Emissary veins passing through the foramen ovale, jugular foramen, foramen lacerum, and hypoglossal canal. Because the emissary veins are valveless, they are an important part in selective brain cooling through bidirectional flow of cooler blood from the evaporating surface of the head. In general, blood flow is from external to internal but the flow can be altered by increased intracranial pressure. A type of emissary vein goes through the sphenoidal emissary foramen inferior to the zygomatic arch with the cavernous sinus on the inside of the skull. This is an important route for spread of infection because cranial nerve VI and the
Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain the Colbert Report. Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain is a New York Times bestselling non-fiction book by American neuroscientist David Eagleman, an adjunct professor at Stanford University. "If the conscious mind - the part you consider to be you - is just the tip of the iceberg, what is the rest doing?" This is the main question throughout the entirety of the book. In "Incognito", Eagleman contends that most of the operations of the brain are inaccessible to awareness, such that the conscious mind "is like a stowaway on a transatlantic