• Question: What do you think was the greatest scientific discovery in your field

    Asked by EmmanuelA on 25 Nov 2020.
    • Photo: Malgorzata Dabrowska

      Malgorzata Dabrowska answered on 25 Nov 2020:


      Hi EmmanuelA,

      So many discoveries in my field where great and it’s hard to point one. For sure finding out that neurons can fire up and carry the signal etc was enormous, because everything started from this moment. Discovery of different structures in the brain and uncover one by one for what they are responsible for was also highly important. The first successful staining of neuron was so big because the structure of the cell was reviled. The list is so long… I like a lot the discovery about place cells (specific neurons in your brain which are firing when you are in a well-known place, they’re learning the 3D model of the place, way of you moving there etc), mirror neurons (they are active for example when observing someone else doing something, you can sympathize with the person, start feeling same emotions as she/he, this is happening for example when we are watching TV), or Jennifer Aniston cells (perfect name! We apparently have a set of neurons, which is dedicated for each person, thing, object that we know, and doesn’t matter in which configuration for example the person will be showed, in a blue dress or behind a palm, in a dark street etc, the same neurons will always recognize her/him).

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