Brain box
‘If our brains were simple enough for us to understand them we would be so
simple that we couldn’t’
ANON
The biggest mystery on earth
Historic manuscripts suggest that as far back as the ancient Egyptians scientists have puzzled over how our brains work. New technology has generated significant insights into the inner workings between our ears and now what started out as a purely biological science is attracting attention from almost every discipline.
Despite all of this attention scientists are still left with some pretty fundamental questions:
- Why have we got such big brains compared to other species?
- How does the brain, with all of its millions of neurons, produce behaviour and shape personalities?
- What aspects of our brain are ‘hard-wired’ and which are shaped by our environment?
- Where do our memories get stored and how do we get them back when we need them?
And then there is the biggest one of all, the final frontier, the holy grail of neuroscience – consciousness.
- How do the biological and chemical processes in our brain lead us to believe that we have a mind of our own?
- What is the relationship between our conscious and unconscious mind?
- How does being ‘conscious’ benefit us in evolutionary terms?
- Is there such a thing as ‘collective consciousness’?
In the brain box we try to light up your mind by taking a light hearted look at some of these ideas.