Neurons and Signals · Brain
Fatty insulation that makes signals dramatically faster.
Some axons are wrapped in a fatty sheath that works like insulation on a wire. It doesn't just protect — it makes the signal travel enormously faster, by letting it jump between gaps instead of crawling along the whole membrane.
The difference is dramatic: a well-insulated axon carries signals more than a hundred times faster than a bare one of the same size. This is the same myelin that let the motor neurons in the Muscles module reach 120 metres per second.
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