At every point in time, we interact with one another. Animals, like humans, also communicate with one another and have helped us in countless ways, through experimentation, to understand ourselves better. It is the means of sending out our preferences, telling others about our needs, our likes and dislikes. It is, indeed, a very basic tenet to our very survival.
Being perhaps the chief executive officer of the human body, that exquisite and elegant spongy mass of tissue called the brain is responsible for this all time vital aspect of our daily lives – communication. The brain uses its basic unit of composition to achieve this purpose. That minutest unit or building block of the brain is called neuron. This is an adorable unit with its own segments with which it uses to assist us to communicate our preferences; being it about the development of relationships, inclination towards a political ideology, the choice of a career path, aversion to an activity and virtually any and everything we may as humans think of. There are billions of these neurons in the human brain. Really? That’s powerful! We are, in fact, fearfully and wonderfully made! This brain part is so important that it has almost everything it needs to live a comfortable life. In fact, it has ‘servants’ in charge of keeping its gate. Yes, it has gatekeepers! Need I say it even has those in charge of removing its waste? To my friends in Ghana, it has a real ‘comfortable lead’… lol.
When at least two neurons or some parts of them come into contact, a junction is created. This is where it all happens. This junction is called the synapse. Each neuron can make about ten thousand of these synapses. Collectively, there are, therefore, trillions of synapses in the human brain. This is incredible! Unbelievable amount of power! Indescribable ability to communicate! You know what? You are at that junction right now.
The events which occur at the junction (synapse) account for why you are able to read this. Generally, it is deemed the basis of how you can learn and remember what you have learnt. This implies that if there is a dysfunction or damage to these junctions in your brain, you are likely to have challenges with learning. Indeed, damage to these junctions, in most parts of the brain, is the basis of many brain diseases. Luckily, the brain has an inherent ability to be able to repair itself, at least to some extent, in such bad circumstances under certain conditions. It can also develop compensatory means of adjusting to some of these bad states. What an awesome mass of tissue we have up there!
I hope next time when you interact or communicate with someone or during learning, you will remember the neuronal synapses in your brain. Remember, It’s happening live, right now, at a junction inside you! ☺
