Geek Alert: Brain Cells Under A Microscope!

Back in the 80s during the “Just Say No” anti-drug campaign, I remember listening to the television ads, which said, “Don’t smoke pot, it kills brain cells.” And, of course, we all remember the fried egg commercial that said, “This is your brain, this is your brain on drugs.”

I was really young when President Ronald Regan and his wife Nancy started that campaign, and it really had an effect on me. I was scared to death to try any kind of drug because I didn’t want to kill my precious brain cells. However, one thing that I always wondered after watching those commercials was, “What exactly is a brain cell? What does one look like?”

Well, hot-diggedy-dog, now two decades years later, I finally get to see what a brain cell looks like. Today, Carl Schoonover’s book Portraits of the Mind is finally released. It is a book that tells the history of human exploration of the brain through pictures! Carl Schoonover, who studies neurobiology and behavior at Columbia University, shares these pictures, which up until recently have never before been seen by the general public. To me, these images look like beautiful artwork more than actual brain cells. Who knew how beautiful a human brain truly is! You can order Carl’s book and read more about it here.

[Image Credit: Amusing Planet]