Individuals with MS should have new hope with regard to treatment advances.

How does the brain track smells? Scientists use the olfactory system in insects to study how the brain responds to and processes different odors.

Neurons in the eye turn light into electrical signals. How and where signals travel between these cells is thought to affect vision.

The human brain — a spongy, three-pound mass of tissue — is the most complex living structure in the known universe.

Researching the brain and mind requires a major financial investment on a global scale, and takes place in a wide variety of locations and organizations.

Scientists who study the brain do so for many reasons. For some, the opportunity to study the most complex living structure in the known universe is itself an exciting quest. So much is still unknown about brain function and development.

The discovery in the late 1950s that the level of dopamine was decreased in the brains of Parkinson’s patients was followed in the 1960s by successful treatment with the drug levodopa, which is converted to dopamine in the brain. This historical event is one of the greatest medical breakthroughs in the field of neurology.

What do standing frustrated in a supermarket checkout line or sitting in a traffic jam have in common with fleeing predators, as was done in the early days of human beings?

The cerebrum, the largest part of the human brain, is associated with higher order functioning, including the control of voluntary behavior. Thinking, perceiving, planning, and understanding language all lie within the cerebrum’s control.

Neuroethics will draw from the experience of bioethics in handling scientific communication with the media and responsible transfer of knowledge from basic science to profit-driven venture.