Pituitary gland Pituitary gland In vertebrate anatomy, the pituitary gland, or hypophysis, is an endocrine gland about the size of a pea and weighing in humans. It is a protrusion off the bottom of the hypothalamus at the base of the brain. The hypophysis rests upon the hypophysial fossa of the sphenoid bone in the center of the middle cranial fossa and is surrounded by a small bony cavity (sella turcica) covered by a dural fold (diaphragma sellae). The anterior pituitary (or adenohypophysis) is a lobe of the gland that regulates several physiological processes (including stress, growth, reproduction, and lactation). The intermediate
The Tell-Tale Brain The Tell-Tale Brain The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human is a 2010 nonfiction book by V. S. Ramachandran that explores, from a neurological viewpoint, the uniqueness of human nature. Ramachandran explores various aspects of visual perception and cognition to argue that humans are unique among species. For example, he notes that although animals show cortical remapping after the loss of a limb, the plasticity seen in the human brain (after amputation) is much more dramatic. Ramachandran discusses seven main concepts which define the human aspect of self and how each may be disrupted by a