Word: midbrain
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...rare and radical surgery that has wrought such changes, Dr. Hendrick cuts a trap door in the skull, removes the entire neocortex (new brain) and hippocampal area on one side (see diagram), stopping at the midbrain just above the hypothalamus. He puts nothing into the huge cavity that results, because it soon fills up with cerebrospinal fluid. The operation, he says, "is not exciting-it's terrifying, especially, on young babies. They don't have much blood anyway, and we have to get into an area that's all blood vessels. And you have...
...drug is L-dopa, short for Levo-dihydroxyphenylalanine. The rationale for its use lies in the fact that the brains of Parkinsonism victims are deficient in dopamine, a natural body chemical essential to normal nerve activity in the midbrain. So, researchers reasoned, why not give the patients extra dopamine? The trouble is that dopamine cannot cross the natural barrier be tween the bloodstream and the brain to reach the deprived cells. But dopa, an amino acid that comes in three forms including L-dopa, crosses the barrier by a process not yet fully understood. It is broken down...
...rear of the underside of the brain, controls motor coordination. The occipital lobe, that part of the cerebrum directly above and extending past the rear of the cerebellum, affects vision. Other lobes of the cerebrum house seats of personality, intellect, speech, memory and sensory-motor activity. The midbrain area, directly beneath the juncture of the cerebellar hemispheres, is related to eye reflexes and both eye and body movements. It also serves as a pathway for nerve tracts running to and from the cerebellum and other parts of the brain. A bit lower and most vital is the brain stem...
...size of a bacterium-for 60 minutes. After a Czech scientist discovers how to prolong miniaturization, U.S. agents spirit him across the Atlantic. Alas, before he can explain the discovery, he is attacked by enemy operatives and left in a coma caused by a blood clot in midbrain. Since no conventional operation is possible, the high command approves a daring plan: a miniaturized submarine with a crew of shrunken specialists (led by Stephen Boyd and Raquel Welch) is injected into the carotid artery by hypodermic needle, with orders to navigate the bloodstream to the stricken area, where a surgeon (Arthur...
...injected radioactive LSD shows that only an infinitesimal amount ever reaches the brain-and that is gone before the effects begin to be felt. It is generally thought, therefore, that LSD does not act directly but triggers an unknown series of metabolic processes. These in turn somehow affect the midbrain, seat of the intimate interchange between emotional response, awareness of external and internal stimuli, and the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Tranquilizers or barbiturates halt LSD's effects, while stimulants like amphetamine tend to elevate them. LSD is no aphrodisiac. It is not physically habit-forming...