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¡¡¡¡What are you doing right now?Yes, you are reading this page£®That also means you¡¯re moving your eyes£®You¡¯re thinking£®You¡¯re breathing£®You¡¯re listening£®Possibly you¡¯re shifting(±ä»»)positions£®You¡¯re also feeling things£this book, your chair, emotions£®What lets you do all these things at the same time?Your brain£®
¡¡¡¡Your brain is the control center of your body and mind£®Without your brain you can¡¯t do anything£®Your brain has more than 100 billion nerve(Éñ¾)cells£®Each nerve cell makes from 1,000 to 10,000 connections with other nerve cells£®The nerve cells send impulses back and forth in your brain and to and from every part of your body£®After you reach the age of 20, though, your brain cells start to die£®This is common£®However, if you suffer an illness, or injury, even more nerve cells die in your brain£®When a nerve cell dies, the thousands of connections it made with other nerve cells are lost£®
¡¡¡¡Until recently, scientists believed that the brain did not replace its dead cells£®New studies, however, prove not£®Scientists have found new nerve cells in a part of the brain called the hippocampus(º£ÂíÇø)£®The hippocampus helps the brain form memories from new experiences£®
¡¡¡¡The discovery of these new nerve cells is not a cure for anything yet£®It gives hope, however, of a cure for brain damage from such things as epilepsy(ñ²ðﲡ), Lou Gehrig¡¯s disease, car accidents, and strokes£®Someday scientists might be able to use the new cells to replace damaged brain cells£®Such a cure, however, may take about ten years to develop£®So at the same time, use your head-protect it!