“As we enter the twenty-first century functional brain scanning machines are opening up the territory of the mind just as the first ocean –going ships opened up the globe.”
Rita Carter, Mapping The Brain

This website will take a look at the following concepts:

• The formation of the brain:
  
• How Genetics impact the development of the brain.
• How nutrition plays a roll in the development of the brain.
• How mom's mental health and environment can influence the developing brain.
• The first five years:
• How important the environment and nutrition is for a growing baby.
• How stimulating a baby's brain can help it develop.
• What forms of technology is being used today to help stimulate a child's brain.
• Adolescents:
• How the environment and nutrition can play a roll in the developing minds of adolescents.
• What stimuli is needed to keep the brain healthy and growing.
• What forms of technology is being used today to help stimulate an adolescent's mind.
  

The brain can be divided down the middle lengthwise into two halves called the cerebral hemispheres. Each hemisphere of the cerebral cortex is divided into four lobes by various sulci and gyri. The sulci (or fissures) are the grooves and the gyri are the "bumps" that can be seen on the surface of the brain. The folding of the cerebral cortex produced by these bumps and grooves increases the amount of cerebral cortex that can fit in the skull. (In fact, the total surface area of the cerebral cortex is about 324 square inches - about the size of a full page of newspaper!). Although most people have the same patterns of gyri and sulci on the cerebral cortex, no two brains are exactly alike.
10 Dec 2006 <http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/lobe.html>.

For more information: Neuroscience For Kids