Neuroscience: A Journey Through the Brain Lecture 1

Lecturer: Dr Ursula Rohlwink, neuroscience fellow and lecturer, Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town and Professor Anthony Figagi, head of paediatric neurosurgery, Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town.
This course is an introduction to the field of neuroscience, in which five topics will be discussed. It will begin with the anatomy of the brain, discuss the corpus callosum – the bridge of communication between the hemispheres – and then the hypothalamus, which regulates the hormones of the body. It will then look at the brainstem and its relation to the central nervous system and the pineal gland – Descartes’ seat of the soul. This will be followed by an elucidation of research and discovery in neuroscience as well as a brief history of the successes and failures of brain surgery. The fourth lecture will look at what technology has revealed, from brain imaging to single brain cell examination. The final lecture focuses on brain disorders: what happens when the brain is injured and what happens when it misfires.