@zoeschlanger
WE KNOW A BIT about the human stomach. We know that it’s lined with a web of neurons that send information directly to our brain, and that it can command our gastrointestinal system without talking to our brain. This “enteric nervous system” is so functionally independent that scientists have dubbed it the “second brain,” but we are still largely unaware of how it reacts to various pharmaceuticals, or what goes wrong when someone has a gastrointestinal disease.
+ INSIDE VIEW: Researchers at Duke University have devised a way to look at the “enteric nervous system.”
JAKOB HELBIG/GALLERY STOCK