silver sun And wind upon my hair Sit beside the fire and think of how the world will be When winter comes without a spring that I shall never see Still there are so many things that I have never seen In every wood, in every spring, there is a different green Welcome to the Children's Hour. Kids Public Radio. We'll be right back.

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You'll hear surprising facts, fun sounds, and the beautiful songs of birds from every corner of nature. Each episode is like a tiny adventure, perfect for curious minds and families who love learning together. So take a moment to listen and be inspired. Find Bird Note Daily wherever you get your podcasts.

Everything's Controlled by the Brain is Doc Dower from a CD called The Body Rocks. You're listening to the Children's Hour and we are talking with Ingrid Lane and Nick Acy. And they are from the Mind Research Network at the University of New Mexico. They're brain scientists. The kids have lots more questions, including Isaac. How do you study the brain?

Well, that's part of what we do at Mind Research Network. We use methods called neuroimaging. So we use these machines. One is called MEG, magnetoencephalography. So we study the magnetic. activity that's in your brain. There's synapses in your brain. And when we put a bunch of synapses together, they make kind of a magnetic... Wait, what's a synapse? So a synapse is... The way that the brain is able to communicate, one part of it is the synaptic cleft.

It's how neurons are passed back and forth. So are these very, very tiny inside the structure of the brain? Yes. And you're saying that they create a magnet, like a magnetic field? The electrical movement. in there creates that magnetic force that we can then measure. So you're saying all the brain's work that it's doing inside our heads is actually controlled by some kind of electricity that's happening inside of our bodies? It's electrical and chemical.

is what it kind of comes down to. So you might have heard of like dopamine neurons and glutamate. So those are all of the different ways that... The brain is communicating. So the brain is sort of seeped in these chemicals that allow for electricity to work through those chemicals. Is that kind of how it works? Yes. And a lot of our work has to do with looking at. the electrical signals, looking at the magnetic results of these electrical signals, and magnetoencephalography.

is that study. We can actually look at brain waves. Your brain makes waves kind of like music almost. And we're doing a study right now. And we're going to do fMRI, which looks at how the oxygen levels move in your brain. So what parts of your brain are being used at one time. And then MEG. We're looking at how the brain develops normally. So we happen to be looking for the ages 6 to 8 and 11 to 13. And we'll be following kids for five years. And we get to play fun games.

And we do that under these machines to see how your brain is working. So you're leaving me with a question. When you're looking at these scans of people's brains, and I'm taking it, you're looking at them... live while they're doing something so if you had one of these scan things on my head right now you'd be seeing certain things on your computer light up because I'm talking because I'm moving my hands and gesturing as I talk so you would

be able to see all this because all of that is being controlled by electromagnetic energy inside my brain that you can pick up with your scanning devices. Yes. So we often process all of that data after. Because it's hard to look at all of those numbers at that time. Well, sure, because isn't the brain also controlling things like our hearts and our breathing? And it's doing all of these things that we're not even thinking about.

That's all being controlled by the brain, right? And that's one of the issues we have when we're doing these studies is we have to figure out both what movement in the brain is. that part that's controlling eye blinks or heartbeats. So we put electrodes on to make sure that we can clean up the data that comes out. So the sound of the heartbeat or the sound of the eye blink.

We're able to kind of clear that out. That's Ingrid Lane. She's from the Mind Research Network at the University of New Mexico, along with Nick Acey. And we're learning about how our brains work, develop, and get studied. There's a lot more to learn with us, but first, this is Tom Chapin.

You got fingers to snap, two hands to clap, ten toes to tap, but your brain is where you think a thought. You got legs to walk, a tongue to talk.

you can walk and squawk but your brain is where you think a thought you got a mouth to drink two eyes to blink one place to think oh and your brain is where you think a thought You got ears to hear Whoever's near Still it's very clear That your brain is where you think a thought It's like a picture There it's underneath your hair It's where you think And thinking happens quick It's like a magic trick It's like Shazam!

Every day you grow, there's new stuff to know, new thoughts that flow in your brain when you think a thought. If you think it through, it might occur to you that I'm thankful. My brain is where I think a thought It's like a picture there It's underneath your hair It's where you think And thinking happens quick It's like a magic trick. It's like Shazam. So go on and think. And if we think and sing, we'll form a link.

To the thoughts up in our brains. We got a nose to smell. We got a story to tell. Now we don't aren't well. But our brain is where we think of fault. Our brain is where we think of fault. Our brain is where we think of fault.

