From Molecules to Mind

Tangled neural fibers, knotted proteins, and clumps of degenerating neurons ravage the brains of Alzheimer's sufferers. What causes these abnormalities? Why do they lead to dementia? Despite decades of research, very little is known about the brain, from the mechanisms of normal cognition and emotion to the causes of depression, addiction, and other diseases. But since the 1990s, designated by the National Institute of Mental Health as the Decade of the Brain, there has been a global push to synthesize knowledge about the brain being gleaned by physiologists, computer modelers, imaging experts, and molecular biologists and to foster collaborations between these groups. The most recent example of this trend is MIT's McGovern Institute for Brain Research, which officially opened on November 4.

Source: Technology Review

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