Signing up for the neurochemistry class was the best decision I made during registration week of the second semester of my senior year. First, I got my senior capstone credit, which was important at the time. But I was also glad that I had an opportunity to learn more about the brain, something that has always seemed like the most mysterious part of the human body or even all of life. I can’t say that really changed after taking a semester of neurochemistry, but it definitely shed a little light on it. I learned a ton of very interesting facts about the way the brain functions on a general level of neuronal connections and the chemistry involved, but I also learned quite a bit about the overall way that the brain works (what’s the neurochemistry good for without knowing the whole brain right?). The scientific aspect of the course was enjoyable and it has left me feeling like I know more than I really do, but sets me on the path to learn and discover more in the future.
The purely knowledge-based portion of the class was only half the fun. The other half was the communication of the scientific ideas that we discovered on our own or together through research and reading of complicated texts. This has been a great experience for me because it has taught me to communicate my ideas to other people more effective than I had been able to beforehand. There has never been a class that I have taken that has allowed the students to communicate so much and for so little consequence. In fact, we were rewarded grade-wise for talking, which made it even more enjoyable to get involved in the class. The “scientific communication” aspect of the course has instilled in me a greater confidence in my ability to work with other like-minded scientists, something that will undoubtedly, help me in my future career.
A lot of social factors were discussed while we talked about the different neurological disease, such as whether or not they should even be considered a disease of the brain in the first place (obesity and autism). Other things were not even science-related, such as how we can cope with loved ones or even ourselves developing a disease a debilitating and common as Alzheimer’s Disease is in the elderly. Most of us had personal ties with the topics discussed in class, which gave it a whole new level of meaning. This class has given me new awareness and understanding of people suffering from neurological and mental illnesses that I now partially understand from a neurochemical perspective, that that I can bypass and societal stigma attached to the diseases. This has made me an overall more well-rounded person, as we live in a society rampant with mental illnesses.
Overall, this class was fantastic and I would recommend it to anyone interested in science. Although it is small, it would do really well to be offered to everyone who cares about understanding the human body. Learning about the brain gives us a whole new perspective about the world we live in, with so many different and unique people existing around us.
Neurochemistry is Cool
