Acetylcholine - Amygdala - Axon - Blue Spot - Brain - Brainstem - Brainstorm - Brainteaser - Central Nervous System - Cerebellum - Cerebral Cortex - Cerebrospinal Fluid - Corpus Callosum - Dendrite - Dopamine - Endorphins - GABA - Glia - Growth Factor - Hemispheres - Hippocampus - Hypothalamus - Intuition - Limbic Region - Lobes - Medulla Oblongata - Memory - Morphing - Nanotechnology - Nerve Fiber - Neuron Parts - Neuron - Neurotransmitters - Nucleus - Olfactory Bulb - Optic Nerve - Peptides - Peripheral Nervous System - Purkinje Cell - Pyramidal Cell - Scans - Serotonin - Skull - Smell - Soma - Spinal Cord - Stroop Effect - Sulcus - Synapse - Taste - Thalamus - Ventricles - Vision

Acetylcholine - The neurotransmitter involved in regulating muscles, memory, mood, sleep, and organs (like the heart).

Amygdala - An almond-shaped cluster of small structures near the limbic region. The amygdala plays a key role in regulating emotions like anger, fear, love, and sadness.

Axon - The extended part of a neuron that carries an impulse towards the synapse and transmits the message to other neurons.

Blue spot - The Locus Coeruleus is a pair of identical nuclei (clusters of neurons) in the pons from which all brain connections using norepinephrine arise; it is active during conditions requiring attention and mental focus and goes to sleep during sleep.

Brain - The organ of your body located inside your skull. Your brain is responsible for everything you think, feel, see, hear, do, and remember. How your brain works determines a lot of things about your life. No one can live without a functioning brain.

Brainstem - Oldest part of the brain. The Brain Stem regulates things like heart rate, breathing, swallowing, digestion, blinking, and more.

Brainstorm - When you think of many different ideas, and sort them out later.

Brainteaser - A question or puzzle to challenge your mind.

Central Nervous System - Your brain and spinal cord make up the central nervous system.

Cerebellum - Located in the back of the brain, your cerebellum is a busy switching station. It receives messages from most of the muscles and joints in your body. It communicates with the other parts of the brain, and then sends messages about movement and balance back to your body. It's also very active in learned skills, such as riding a bike.

Cerebral Cortex - The Cerebral Cortex is the largest part of your brain. It does a lot of brain work, like thinking, decisions, and creativity. It's responsible for thinking and learning as well as the five senses, memory and emotion. It covers much of the rest of your brain like a thinking cap.

Cerebrospinal fluid - Clear fluid that fills in all of the spaces between the parts of your brain. It gives the brain a cushion.

Corpus Callosum - A bridge of nerve fibers that connect the two hemispheres of the Cerebral Cortex.

Dendrite - A branch-like part of a neuron that receives impulses and information from other neurons.

Dopamine - A neurotransmitter important in helping to regulate physical movement, pleasure, and thought and is missing in patients with Parkinson's Disease.

Endorphins - A family of neuro-transmitters. There are several different kinds (sometimes called an opioid) that helps to ease pain and cause sleepiness.

GABA - Gamma-amino-butyric acid, a neurotransmitter that inhibits synapse action, which can be important if your brain is overreacting to a stimulus.

Glia - Means "glue." The cells of your brain that are not neurons or blood vessel cells. These cells help to hold the rest of your brain cells together.

Growth Factor - Various substances that help axons grow in specific directions to form specific connections. Very important as a possible means to repair brains damaged by stroke, trauma, and maybe drugs and diseases.

Hemispheres - The two halves of the Cerebral Cortex. These hemispheres are separate but connected. The left side of your brain connects to the right side of your body, while the right brain connects to the left side. In most people, the left brain handles words and logic, and the right brain is better at art, music, and intuition. The two hemispheres are connected by the Corpus Callosum.

Hippocampus - Structure in the limbic region that helps to store and process memories, and then helps to find them when you want to remember something. It can also affect emotions.

Hypothalamus - A thumb sized region deep in the middle of the brain that monitors the body's internal functions and helps regulate things like hunger, thirst, body temperature, and hormones.

Intuition - What you feel when you feel that something is right or wrong, even though you're not sure why or how.

Limbic Region - The limbic area of your brain has many parts. They are important to your memory, emotions, smell, and hunger. They also help determine how you respond to danger.

