a neurone tries to make contact with a neighbour

An example of anthropomorphism (and simile) in public science discourse

"And if you imagine, that as you are learning something new form the environment, what happens is, the little filopodium which is like a worm-like structure, basically, reaches out from one nerve cell and tries to make contact with a neighbour of that nerve cell, and when it makes contact, that's kind of learning."

Dr. Hannah Critchlow

Dr. Hannah Critchlow (Fellow Commoner and Outreach Fellow, Magdalene College, Cambridge) was talking on an episode ('Hannah Critchlow on the connected brain') of the BBC's Life Scientific.

Read about anthropomorphism

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Author: Keith

Former school and college science teacher, teacher educator, research supervisor, and research methods lecturer. Emeritus Professor of Science Education at the University of Cambridge.