a state of extreme (usually irremediable) ruin and misfortune; "lack of funds has resulted in a catastrophe for our school system"; "his policies were a disaster"
a major part of the central nervous system which conducts sensory and motor nerve impulses to and from the brain; a long tubelike structure extending from the base of the brain through the vertebral canal to the upper lumbar region
the junction between two neurons (axon-to-dendrite) or between a neuron and a muscle; "nerve impulses cross a synapse through the action of neurotransmitters"