Some axons are custom built for speed. A spike can travel about 200 millimeters per second along an axon in the cortex, covering the distance from the back to the front of your cortex in less than a second.14 Sensory axons in the spine are a hundredfold faster still:15 the sciatic nerve in the shrew sends spikes at 42 meters per second; in the elephant, at 70 meters per second. Or 156 miles per hour. Elephants have Ferrari nerves.
