Good Brain, Bad Brain: Basics
Why join the course?
This free online course is an introduction to the key concepts of the human brain and is designed for the non-specialist. It gives you basic information and explanations, so that you may better understand your own amazing brain.
Understand your own amazing brain
We will look at what your brain is made of, how these components are organised and how they function.
This information is helping neuroscientists across the globe understand the brain - and how it is able to do everything from stopping you falling off your bike, to making you feel sad that your football team lost their game, to helping you learn how your brain works.
Understand the terminology of neuroscience
Like all specialist areas, the field of neuroscience has its own terminology, and often a single word or short phrase can carry a whole paragraph’s meaning. This course is designed to introduce you to this specialist lexicon and the key biological processes underpinning brain function.
Learn more with the Good Brain, Bad Brain program
This course is the first of three in the Good Brain, Bad Brain program from the University of Birmingham. It will help you become familiar and confident with the basics, so you can go on to learn more about Parkinson’s disease and drug origins.
When you complete all three courses and buy a Certificate of Achievement for each, you will earn a FutureLearn Award as proof of completing the program of study.
What topics will you cover?
- The cells of the nervous system: neurones and glia
- Basic neuroanatomy of the brain and the concept of the relationship between structure and function
- Basic properties of neurones, including an introduction to the action potential
- A brief introduction to the functioning of the synapse
- Examples of drugs (legal and therapeutic) that alter the function of neurones and synapses
- Examples of brain disorders that illustrate how some functions are highly localised, such as the sensory systems, whilst others are distributed throughout the brain, such as emotion
When would you like to start?
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you'll be able to...
Who is the course for?
This course is aimed at anyone with an interest in finding out the fundamentals of how the human brain works. It assumes that you will have basic school-level biological knowledge.
You might be doing your A-levels and considering a neuroscience-related degree; a computer-scientist interested in neural networks; or in business and wondering how the workings of your employees’ brains influences the culture of your business.
Who will you learn with?
Alison Cooper
Alison Cooper is a senior lecturer at the University of Birmingham, where she teaches neuroscience and pharmacology.
Who developed the course?
The University of Birmingham is a public research university, consistently listed as a leading UK university and ranked among the top 100 in the world.
Free
Upgrade - $79
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