Video

Watch this video and observe the skull bones, then watch it again reading the following script. 

Finally, choose one of the three paragraphs and translate it in Italian with the help of a dictionary or scientific glossary.

Text

The human skull is made up of eight cranial bones that surround and protect the brain and fourteen facial bones that form the underlying structure of the face and support for the teeth. With the exception of the mandible, the bones of the skull articulate with each other through joints known as sutures. 

Throughout the skull, holes known as foramina serve as passageways for blood vessels and nerves.

Bones on the surface of the skull encase the brain, protect sensory organs and serve as attachment sites for the muscles of the head and neck. These bones include the occipital bone, parietal bones, temporal bones and the frontal bone, as well as the nasal bones, the zygomatic bones, the maxilla and the mandible.

Other bones become more visible only when looking inside the skull. The sphenoid bone makes up the anterior base of the cranium. It is a butterfly-shaped bone with a central body and two pairs of laterally projecting wings. These wings form portions of the orbit. The body of the sphenoid features a depression known as the sella turcica, which houses the pituitary gland.

Located between the orbits, the ethmoid bone makes up a portion of the cranial floor and also the roof of the nasal cavity. An inferior projection, the perpendicular plate of the ethmoid bone, forms part of the nasal septum. The crista galli projects superiorly from the ethmoid bone and serves as the attachment point for the falx cerebri, a dural fold. Extending laterally from the crista galli is the cribriform plate, a perforated area through which the olfactory nerves pass.

The two L-shaped palatine bones form the posterior third of the hard palate, part of the nasal cavity and a portion of the orbit. The small, thin lacrimal bones make up the anterior portion of the medial wall of each orbit. A groove, known as the lacrimal groove, helps to form the nasal lacrimal canal, which contains a duct that allows tears to travel to the nasal cavity. 

The vomer is an elongated, plough-shaped bone that forms the inferior and posterior part of the nasal septum.

The internal and external skull bones articulate precisely, forming an intricate structure, perfectly suited to its functions.

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