You're listening to the Children's Hour, and today we're learning about the brain, though a thing that's inside our head. With us are Nick Acey and Ingrid Lane from the Mind Research Network at the University of New Mexico. So if our brains are all... very similar and they're made up of like the same different kind of things, then what makes us different from each other? There's so many different ways that the brain is wired up that any sort of change will change who you are.

um it it really it's like a fingerprint of our of who we are none of us have the same brain and that's what makes us unique and special There's just so many different ways that it can be put together that no two people are going to be alike. Even if you have an identical twin, you're going to be different people. Part of that is also the connections in the brain. Let's say you start a new habit, like you try running every day or you try learning the piano.

It's going to be harder at first, but then it gets easier and easier. And part of that is because those pathways in your brain that are helping you do that thing are going to get stronger and stronger. Can that happen all through your life, like even past childhood? We can't change our brains after adolescence, or can we change them our whole lives? You can change them after adolescence, but adolescence is the best time to start.

doing things like playing the piano or learning a new language, because your brain is changing so much that those pathways are much easier to create. But neuroscientists did used to think that it was harder for the brain to develop as we were older. And now we found that that's not true. So neuroplasticity...

It's a fancy word that we used to say. The brain is really good at developing those new connections. And that continues through our whole life. That never stops. And there are a few times in our lives that are most important. for neuroplasticity when we're first born, during adolescence, and then in early to mid-adulthood are where a lot of these changes come together.

most profoundly we have a studio dog here actually there's two and when you guys pet the studio dog can you tell me how you feel when i pet lucky i feel really nice and like i feel like So when Isaac talks about feeling good petting the dog, what's happening there? Well, one thing that we know is that the heart... Heart rate often can be reduced, so you'll feel calm because your body is kind of relaxing.

And some of those parts of your brain that like the amygdala is the part of the brain that activates when we're afraid. We call it the reptilian brain. So that's a part of the brain. you might fight or you might fly flight fight or flight is the phrase so that part of your brain might be calming down and you're not using that as much and you're relaxing and your heartbeat is going down. What is the difference between a dog brain and a human brain? So our brains are more complex.

And we were talking earlier about how rats' brains are really smooth when you look at them. Often our brains have more of those grooves, more of those folds than animal brains. Are there any animals who have more complex brains than we do? There are animals that have larger brains than we do, but we are really the top of the chain as far as complexity goes in the brain.

when it comes to processing the world around us. Do we really know, like we've never done a functional magnetic, we've never done an FMEG on a whale, for example. So do we really know that they aren't like... doing calculus in their brains? Well, they do have really complex social structures, like whales and dolphins. So there's, and I think octopus also.

we have indication that they're actually quite intelligent. And it would be very hard to get them in machines to look at their brains. But we have been able to dissect some of those brains. And we know that they have lots of folds and they're really complicated because of all the folds and stuff. Is that right? Yes. But again, not doing some of the same things that.

human brains are able to do well if you don't mind we're talking about the brain right here on the children's hour and we've had with us on the show today nick ac and ingrid lane they are from the mind research network at the university of New Mexico. If you want to learn more about your brain or their studies, you can go to mrn.org. Thank you so much for being with us on the Children's Hour. Thank you. Thank you.

You can find a learning guide for this episode at childrenshour.org. Look for the brain.

Here's something that you might find pretty cool Your brain is an awesome and amazing tool You don't have to be a child prodigy To increase the use of your memory Check out the power of a clear visual Makes it a whole lot easier for you to recall It'll surprise you to pick this up pretty quick. You can't go wrong with your mind on mnemonic. Never draw a blank. It's as good as in the bank.

Take an imaginary tour Spread your mental wings and soar Build the anticipation Having fun with your imagination If you create images that are so vivid, it's just like making a movie in your head. You'll see this is true, and if so inclined. At any given moment, you can always hit rewind. Never draw a blank, it's as good as in the bank. Take an imaginary tour, spread your mental wings and soar.

Build the anticipation, having fun with your imagination. Now you can present at a relaxing pace, cause all of your ideas are in the right place. This makes it sweet for you and me. The best thing is that it's absolutely free.

Othello holds the cello But Bob pulls the bow And Yuba plays the tuba But plays it very slow Luciano plays piano Doug plays the jug And Warren plays the French horn We're lying on the rug In my hair In my head, there's a band that is playing in my head In my head, in my head There's a band that is playing in my head Manuela plays vihuela

Zoot plays the flute While Sally's playing glockenspiel in her birthday suit Myrna plays the zirna And Chase plays the bass While Lizzie plays the dizzy And she plays it with her face In my head, in my head there's a band that is playing in my head in my head in my head there's a band that is playing in my head There's Ocarina Tina and guitar on one Harpsichord and Gordon and Helicon John Hurdy-gurdy-birdy is a monkey who is dirty And fresh out of jail-y

ukulele bailey ramona plays trombona and also the shofar there's a dude playing the oud and another one on guitar there's do some gony tony and mellophone joan The piccolo player just fell in a sousaphone In my head, in my head There's a band that is playing In my head, in my head, in my head There's a band that is playing The donkey's always brave. There's a band that is playing in my head. You're listening to the Children's Hour Kids Public Radio. We'll be right back.

