IUBio

SKULL

dag.stenberg at helsinki.nospam.fi dag.stenberg at helsinki.nospam.fi
Tue Jan 5 06:48:49 EST 1999


Catalin Obreja <obreja_c at club-internet.fr> wrote:
> Why do we need a skull?
> Because we are not clever enough to take care of our brain.
> Any comment is wellcome!

Because the computer inside is already quite heavy to carry - about 1.5
kg. Already there are so numerous cables that space is saved by letting
one oligodenroglia cell make the myelin sheath for several neurons,
unlike in the peripheral nervous system. If we added the stiff structure
needed to support and protect the brain with only skin and cerebrospinal
fluid between the world and the brain, the resulting structure would
be big and too heavy to carry comfortably. Also, one would have to make
babies be born much earlier with the increased risk due to prematurity,
because their heads would not fit through the birth canal otherwise 
(or the ladies would have to develop much wider derrières).

Dag Stenberg





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