SCIENCE IN THE NEWS DAILY
Probing the Brain's Mysteries
from the Wall Street Journal
Researchers for the first time are documenting the basic wiring of the brain, the complex relationships among billions of neurons that are responsible for reason, memory and emotion. The work eventually could lead to better understanding of schizophrenia, autism, multiple sclerosis and other disorders.
"It may be the first new perspective on neuroanatomy in 100 years," said Bruce Rosen, director of the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital. "There may be some real surprises."
For years, researchers have probed the brain with imaging techniques that can pick up simple changes in neural activity, but the fundamental anatomy of thought has eluded detection. No one knows yet exactly how the brain stores information or shapes human nature. Researchers do believe, however, that all cognition emerges from the interplay of electrochemical impulses along the brain's circuitry, which can call a word to mind, apply the rules of grammar and voice it aloud in 600 milliseconds.
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