query: What is splunking?
passage: Caving
Caving – also traditionally known as spelunking in the United States and Canada and potholing in the United Kingdom and Ireland – is the recreational pastime of exploring wild (generally non-commercial) cave systems. In contrast, speleology is the scientific study of caves and the cave environment.[1]
passage: Nonsynaptic plasticity
Shunting is a process in which axonal ion channels open during the passive flow (not requiring an ion pump) of a subthreshold depolarization down the axon. Usually occurring at axonal branch points, the timing of these channels opening as the subthreshold signal arrives in the area causes a hyperpolarization to be introduced to the passively flowing depolarization. Therefore, the cell is able to control which branches of the axon the subthreshold depolarization current flows through, resulting in some branches of the axon being more hyperpolarized than others. These differing membrane potentials cause certain areas of the neuron to be more excitable than others, based on the specific location and occurrence of shunting.