The Root of Thought: Unlocking Glia—The Brain Cell That Will Help Us Sharpen Our Wits, Heal Injury, and Treat Brain Disease

10Albert Einstein’s abundant astrocytes

Hope and promise reside in glia, and now the knowledge of astrocytes as our adult stem cells gives researchers an avenue to pursue an understanding of the fundamental mysteries of the mind. The brain can be seen as a verdant entity throughout our life—constantly growing to replenish deserted areas and wastelands. It is not a static place like the moon, a rock knocked around by the bombardments of space, as previously thought, but it is like the Earth in every sense, packed with growth and changing constantly. In the cortex, this growth is the domain of the astrocytes. Neurons remain hardwired except when the astrocyte turnover becomes great enough that it requires the population to sprout a new neuron, ...