You are about to witness something remarkable in the following short video – a neuron or brain nerve cell searching tirelessly for a connection. Neurons are the fundamental building blocks of the nervous system, responsible for transmitting information through the body and throughout our lives. These specialized cells communicate with each other through synapses, forming complex networks that underpin everything, from our thoughts and emotions to movement, perception and decision-making.

What you’ve just seen is a neuron extending its “tentacles” or axons and dendrites in a bid to find a neighbouring cell to form a connection (synapse). This process, known as synaptogenesis, is critical during brain development and continues throughout life as the brain rewires itself in response to new experiences, learning and recovery from injury. It is reason why we need to keep learning all our lives. It is also the reason for this blog. And since this is a blog about the arts and sciences, I will leave you with a few quotes from poets and scientists on lifelong learning to complement the video.

WHAT CAN I SAY (Mary Oliver)

What can I say that I have not said before?
So I’ll say it again.
The leaf has a song in it.
Stone is the face of patience.
Inside the river there is an unfinished story
and you are somewhere in it
and it will never end until it ends.

~ Excerpt from Mary Oliver’s wonderful poem, What Can I Say.

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“Make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life.”

~ Bertrand Russell (mathematician and philosopher)

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“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery into which we were born.”

~ Albert Einstein (physicist, Nobel laureate)