00:00In our brains, messages are sent via electric current.
00:07This isn't news.
00:08What is news is that researchers say they have now identified another way in which brain
00:12cells talk to one another.
00:14Researchers found that while previous investigations discovered sodium ions were responsible for
00:18powering electrical signals, which send information through nerve cells, calcium is also sometimes
00:23used by our brains.
00:25Researchers were able to figure this out by first using a sodium blocker on a piece of
00:29surgically removed brain tissue.
00:31Despite the nerve-firing inhibitor being present, they still found messages being sent until
00:35they added a calcium blocker as well.
00:38They're now calling these calcium-mediated dendritic action potentials, and it could
00:41change the way we think about our brain's computational abilities.
00:45Dendrites are essentially the stop and go, yes or no gatekeepers in the brain.
00:49When an action potential in a neuron is strong enough, the dendrites will pass the message
00:53along.
00:54With one of the researchers writing, the dendrites are central to understanding the brain because
00:58they are at the core of what determines the computational power of single neurons.
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