Brain
From CreationWiki, the encyclopedia of creation science
The Brain is the part of the central nervous system that includes all the higher nervous centers which are enclosed within the skull. It is responsible for one's thoughts and feelings and is considered the seat of the faculty of reason. The human brain is indeed an example of the complexity and uniqueness that caused the psalmist to describe our workings as both fearfully and wonderfully made.[1].
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Overview
The human brain is divided into structures and divisions. The brain has seven divisions in all, each with a specific job. The mesencephalon is what connects the hindbrain to the brain stem. This is sometimes referred to as the midbrain. The mesencephalon’s functions include sight, pupil dilation, eye movement, body movement, and hearing. [2]
Prosencephalon is also known of as the forebrain, its functions include chewing, smell, taste, salivation, and swallowing-to name a few. Two smaller divisions of the prosencephalon are the diencephalon and telencephalon. The diencephalon controls vision, facial sensation, phonotation, and vision. The Telencephalon is the division with the important job of determining intelligence, personality, sensory impulses, motor functions, planning, organization, smell, and touch. [3]
The rhombencephalon, or hindbrain, is located in the latter part of the brains stem. It is also divided into two smaller divisions. The first is called the metencephalon, which is in control of balance, muscle tone, arousal, circulation, and sleep. It is located above the medulla oblongata and it consists of the brain's cerebellum and pons. Pons act as neuron pathways that conduct messages from the cerebellum and spinal cord. Pons also help monitor the body's respiratory actions. [4]
Development
When a baby is born, its brain is close to 25% of its entire body weight. As a human baby grows, its brain will generate cells on a scale of hundreds of trillions. A baby's brain undergoes many important developments up to the age of three. When a baby is born, its essential neurons are already in place; they need only to be developed. Neurons are able to "speak" to each other over synapses (what can be described as a telephone wire). Synapses form after birth, and their job is almost never over. Though synapses will continue to form throughout our lifetime, an exhausting number of synapses are formed in our first three years of life. [5]
There is an interesting part of childhood development that takes place in the brain during infancy, it is referred to as "pruning." Pruning is a systematic efficiency tool in the brain that examines synapses and gets rid of the ones that are no longer in use. It is detrimental to a child if they are not stimulated enough, or exposed to enough life experiences. New learning opportunities create synapses, and in the case of an under-stimulated child, when it's time for the brain to start "prunning" it will wipe away what few synapses there are. This leads to what is called "underdevelopment." In any case, after prunning is over, the synapses become permanent. This makes early childhood "underdevelopment" an almost irreversible handicap.[6]
Congenital contracts are defined as mutations of synaptic development, and are formed early in a child's development. These contracts originate in the brain, they mature as the brain does. These contacts cause obstructions with eyesight when they are finally matured. Doctors are finding new ways to prevent blindness by extracting these congenital contracts early on in their development.[6]
The human brain will grow depending upon the terms of its use. The more experiences a young child is exposed to, the more its brain will develop according to those experiences. In an example given by the Zero to Three Foundation: it is not the ability to speak that is unique in brain development, but the ability to learn a specific language. A child's brain can "organize" the words and sounds it hears. The brain can remember certain sounds it hears, and eventually memorize them. The ability to do this quickly and efficiently ceases on average by the age of ten. Listening to sounds seemed to not make a difference when young children who were tested were trying to grasp a language. Instead, speech-induced interaction was the way that most young children successfully learned a language.[6]
Early trauma can lead to complications that last an entire lifetime. The brain remembers trauma, even if the traumatic event itself is forgotten or "blocked out.” After a seriously traumatic event, a child can get what is called Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. PTSS causes children to have serious learning disabilities, and often times the victims stay in a state of constant alert. This "constant alert" produces high levels of adrenalin and cortisol (stress hormones). This imbalance can persist throughout a lifetime. It can even cause small brain sizes according to the Baylor College of Medicine.[6]
Diseases
Brain diseases come in a variety of forms that have many symptoms, some hardly noticeable and others hard to avoid. Encephalitis is characterized by an "inflammation of the brain" and its symptoms consist of various brain-related discomforts such as: headache, fever, drowsiness, vomiting, confusion, and seizures[7]. Other serious brain diseases are strokes and brain tumors. A stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain ceases, thus causing brain cells to rapidly deteriorate and eventually die. There are two specific kinds of stroke. There are ischemic strokes and there are hemorrhagic strokes. Ischemic strokes occur when a blood vessel cannot allow the passage of blood due to a clot. Hemorrhagic strokes occur when a blood vessel in the vain violently erupts[8]. Brain tumors go by many names, sometimes they are referred to as glioma or meningioma, but their official title is "cancer". Metastatic brain cancer does not originate in the brain, it is created somewhere else in the body and eventually moves into the brain. The symptoms can often be as innocuous as a headache, or as obvious as twitching and jerking. Brain cancer comes it two forms: it can either be benign, which means it is relatively harmless, or it could be malignant, which means it is both dangerous and destructive[9].
