I’m a Scientist is like school science lessons meet the X Factor! School students choose which scientist gets a prize of $1000 to communicate their work.
Scientists and students talk on this website. They both break down barriers, have fun and learn. But only the students get to vote.
This zone is the Organs Zone. It has scientists studying health and disease in various parts  of our bodies. Who gets the prize? YOU decide!
Great question luke3121.
Initially we thought the answer was no. But brain cells can in fact regenerate. This is fairly limited however, where if you get a huge injury to the head/brain, your cells can’t regenerate and fix/heal the brain. Exercise and a good diet actually influence how fast cells do regenerate in the brain. So take care of your body, because you’ll then be taking care of your brain 😀
Hope that makes sense
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Not only that, there’s some amazing science going on where people are injecting stem cells into brains and growing new brain cells (neurons)!
But you still need to take good care of your brain, you only get 1!!
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Yash answered this well. But brain cells can also make new connections all the way through your life. My son’s piano teacher described this as “laying down new highways”. Every now and then a kangaroo track forms (when you learn something new). If you keep using that kangaroo track, it will become a highway…and you have a new skill!
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Yes they can. This is only a recent discovery & people in my lab & myself are looking into what makes these new neurons & how they connect into the existing circuits of the brain. We look inside the brains of mice that have lived in different cages. Some have running wheels, others have toys, tunnels & ropes & our control group have a pretty standard but boring cage. We use fluorescent jelly fish DNA to visualize new neurons – they glow green. The mice that exercise & play with toys have more new neurons. They also do better in memory mazes.
Imagine if we could harness the brains capability to make new neurons for people who have brain damage or dementia (where neurons have died).
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