Central Nervous System

The central nervous system (CNS) is the part of the nervous system that integrates the information that it receives from, and coordinates the activity of, all parts of the bodies of bilaterian animals—that is, all multicellular animals except radially symmetric animals such as sponges and jellyfish. It contains the majority of the nervous system and consists of the brain and the spinal cord. Some classifications also include the retina and the cranial nerves in the CNS. Together with the peripheral nervous system, it has a fundamental role in the control of behavior. The CNS is contained within the dorsal cavity, with the brain in the cranial cavity and the spinal cord in the spinal cavity. In vertebrates, the brain is protected by the skull, while the spinal cord is protected by the vertebrae, and both are enclosed in the meninges.

Read more about Central Nervous System:  Development, Evolution, Diseases of The Central Nervous System

Famous quotes containing the words central, nervous and/or system:

    The fantasies inspired by TB in the last century, by cancer now, are responses to a disease thought to be intractable and capricious—that is, a disease not understood—in an era in which medicine’s central premise is that all diseases can be cured.
    Susan Sontag (b. 1933)

    Last night I fled until I came
    To streets where leaking casements dripped
    Stale lamplight from the corpse of flame;
    A nervous window bled.
    Allen Tate (1899–1979)

    Loving feels lonely in a violent world,
    irrelevant to people burning like last year’s weed
    with bellies distended, with fish throats agape
    and flesh melting down to glue.
    We can no longer shut out the screaming
    That leaks through the ventilation system ...
    Marge Piercy (b. 1936)