The Ballooning Brain: Defective Genes May Explain Uncontrolled Brain Growth in Autism
Thursday, March 22, 2012 - 16:30
in Biology & Nature
As a baby grows inside the womb, its brain does not simply expand like a dehydrated sponge dropped in water. Early brain development is an elaborate procession. Every minute some 250,000 neurons bloom, squirming past one another like so many schoolchildren rushing to their seats at the sound of the bell. Each neuron grows a long root at one end and a crown of branches at the other, linking itself to fellow cells near and far. By the end of the second trimester, neurons in the baby's brain have formed trillions of connections, many of which will not survive into adulthood--the least traveled paths will eventually wither. [More]