Sheep Eye Dissection Lab Analysis

For this lab, my partner and I had to identify key parts of a sheep eye. At first, we had to identify the eye lid, cornea, sclera (white part of the eye) and the fatty tissue. There was more fatty tissue than we had thought there could be, so we had to remove a lot of it. Next we turned the eye over to the posterior side and identified the optic nerve and the extrinsic muscle.  When we were at the point of cutting into the sheep eye, we had to go through the sclera which was very tough. On one half of the eye we identified the vitreous humor as well as the lens. On the other half was the retina which is a very small thin layer around the interior surface of the eye.  Once you remove the retina, which is very easy to peel off as it is only attached to the eye where the optic nerve is located, there is a vibrant aquamarine color underneath. When you look at the half where the lens was located, after you remove the license you can locate the iris and the people underneath.  Overall, this procedure was very fun and easy and I would definitely do it again.

Clay Brain

 For this in-class activity, we used clay to create a 2-D model of certain structures of the brain. We first looked at the left hemisphere from the right looking at the sagittal plane, and then a lateral view of the right hemisphere. Since the cerebrum was not included in the list, the brain is not fully filled. It was a little difficult to get the proportions of the structures right, but it was fun being able to use clay to construct the model.

Missing Brain Parts

"The Woman With a Hole in Her Brain":
-Imagine going to the hospital because you were feeling dizzy and having trouble walking to find out that you are missing a rather big part of your brain, the cerebellum. This is what happened to a 24 year old lady, but fortunately for her, the rest of her brain was able to take over most of the function of the cerebellum. These functions include motor skills, and balance. There are only 9 people known who were born with the cerebellum missing! Usually, this can lead to severe speech and movement impairment, and dangerous build-up of fluids, but lucky for the 24 year old, she only had slightly slurred speech and some other slight lack motor skills.



-So, what other parts of the brain can we potentially live without? The Corpus Callosum is neural fibers connecting the right and left hemispheres of the brain. Without this part of the brain, seizures may occur, followed by the inability to hold up your body(head up, sitting, standing, or walking). Mental and physical development will be impaired and the person will also have lack of visual and auditory memory. You can survive without this part of the brain, although with some of the effects listed above.