Science Friday   /     The Brain’s Glial Cells Might Be As Important As Neurons

Summary

These lesser-known nervous system cells were long thought to be the “glue” holding neurons together. They’re much more.

Subtitle
These lesser-known nervous system cells were long thought to be the “glue” holding neurons together. They’re much more.
Duration
00:15:50
Publishing date
2024-04-15 19:59
Link
https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/science-friday
Contributors
  Shoshannah Buxbaum, Ira Flatow
author  
Enclosures
https://chrt.fm/track/53A61E/pdst.fm/e/dts.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/waaa.wnyc.org/ac8e2039-dfef-4938-b66a-c2f58f4b7599/episodes/c239022c-ef2a-4be4-83ce-730afe6d5d25/audio/128/default.mp3?aid=rss_feed&awCollectionId=ac8e2039-dfef-4938-b66a-c2f58f4b75
audio/mpeg

Shownotes

Half of the cells in the brain are neurons, the other half are glial cells.

When scientists first discovered glia over a century ago, they thought that they simply held the neurons together. Their name derives from a Greek word that means glue.

In the past decade, researchers have come to understand that glial cells do so much more: They communicate with neurons and work closely with the immune system and might be critical in how we experience pain. They even play an important role in regulating the digestive tract.

Ira is joined by Yasemin Saplakoglu, a staff writer at Quanta Magazine who has reported on these lesser-known cells.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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