the.com/spinal cord
The body's fiber-optic cable, rerouting panic to your foot before your brain even hears about it.
means The thick bundle of nerves running through the spine that carries signals between the brain and the rest of the body, and handles some reflexes on its own.
from From Latin 'spinalis,' relating to the spine, itself from 'spina' meaning thorn or backbone — the vertebrae were likened to a row of spikes. 'Cord' comes from Latin 'chorda,' a string or cord, originally from Greek 'khorde,' meaning gut-string, like the material used for lyres and bowstrings — a fitting image for a taut strand running the length of the back.
- reflex speed
- Knee-jerk skips the brain entirely
- length
- Stops growing around age four, body doesn't
- cord ends
- Stops near L1, not tailbone
- cell type
- Barely any neurons replace themselves, ever