Page 36 - The Miracle of Electricity in the Body

34 THE MIRACLE OF ELECTRICITY IN THE BODY

THE ROLE OF THE SYNAPSES IN DATA TRANSMISSION

The gaps or spaces between the axons of two neurons are known as
synapses. Communication between the two neurons is established and
maintained at these terminal connection points. In the same way that a
telephone switchboard permits a large number of callers to talk to one
another at the same time, so a neuron can communicate with many other
neurons by means of these synapses. Each neuron has around tens of

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thousands of synapses, meaning that a neuron can establish connec-
tions with tens of thousands of separate nerve cells. Even assuming that
hundreds of millions of telephone conversations could be transmitted
over a single telephone network at the same time, this capacity still lags
far behind that of the human brain, which can effect 1 quadrillion
(1,000,000,000,000,000) communications by means of the synapse inside
it. Consider how hard-pressed one human being is when working on
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a 10-line telephone switchboard! You can better understand how a single
nerve cell simultaneously carrying out 10,000 connections is evidence of
an extraordinary creation.
A neuron collects incoming signals, decides if the total input mes-
sage is strong enough, and permits its passage to another neuron. 16
Synapses, the connection points between two neurons, control the distri-
bution of this communication by determining the direction of the signals

transmitted. 17 Triggering or inhibiting signals arrive from various re-
gions of the nervous system, sometimes opening synapses and other
times, closing them. In this way, synapses halt weak signals and permit
strong ones to pass.
At the same time, they also provide a selective function by choosing
and magnifying some of the weaker signals and passing them on—not
in one single direction but in many. The way that neurons collect signals
and decide to transmit them might lead you to assume they have some-
thing resembling conscious human intellect. However, this is accom-
plished merely by very specially arranged groups of molecules, with no
ability to think, nor any organs that permit them to perceive. The ability
of a group of molecules flawlessly discharging such vitally important re-