All ages

The Brain and the Mind

Your brain is guessing what the world looks like, able to rewrite a memory each time you recall it, and running a light show every night. Work out how, and how scientists caught it in the act: from optical illusions and planted memories to dreams, consciousness and brain implants. No science background needed.

Rows of glowing green, red and blue nerve cells in the layers of the retina

Layers of nerve cells in the retina at the back of the eye, imaged with a confocal microscope (NIH).

National Institutes of Health · Public domain

Science

Dreams, Feelings and the Mystery of Consciousness Why do we sleep, and why do we dream? Explore the night-time brain, where feelings come from, what dopamine really does, and the experiments that hunt for consciousness itself: people who see without knowing they see, patients who answer from inside a scanner, and the theories put to a head-to-head test.
Inside the Brain: Cells, Maps and the Tools That Read Them What is the brain actually made of, and how do we know? Count its 86 billion neurons, watch one fire, and tour the map every scientist uses. Then meet the tools that read and steer a living brain, from brain scans to light-switched neurons, test two famous myths, and see how a brain builds and rebuilds itself.
Neurotechnology and the Future of the Brain Could a paralysed person walk again through an implant, or a mind ever be copied? Explore the devices that restore hearing, sight and touch, brain stimulation and what it can really do, simulated flies and the AI models compared with brains, neurons in a dish that learned to play Pong, and the new laws protecting the privacy of your thoughts.
The Brain in Action: Movement, Habits, Decisions and Language Why can't you tickle yourself? Discover how the brain plans a reach, runs on autopilot, weighs a choice and keeps time. See a brain area recycled for reading, meet the cells that map where you are, and learn what a phone game played by millions revealed about finding your way.
When the Brain Goes Wrong: The Science of Brain Disorders What do stroke, Parkinson's, epilepsy, head injuries and mental illness reveal about how the brain works? Follow the discoveries, from a poisoned batch of drugs that opened up Parkinson's research to brain banks studying former footballers, and learn why the simple serotonin story of depression is now disputed. Brain science throughout, never medical advice.
Your Brain Is Guessing: Illusions, Senses and Memory Why did half the internet see the same dress as blue and black, and half as white and gold? Find out how your brain guesses at the world: the blind spot it fills in, the gorilla it misses, the rubber hand it adopts as its own. Then see how memories are made, why forgetting helps, and how a memory you are sure of can be planted.

Ready to start learning?

Start for free