Neuro musing

So, I just finished a 6-week summer class, Neuroscience. First, let me recommend not taking this as a summer course (imagine having to read six science chapters in one week, write two discussion posts, respond to at least one of someone else's, plus two short essays. Also there's two tests and a 5-10 page paper in those 6 weeks). Let me also not recommend doing it on-line. It was much more fun when I took it as an undergrad. However, I did learn some things, like all the weird diseases that they talk about on House (for example, I now know most of the tell-tale symptom's of Cushings disease). Also, I know why one might need a lumbar puncture, and what levels of molecules and antibodies should be in the serum, as well as what abnormal numbers are indicative of different symptomatic/disease states (Such as meningitis vs. multiple sclerosis). So, overall, I can be a more informed tv-watcher.
Go me!



However, perhaps one of my favorite moments of reading (which I did lots and lots and lots of in the past six weeks) was when I ran across the structure named the "nucleus reticularis gigantocellularis" (see above picture). I mean, who got away with that? And, just so you know, it has subsequently been renamed the "medullary reticular formation." I guess the first name didn't sound scientific enough for somebody.