Nervous System Explained In Simple Words

Your nervous system is why you can see this video, scratch your neck, feel hungry and ask yourself, Who am I? The human nervous system is a fascinating system with 86 billion neurons and about the same number of glial cells. The main function of the nervous system is processing information from the environment and communicating information from one part of the body to another. It is divided into the central nervous system (CNS), comprising the brain and the spinal cord, and the peripheral nervous system (PNS), comprising all the neurons outside the CNS. The nervous system works by passing along electrical signals through the neurons. The neurons are, then, like the wires that help communication across a city. This electrical signal is called an action potential. When many neurons connect, it forms a neural circuit. The simplest neural circuit is the reflex arc, which only contains three types of neurons: Afferent neurons (from the PNS to the CNS), interneurons (in the CNS) and efferent neurons (from the CNS to the PNS). By studying neural circuits, scientists hope to create robots and computers that can mimic the abilities of the nervous system!