brain dissection

We did a lab where we got to cut apart a brain and identify the parts that help to give the brain is funky looking form. For safety reasons we had to use rubber gloves, and an optional goggle accessory. We started off the lab by observing the Dura mater, or outer meanings. though not all the brains had them, the one that we had did. se we wound up cutting of this weird looking white layer from the outside of the brain. After that, we had to identify the cerebrum, where we saw the groves that are known as sulci. you should also see the ridges called gyri, which are pretty close to the medial longitudinal fissure, which separates the left and right hemispheres of the cerebral cortex. We then had a little bit to go and identify nearly every part of the brain. from the thalamus to the central canal, and from the spinal cord to the olfactory bulb.

We wound up getting to cut the brain horizontally. Which is the horizontal way to cut the brain, you just put it on its side, and cut through it. It leaves you with some pepperoni looking slices in your dissection tray. The odd clear stuff on the far left side of the picture is the Dura matter, which is a white "casing" that the brain happens to be in...and its pretty grodi.