02/10/2022
Word of the week: hippocampus
Derived from the Greek, ἱππόκαμπος, a hippocampus was a sea monster with a fish's tail and a horse's head and foreparts. They served as mounts for sea nymphs and other deities, including Poseidon, as pictured below. Some ancients thought that the little fish we call sea-horses grew into these mythical creatures.
Today hippocampus more often refers to a region of the brain thought to resemble the hybrid monster of Greco-Roman antiquity. It plays a major role in learning, memory, and emotion, and its atrophy causes serious neurological disorders such as epilepsy and Alzheimer's. Alarmingly, COVID-19 has been shown to affect the hippocampus.
