Serotonin which contributes to feeling of well-being and happiness, works by moving from neuron to neuron in your brain through a gap called the synapse.

5 -羟色胺有助于产幸福愉快的感觉，它通过一个叫做突触的间隙在大脑元之间传递。

If you're thinking cerebrum. Oh, synapse, I think neuron to something.

如果你在想大脑、突触，我想是元。

After serotonin is pumped into the synapse, it is either taken up into the pre-synaptic neuron for later use or it is metabolized by an enzyme into 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid (5-HIAA).

5-羟色胺被“泵”入突触后，要么被带到前突触元备用，要么被某种酶代谢成 5-羟基吲哚乙酸（5-HIAA）。

The researchers thereby show that it is hard to get a mature synapse to change the strength of its connection (thus satisfying the stability side of the dilemma), but easy to unsilence a silent one (satisfying the plasticity side).

研究人员由此确定，改变成熟突触连接的强度很难（因此能够实现平衡性稳定性的要求），但激活沉默突触是很容易的（因此满足平衡性可塑性的要求）。

Instead, one cell and one synapse can trigger thousands of other cells that can all act in synchrony. Something similar happens in the muscle cells of your heart, where speed and team effort between cells is crucial.

相反，一个细胞和一个突触可以触发数千个其他细胞同步行动。类似的事情发在你心脏的肌肉细胞，细胞之间的速度和团队努力至关重要。

When a neuron signals its neighbor, it releases a neurotransmitter, like serotonin, into the synapse — the space between itself and its neighbor.

元向其临近元发出信号时，会向突触释放 5-羟色胺等递质，突触元与其临近元之间的间隙。

The neurotransmitters travel across the synapse and bind to receptors on the postsynaptic neuron, where they give the cell a message.

递质过突触间隙与突触后元的受体结合，给突触后元提供信息。

Although the exact mechanism is unknown, repeated firing of neurons causes changes in the synapse, which interferes with normal impulse conduction.

虽然确切的机制尚不清楚，元的反复放电会引起突触的变化，从而干扰正常的脉冲传导。

One neuron can then pass that signal to the next at a synapse by way of chemical neurotransmitters.

此后，一个元可以把信号传递到下一个元的突触。传递通过化学递质实现。

I think it was quitting smoking that slowed me down; nicotine is a great synapse enhancer.

我想大概是戒烟让我速度减慢了；尼古丁在加强突触活动方面功效很强。

Research by Dimitra Vardalaki, Kwanghun Chung and Mark Harnett at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, just published in Nature, suggests one way is to preserve into adulthood a type of memory-forming synapse found in children.

麻省工学院的迪米特拉·瓦达拉基、钟光勋和马克·哈内特的研究表明，一种方法是将儿童大脑发现的一种形成记忆的突触保留到成年时期。

Cocaine increases the release of certain neurotransmitters, but it's biggest effect is blocking reuptake receptors on presynaptic axon terminals, and both actions keep neurotransmitters like dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin in the synapse longer and increases their effects.

可卡因促进一些特定递质的释放，但它最大的作用是阻止突触前元终端受体的“再摄取”；两种作用都能使得递质，如多巴胺、去甲肾上腺素与5-HT，在突触间隙存留时间延长，从而加强他们的作用。

To detect a synapse, we'll need to scan at a resolution of about a micron — a thousandth of a millimeter.

要检测突触，我们需要以大约微米的分辨率进行扫描——千分之一毫米。

The serotonin molecules diffuse across the synapse and bind to their receptors on the neighboring neuron, transmitting the signal.

5-羟色胺分子通过突触扩散，并与邻近元上的受体结合，传递信号。

Others are broken down by enzymes in the synaptic cleft, or sent away from the synapse by diffusion.

其他的被突触裂隙的酶分解，或者通过扩散被送出突触。

So, the key factors that determine how quickly you think include how long it takes to generate an initial action potential; propagate it down the length of the axon; and transport it through the synapse.

所以，决定你思考速度的关键因素包括最初产动作电位，以及将它一路下传到轴突，再通过突触来进行传输的时间。

The two neurons communicate at the synapse, where one neuron sends neurotransmitters to the next neuron.

如图这两个元在突触处进行信息传递，由一个元将递质传递给下一个元。

Where two neurons come together is called a synapse, and that's where one end of an axon sends neurotransmitters to the dendrites or directly to the cell body of the next neuron in the series.

元连接的部位叫做突触，突触也分两种，一种是通过轴突产递质向树突传递信号，一种是通过轴突直接向下一元的胞体传递信号。

Normally, electrical signals, or action potentials, travel down the axon to the axon terminal, where they trigger the release of chemical messengers called neurotransmitters from synaptic vesicles into the synapse.

通常情况下，电信号或动作电位通过轴突传递到轴突末梢，从而刺激化学信号分子（递质）从突触小泡释放到突触间隙。

My brain sends an action potential along the motor neuron until it synapses with a muscle cell in my arm.

我的大脑沿着运动元发送动作电位，直到它与我手臂上的肌肉细胞突触。