Thread: neurons vs glial cells

In every article i meet with opinion, that glial cells are something like servants, while neurons are the most important part of brain. I've read a book, where author claims that scientists do not appreciate the role of glial cells and these cells control every action of our mind. Where the truth lies?

It is true that glial cells are necessary support cells for the nervous system.
But the fact that glial cells control the neurons in the brain, that is new to me.

Could you provide the book and the author?

I've read a book last year which says glial cells do more than just support neurons. It is a new field and new discoveries about the function of them have been made these years. Maybe we did look down upon them, but ,in my opinion,there are not enough evidence to show that "glial cells control every action of our mind ".

Was it this guy: The Root of Thought: What Do Glial Cells Do?: Scientific American
Or: The Other Brain Cells: New Roles for Glia: Scientific American

Seems to be an active area of research.

The way that I have always considered glial cells (I'm not a neuroscientist, so I really don't have any authority on the matter) was just as non-neuronal brain and spinal cord cells. While they may not be the primary signaling cells of the nervous system, they are no less important: for instance Schwann cells are just as important as nerve cells (without them, we would hardly be able to move). Also, just about every cell in the body performs some sort of signaling role, emitting and receiving chemical signals (although it is more rare that the signal is an electric one, as in the case of nerve cells). The Scientific American article posted by Strange was pretty interesting. I'm not entirely surprised though, most of biology is all but unknown to us still!