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This site makes finding the major and finer structures of the brain easy. The intuitive layout lets the user go through the brain, slice by slice, to reveal actual MRI data and drawn pictures that are clearly labeled to indicate surface and subcortical structures. You can zoom in on actual microscope pictures to reveal cells in the brain and see detailed pictures of how they connect. The detailed pictures use horizontal axis (top of brain to bottom), coronal axis (front to back), and sagittal axis (side to side) scans so that you are able to develop a picture of a three dimensional map of the human brain, in your mind. One of the hardest things to picture when I first began researching about the anatomy of the human brain, was picturing where all the subcortical structures were positioned in relation to each other. By using the many informative anatomical and chemical maps, I was able to clear up the issues I had had with trying to visualize a three dimensional model. This source is very reliable, as it uses real images for the slices you see as you navigate the brain. This source also comes from the University Institut für Anatomie, so the data was observed first hand there, making it reliable. I will be using this information that I have gathered to add to my brain portfolio document, and will be a useful tool if I decide to make a three dimensional model of the brain.

This site told me more about the cortex. The differences in how the depth of the cortex changes in different parts of the brain is explained, as its role changes as the white fibers below it have different input locations depending on where in the brain you observe. The different neural layering patterns are shown with colored images, and the differences in how the neurons are connected in varying parts of the brain are also shown. The article also explains the advantages of having gyri in the brain, and how the general structure of the cortex is set us so as to maximize space efficiency. Compared to a mouse brain, which is smooth and does not have any sulci, it makes clear how these oscillating structures provide higher levels of cortical processing. This source also gives insight to how the cortex works, and proved to be of use when I was creating my brain portfolio.