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About Neuroscience
- Scientists have only begun to understand the wonders of the nervous system, using increasingly sophisticated tools and techniques.
Brain Basics
- Learn the basics of how the brain’s 100 billion nerve cells are born, grow, connect, and function.
Sensing, Thinking & Behaving
- How do cell circuits enable us to read and speak? How and why do we form relationships? How do we think, remember, or despair?
Diseases & Disorders
- Discover causes of disorders of the brain and body, as well as the science enabling prevention or treatment.
Across the Lifespan
- From birth through old age, brain cells and the connections between them change in response to the environment.
In Society
- The study of the brain and nervous system applies to countless facets of daily life, from decisions about money and education, to the way we view ourselves and others.
- - In Society

Editorial Team

Jennifer Carr is a science writer at the Society for Neuroscience.

Jennifer Carr, MA

Manager, Science Writing
Society for Neuroscience

Jennifer writes and edits content on BrainFacts.org. After spending a few years as a technician in a lab dedicated to improving medications for the treatment of anxiety and depression, Jennifer discovered her passion was crafting articles about the brain and nervous system. She is particularly drawn to articles about drug addiction, stress and resiliency, and schizophrenia. Jennifer has written for Kaiser Health News, The Scientist, and The Times-Picayune.

Articles by Jennifer Carr, MA

Brain tissue from a healthy individual, an NFL football player, and a boxer.

Hard Knocks: The Science of Concussions

Source: Society for Neuroscience

Scientists have long known that blows to the head can be dangerous. What happens in the brain when two athletes collide on the field?

A roundworm injected with GFP glows

Illuminating the Brain

Source: Society for Neuroscience

The discovery of a protein that gives jellyfish their colorful glow revolutionized scientists' view of the nervous system, allowing them to add color to what had only been seen in black and white.

Prairie voles with pups.

Love in the Lab: How Scientists Study Affection

Source: Society for Neuroscience

Research in animals and humans is helping to identify brain processes that are active when people are “in love.”

Neuromyth

Myth: People are either “right-brained” or “left-brained.”

Source: Society for Neuroscience

Regardless of personality or skill set, you use both the right and left hemispheres of your brain to perform everyday functions.

Dr. Loren Frank is a Neuroscientist at University of California, San Francisco

Loren Frank: Making Sense of Memory

Source: Society for Neuroscience

Scientist emphasizes the importance of downtime for the brain.

Anatol Kreitzer, PhD, is a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco

Anatol Kreitzer: Unraveling the Secrets of Parkinson’s

Source: Society for Neuroscience

A neuroscientist digs below the surface to look for a new answer to a terrible problem.

Julio Ramirez is a professor of psychology at Davidson College.

Julio Ramirez: Training Tomorrow’s Scientists

Source: Society for Neuroscience

When Julio Ramirez asked his eighth grade teacher Sister Mary Norbert if he could lead a class discussion about science, little did he know he’d go on to make a career educating the next generation of neuroscientists.

Human chromosomes

Epigenetics

Source: Society for Neuroscience

Is it "nature" or "nurture" that influences behavior and health outcomes?

Inputs and combinations from right and left eye

Critical Periods

Source: Society for Neuroscience

Research shows early childhood is marked by critical periods — times when the brain is intensely adaptable to new sights, sounds, tastes, and touches. But what if something in early life interferes with the ability to take in sensory information?

David Jentsch is Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles, and is the Associate Director for Research of the Brain Research Institute

David Jentsch: Commitment to Science

Source: Society for Neuroscience

Scientist targeted by animal rights activists asks about the ethics of inaction.

Learn more about regions of the brain.

Neuromyth: playing games keeps your brain young.