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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

Sarah A. Bates works for the Society for Neuroscience and is editorial content manager for BrainFacts.org.

Sarah Bates, MS, MA

Manager, BrainFacts.org
Society for Neuroscience

Sarah Bates helps to oversee content development and partnerships for BrainFacts.org. With master's degrees in online journalism and astronomy, she is particularly interested in articles focused on technology and the brain. She has written for Discover Magazine and The Post-Standard newspaper.

Articles by Sarah Bates, MS, MA

Image of the Week: Eye of the Tiger (Salamander)

Image of the Week: Eye of the Tiger (Salamander)

Source: Society for Neuroscience

Vision requires teamwork. Nerve cells in the retina communicate with one another to create optimal messages to send to the brain.

When inverted, this image of a face isn't recognizable to most people.

Image of the Week: An Inverted Mystery

Source: Society for Neuroscience

Our brains’ recognition of objects depends on their orientation. What do you see in this image?

An example of a microwire array

Brain Machine Interface

Source: Society for Neuroscience

Formerly only in the domain of fantasy, brain-controlled devices now exist.

Two mice; one obese, one normal

Obesity and the Brain

Source: Society for Neuroscience

Studies of feeding behavior in animals and people have led neuroscientists to discover that complex systems in the brain, not just the intestine, determine food intake.

Two men dancing

Dancing and the Brain

Source: Society for Neuroscience

Let your brain boogie and learn the secrets of how rhythm and motion combine in your head to make your body move.

Molecular structure of a receptor

Nicotine Addiction

Source: Society for Neuroscience

One in every five U.S. deaths each year is smoking-related. Yet, more than 80 percent of smokers who try to quit fail within the first year, due to their chemical dependence.

Brain scan of dopamine production activating receptors

Reward and Punishment

Source: Society for Neuroscience

Drug abuse and addiction disturb the brain’s natural pleasure-producing reward system, altering self-control and decision-making abilities on a cellular level.

Dopamine production and receptors

Addiction and Brain Circuits

Source: Society for Neuroscience

Humans have always struggled with addictions to mind-altering substances. Yet, only in the past few decades have neuroscientists begun to understand precisely how these substances affect the brain.

Neuromyth: Do you only use 10 percent of your brain?

Animal research. Are mice the best tool to study addiction?