Harvard Neuroscience Course *free*

[Seanko]

Harvard University provides a free introductory Neuroscience course online.

https://www.mcb80x.org/

The level feels a first year undergraduate course.

 

[Seanko]

THE FUNDAMENTALS OF NEUROSCIENCE is a joint online / on-campus course at Harvard University offered under the course number MCB80x online, and MCB81 on campus at Harvard. The online version of the course is completely free to take, and those students who successfully complete the course are eligible to receive a certificate of completion fromedX

The course serves as an introductory survey of topics in neuroscience, ranging from the function of ion channels in the neuronal membrane, to the activity of individual neurons and small groups of neurons, to the function of the brain and its subsystems. The online version of the course has no specific prerequisites, though some prior exposure to biology and/or chemistry can be helpful.

 

[Seanko]

As the introduction states you might need to brush up on your high/secondary school Chemistry & Biology.

If you do need some help try the Crash Course series on Youtube

Crash Course on Biology

Crash Course on Anatomy & Physiology

These are extremely daft & silly and may not be to your taste but they are informative.

Enjoy!

 

[beaker]

 

[Seanko]

You'll be fine, like all distance learning you go at your own pace when the fog has subsided a bit.

 

[ahmo]

I can't find the beginning of the course. I only get the vid that opens with, "In our last module we learned about synapses..." Advice? Thanks for the Crash Course guys, they're pretty

 

[Scarecrow]

I understand. Completely.

 

[Seanko]

I can't find the beginning of the course. I only get the vid that opens with, "In our last module we learned about synapses..." Advice? Thanks for the Crash Course guys, they're pretty

Re: Crash course, found the videos useful in understanding what's happening with ME/CFS research too particularly the stuff on the immune & nervous systems.

Re: course material...Log in/go to dashboard/Lessons/List view....=> will bring up the list of lessons

@Scarecrow & @beaker I had to do a bit of background reading & watch a few high/secondary school videos as I dropped biology early at school. However it's a challenge I can do at my own pace.

 

[Scarecrow]

@Scarecrow & @beaker I had to do a bit of background reading & watch a few high/secondary school videos as I dropped biology early at school. However it's a challenge I can do at my own pace.

Thank you but you don't understand the problem.

My memory is utterly screwed. Prior to getting ME (thirty years ago) I had an excellent memory. Since then and I don't know the right words for this but I seem to lack the ability to consolidate information; the interface between short term and long term is somehow busted. So I can read and understand (assuming I have the requisite prior knowledge) but I find it impossible to retain a lot of information. It just kind of leaches away, like writing fading to illegibility. What does make it through sticks, it really sticks.............. but not much makes it through.

I have the same problem whether the subject is academic or a novel or film / TV. I've been trying to read a book called 'A Suitable Boy' since it was published in 1993. It's one of the longest novels in English and it just has too many characters for me to remember who's who and what they've done so far in the plot. I've never made it past the first few hundred pages. I've just learned that 'A Suitable Girl' is to be published next year. Oh, crap!

I'll know a treatment has been successfully when I can finally read that damned book!

As far as academic knowledge is concerned, I remain very nearly as ignorant as I was when I was 15.

My capacity to learn is now largely restricted to procedural tasks and logic.

 

[Seanko]

@Scarecrow It's a problem I can empathise with.

I must admit with books that have a lot of characters I make notes.When I took professional exams in 2009, I used different techniques to try & retain information. Oddly, I seem to retain information better when I hear it, so I would make record myself study notes to listen to on the MP3 player.

Sleep researchers think long term memories are consolidated during sleep, so our non-refreshing variety could impact on that.

I am guessing because our immune & nervous systems are messed up, the higher level parts of the brain are shut down with blood & oxygen going to the survival parts only.

 

[Scarecrow]

@Scarecrow It's a problem I can empathise with.

I should think that most pwME could emphasise with it to a greater or lesser extent but if you try twice as hard for 10% of the reward, is it worth it?

I started an iTunes virology course last year. The course provider was Columbia University (Vincent Racaniello) and it was a great course, really enjoyable. VR regularly sets questions throughout his lectures to make sure that his students are paying attention and my answers were consistently more likely to be correct than the class average. This is Columbia - their students aren't slackers. But after a while, I found it more and more difficult because I just wasn't retaining enough of the material from earlier in the course.

Sleep researchers think long term memories are consolidated during sleep, so our non-refreshing variety could impact on that.

That definitely makes a bad situation worse but it isn't the root cause of the problem.

I am guessing because our immune & nervous systems are messed up, the higher level parts of the brain are shut down with blood & oxygen going to the survival parts only.

You know, I have a hunch that you may revise your opinion about that when you've completed the course. Come back and let me know?

 

[Seanko]

@Scarecrow Yes, you have to balance out spoons vs reward vs PEM.

I quite like learning because it takes my mind off the day to day reality of illness & gives me a sense of purpose. Others have different ways eg crafts, photography.

Re: the roots of brain fog, I don't have the background knowledge to discuss it in high level terms.
Prof Alan Light made an interesting video for the Dutch ME/CFS society on it.