Lobes - The four areas of the Cerebral Cortex. The frontal lobe, temporal lobe, parietal lobe, and occipital lobe all work together, but each of them also does special things.
- Frontal: thought, decision, feeling, moving
- Temporal: hearing, speaking, learning
- Parietal: touch, language, moving
- Occipital: vision

Medulla Oblongata - A part of the brainstem that regulates breathing, heartbeat, and blood flow.

Memory - An amazing function of your brain that scientists are still trying to understand. When you remember something, it's not like finding a snapshot in your brain. Instead, your brain has to construct pieces of the memory from different clues. It's easier to remember events that you had strong feelings about.

Morphing - Changing from one shape to another.

Nanotechnology - The science of creating highly miniaturized machines that work on the molecular level.

Nerve Fiber - Collections of many axons growing along side each other on their way to other parts of the body or brain.

Neuron Parts - A neuron has three main parts. The nucleus is the center of the cell. The axon sends messages to other neurons. The dendrites receive messages from other neurons.

Neuron - Your brain is made up nerve cells called neurons. Neurons are the building blocks of your brain. They are constantly communicating with each other. The connections among the billions of neurons in all the different parts of your brain is what makes your brain work. Your brain is estimated to have 100 billion neurons. You can't grow new neurons so take care of the ones that you have.

Neurotransmitters - Neurotransmitters are the messengers that travel between one brain cell and another. They are chemical signals that neurons use to talk to each other, which is what makes your brain work. They help determine how you feel, think, and act.

Nucleus - A term used two ways in brain studies: 1) as the central part of a neuron or other types of cells where genetic information is stored and put into action; 2) a cluster of neurons within a discrete location in the brain, like the locus coeruleus.

Olfactory Bulb - The olfactory bulb receives and processes smells. It is located very close to the limbic region, which is thought to be the reason that certain smells can activate vivid memories and emotions.

Optic Nerve - Fibers that connect the retina in the eye to the brain.

Peptides - Some peptides function as neurotransmitters that often act as helper signals with other neurotransmitters in ways similar to how the endorphins help to regulate the feeling of pain. Can be found all over the brain.

Peripheral Nervous System - The nerves that connect your spinal cord to the rest of your body.

Purkinje cell - A special kind of neuron. They look like big oak trees, with more branches than any kind of nerve cell. The Cerebellum uses lots of Purkinje cells to coordinate movements.

Pyramidal Cells - Pyramid shaped cells of the cerebral cortex and hippocampus with long connections to other neurons of the cortex and other brain regions.

Scans - Brain scans use computerized x-rays and magnetic fields to show the parts of the brain. The scans give doctors and scientists a picture of how the brain is working. Some of the different kinds of scans are:
- CAT scan: Computerized Axial Tomography
- EEG: Electroencephalograph
- MRI: Magnetic Resonance Imaging
- PET: Positron Emission Tomography

Serotonin - A neurotransmitter that is involved in mood (such as helping you to feel happy), sleep, mental health, blood pressure and heartbeat.

Skull - The bone surrounding your brain that acts like a helmet, helping to protect your brain.

Smell - Odors drift into the nose and cause the smell receptors to send messages to the brain. The smell part of the brain is in the limbic region, and is connected to feeling and memory.

Soma - Another name for the neuron's main cellular space, containing the cytoplasm that surrounds the nucleus and extends into the dendrites and axons.

Spinal Cord - Nerve fibers that carry instructions to the rest of your body. These nerve fibers connect all the parts of your body to your brain, telling your body what to do. The spinal cord is your body's information superhighway to and from the skin, muscles, and joints.

Stroop Effect - What happens when you read a word like "blue" that is written in green ink, causing your brain to get confused.

Sulcus - A deep crease between the ridges of your cerebral cortex. The large channel separating your frontal and parietal lobes is called the Central Sulcus.

Synapse - The connection between brain cells. The synapse is a tiny space where two neurons meet and messages are communicated by way of neurotransmitters.

Taste - There are ten thousand taste buds in the mouth. Molecules of taste stimulate the taste receptors to send messages to the brain. The sweet and salty buds are the least sensitive, and the bitter ones the most sensitive.

Thalamus - Rounded structure in the middle region of the brain that relays sensory signals to the Cerebral Cortex. Only a very small part of the thalamus is in any way related to the limbic structure set.

Ventricles - Hollow spaces in your brain that are filled with cerebrospinal fluid.

Vision - Eyes gather visual information, which is sent to your brain to be processed and understood. The retina, in the back of your eye, has special cells called rods and cones that are sensitive to light. These are nerve cells, so the retina is actually part of your brain! The rods sense brightness and the cones sense color.