Genetic Disorders
Variations and mutations are irregularities in genes. These irregularies are what cause genetic disorders, in this case, within the brain. Two factors can cause genetic disorders: genetics and environmental pollutants.
One such disorder is called Leukodystrophie. Leukodystrophies attack the myelin sheath, which encases the brain's nerve cells. The after affects of Leukodystrophie can be slowness in physical development and the senses such as hearing, and vision. [10]
Phenylketonuria is a genetic disorder in which the brain cannot process a special protein called phenylalanine. Because the brain can't process this protein, it begins to build up in the brain causing retardation. If the disease is found early, a diet of low-protein foods could avoid this outcome. [11]
Tay-Sachs disease is a genetic disorder that targets the brain's nerves with buildup of fatty tissues. As the nerves are destroyed, so are the person's ability to see, hear, swallow, which eventually leads to paralysis. There is no cure for this disorder, and most babies born with it die by the age of four.[12]
Wilson disease is both a brain and liver disorder. When the brain fails to send signals to the liver to release copper (which would otherwise be excreted from the liver and into the other parts of the digestive tract) it builds up and destroys the liver. Not only does this disease affect a person's brain and liver, but it also destroys the eyes and kidneys. Unlike Tay-Sachs disease, this genetic disorder is curable with supplements and a low-copper diet. [13]
Creation vs. Evolution
According to Talk.Origins, brain sizes are relative to the size of the person who possesses them. For example: women and men differ in size, therefore their brains do as well. Though brain sizes in humans varies, it appears that intelligence stays the same. The author of the article "Creationist Argument: Brain Sizes" states that a gap was bridged when primates evolved into man. The author claims that missing links had brain sizes between the average sizes for human and ape. A human brain will rance between 1000 and 1500 cc, whereas the chimpanzee's will average closer to 400 cc. According to this source, creationists (such as Marvin Lubenow) have claimed that brain capacities as low as 700 exist in humans to discredit "missing links" (i.e ER 1470) as being within the normal range of humans.[14]
According to Acts 4:32a "All the believers were one in heart and mind." In Romans 4:27a Romans 8:27 it says "And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will." From this we see that God has a mind and we do too, this ties into a verse in Genesis 1:27a Genesis 1:27 that states "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." God created us in His image, He not only created us- but He gave us a mind just like his.
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References
- ↑ Psalm 139:14
- ↑ Mesencephalon About.com: Biology. Febuary, 6 2009
- ↑ Prosencephalon About.com: Biology. February, 6 2009
- ↑ Rhombencephalon About.com: Biology. February, 6 2009
- ↑ Brain Development ZERO TO THREE: National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families. February, 6 2009
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Starting Smart ZERO TO THREE: National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families. February, 6 2009
- ↑ Encephalitis MedlinePlus. U.S. National Library of Medicine. November, 15 2008
- ↑ Stroke MedlinePlus. U.S. National Library of Medicine. April, 24 2008
- ↑ Brain Cancer MedlinePlus. U.S. National Library of Medicine. January, 21 2009
- ↑ Leukodystrophies MedlinePlus. U.S. National Library of Medicine. November, 17 2008
- ↑ Phenylketonuria MedlinePlus. U.S. National Library of Medicine. November, 20 2008
- ↑ Tay-Sachs Disease MedlinePlus. U.S. National Library of Medicine. April, 24 2008
- ↑ Wilson Disease MedlinePlus. U.S. National Library of Medicine. January, 21 2009
- ↑ Creationist Arguments: Brain Sizes Talk Origins.org. Jim Foley. November, 30 2002
Gallery
 Digitalized Image of a Human Brain's Core |
 MRI of a Human Brain |
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