But Why: A Podcast for Curious Kids
Oct 2, 2026 · 33 min · 12 segments
As kids, you are constantly growing. You may not be able to feel yourself growing day to day, but if you’ve ever had achy legs at the end of a long day and been told, “Those are just growing pains,”…
Jane LindholmHost
Dr. Gonzalez is a pediatric neurologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
And what that means is that I am that doctor that takes care of the brain and the nerves for kids.
And you can think of the nerves as those wirings that go all over your body to help you move and send messages to your body.
Neurologists like Dr. Gonzalez study the brain and the system in our body that makes sure the messages from your brain get where they need to go.
And we should actually talk about the nervous system for just a second because it's amazing.
We have this system that can carry messages between our brain and the rest of our body, and growing is all about how the brain communicates with our body.
The first is called the central nervous system, which is your brain and your spinal cord.
Dr. Gonzalez says you can think of the central nervous system as the command center for your body.
The peripheral nervous system includes all the nerves that come off your brain and spinal cord and run through your body.
These nerves are really important because they're the ones that get those signals out to faraway places like your fingertips and your toes or your eyes.
Let's say I'm out running around playing with my friends, and at the last second I see a puddle and I'm about to hit it.
But I don't wanna get my sneakers wet, so at the very last second, I quickly lift up and sail over it and jump clear of the puddle.
But Dr. Gonzalez says there's a lot going on in my brain and body to make sure that I didn't get my sneakers wet.
That, that is actually pretty complex 'cause everything starts in your brain, but that idea has to become actually a signal and go run through that neuron or cell, that worker that is gonna transmit or send that signal all the way down to your spinal cord, to those big nerves or wirings, then get into your muscle and tell your muscle, that engine, to move.
"Hey, let's jump and have fun." So it i- it sounds easy, and yes, we don't think about it, but it's a very complex thing that happens inside our brain and our peripheral nervous system.
Yes, the, the, the nervous system is amazing, but we wouldn't be able to do the things that we do without our heart beating and sending blood or us breathing while our muscles move.
Dr. Gonzalez is a pediatric neurologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
And what that means is that I am that doctor that takes care of the brain and the nerves for kids.
And you can think of the nerves as those wirings that go all over your body to help you move and send messages to your body.
Neurologists like Dr. Gonzalez study the brain and the system in our body that makes sure the messages from your brain get where they need to go.
And we should actually talk about the nervous system for just a second because it's amazing.
We have this system that can carry messages between our brain and the rest of our body, and growing is all about how the brain communicates with our body.
The first is called the central nervous system, which is your brain and your spinal cord.
Dr. Gonzalez says you can think of the central nervous system as the command center for your body.
The peripheral nervous system includes all the nerves that come off your brain and spinal cord and run through your body.
These nerves are really important because they're the ones that get those signals out to faraway places like your fingertips and your toes or your eyes.
Let's say I'm out running around playing with my friends, and at the last second I see a puddle and I'm about to hit it.
But I don't wanna get my sneakers wet, so at the very last second, I quickly lift up and sail over it and jump clear of the puddle.
But Dr. Gonzalez says there's a lot going on in my brain and body to make sure that I didn't get my sneakers wet.
That, that is actually pretty complex 'cause everything starts in your brain, but that idea has to become actually a signal and go run through that neuron or cell, that worker that is gonna transmit or send that signal all the way down to your spinal cord, to those big nerves or wirings, then get into your muscle and tell your muscle, that engine, to move.
"Hey, let's jump and have fun." So it i- it sounds easy, and yes, we don't think about it, but it's a very complex thing that happens inside our brain and our peripheral nervous system.
Yes, the, the, the nervous system is amazing, but we wouldn't be able to do the things that we do without our heart beating and sending blood or us breathing while our muscles move.
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