The Children's Hour is now producing weekly educational modules to go with every episode thanks to a grant from the Albuquerque Community Foundation. You can support this effort too. Go to childrenshour.org and click donate. The Outpost Performance Space in Albuquerque, New Mexico hosts our recording sessions. Thank you, Outpost.

Many thanks to New Mexico Arts, a division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts for their support of the Children's Hour. The Children's Hour is grateful to the City of Albuquerque Cultural Services Department and the Urban Enhancement Trust Fund for their support. It's Marsha and the Positrons from Energetic right here on the Children's Hour. Counting on my brain is the name of that song.

There's so much more to learn about the brain and you can dig in deeper by going to childrenshour.org and look for this episode called the brain, where we have a learning guide that meets and cites educational content standards to use in the classroom, or just to learn more and do the activities and get into your brain even more.

Coming up, we're going to learn why the insult bird brain is not a very good insult because birds, it turns out, are really smart. That's not surprising, is it? This next one is from Noodle Loaf. It's called Different Brains from Echo Songs, Volume 2. You're listening to the Children's Hour. Different Brains. In different heads With different eyes Foreseeing different friends With different brains But similar smiles are different brains. Give us each our own style. Bailey has a busy brain.

A million thoughts to ponder Carla has a quiet brain And it loves to wander Lily likes noises She likes to feel them in her bones. Quinn needs quiet. So he wears... for seeing different friends with different brains with similar smiles our different brain Max likes to mix it up. It makes him feel so fine. Liv will look you in the eyes. Tell you how she feels. Ricky rocks back and forth. It feels chill And ask him what he wants This is Bird Note.

Time to retire the insult bird brain. Many birds, especially jays, crows, and parrots, are remarkably clever, capable of problem solving, and even using simple tools. And in recent years, we've gained a better understanding of how they can be so smart. In humans and other mammals, intelligence is seeded in the neocortex.

the large, rounded mass of neurons that gives our brains their distinctive shape. The neocortex is organized in vertical columns and horizontal layers of neurons. Birds lack a neocortex. Therefore, brains were thought to be entirely organized into simple clusters of neurons. But when scientists took a closer look at a structure in birds' brains called the dorsal ventricular ridge,

They found similarities to the neocortex at the cellular level. Specialized microscopes revealed that the ridge has neurons in layers and columns, different circuitry from the rest of a bird's brain, and similar. to the structures in the neocortex. This physical basis for intelligence helps us understand birds and their behaviors. And it's a good reason to stop using bird brain as a put-down. For Bird Note, I'm Michael Stein.

That's Lucy Kalantari and the Jazz Cats, and before that, Marco Polo with Big Brains. We've been learning about the brain today on the Children's Hour, and we've got links in our playlist and so much more posted at childrenshour.org. look for the brain. You can also subscribe to our podcasts and hear the shows on demand. We're going to go out with one more. This is Paul Sanchez. I'm Katie Stone. We'll catch you next time for another edition of the Children's Hour.

I would while away the hours, conferring with the flowers, consulting with the rain. And my head I'd be scratching while my thoughts were busy hatching. If I only had a brain, I'd unravel any riddle of any individual in trouble or in pain. The thoughts I'd be thinking I could be another Lincoln If I only had a brain Oh, I could tell you why The oceans near the shore I could think of things I never thunk before And then I'd sit and think some more

I would not be just a nothing, my head all full of stuffing, my heart all full of pain. I would dance and be merry, life would be a ding-a-derry. The Children's Hour is produced by The Children's Hour Incorporated, a New Mexico non-profit. You can find photos, playlists, learning guides, and activities for every episode at childrenshour.org.

This episode of the Children's Hour was written and produced by me, Katie Stone, with production help from Sarah Gabrielli, Daniel Lentz, and Bird Note. Amber Scheel writes our learning guides. You can find this one at childrenshour.org. Look for the brain. Find our podcast wherever you listen to podcasts or go to our patreon.com slash the children's hour or ask your smart speaker to play the children's hour podcast.

Our theme music was written by C.K. Barlow. The Children's Hour is distributed by Native Voice One, the Native American radio network. Thanks for listening to the Children's Hour. Kids Public Radio.