290 Mystery of the Nerves

Meng Chao nodded. "I know that insects and annelids have the most primitive nervous systems. Their transfer of neural information is incredibly slow. It might only travel a meter per second, while the neural information transfer in humans can reach one hundred meters per second. It's one hundred times that of lower life-forms. It's no wonder then why we can give birth to the sparks of intelligence while our neural information clashes against each other."

"That's right. The reason why higher life-forms like humans can transmit neural information so quickly is because our axons have a layer called myelin sheath. The myelin sheath acts as an insulator and prevents nervous impulses from moving from one axon to another. Aside from this, it also uses the principles of saltatory conduction to increase the speed at which action potential is transferred."