Brain Basics

The more we learn about how to change our brains and those of others, the more we need to think about what those changes mean to us, to our communities, and to our world.

We communicate with one another using movements (gestures), sounds (speech), and symbols (writing). Language is intrinsically tied to our emotions, social relationships, and many other aspects of cognition. Much is still mysterious about the process. Here’s what we know so far.

Scientists can now grow living human brain tissue in lab dishes and in animals, creating organoids, neural transplants, and chimeras. While these models will help us better understand the brain in health and disease, they also raise thorny ethical questions that will only get thornier in the future.

Bullying—mistreating and dominating others—is harmful in the moment and possibly throughout the rest of a person’s life. Get the basics. Here are the basics.

How do moods differ from emotions? Can you alter your mood safely?

Addiction has devastating effects on overall health, interpersonal relationships, and quality of life. But how does addiction develop?

Scientists who conduct experiments to learn about the brain are called neuroscientists, and like all scientists, they use the scientific method.

While we often talk about our genes as being responsible for individual traits like intelligence and temperament, the environments we live in may have just as much influence on who we are, how we look, and how we behave. Here are the basics.

The brain is a mosaic made up of different cell types, each with their own unique properties. Here are the basics.

Nature and Nurture:
A Dynamic Interplay

Genetic research has become a mainstay of neuroscience, illuminating how the brain is put together, the molecular pathways of its operations, and the myriad things that can go wrong.

The human brain is a network of networks: an intricate, integrated system that coordinates operations among billions of cells.

The brain and nervous system are a network of many specialized parts.