Introductions please...

To first look at the human brain does not in any real or physical sense conjure up a concept of beauty. Indeed this pinkish-grey mass of tissue with its mushroom like consistency and its characteristic grooves and ridges, holds a somewhat alien appearance to the eye. It is not until you hold the human brain in the palm of your hands, roughly 1.5kg in weight (on average), that the inklings of what truly lies in front of you begin to form. In this moment you begin to realise that within your grasp you hold all the thoughts, emotions and experiences that once defined an individual. Between your palms lies the means through which information in its various forms and modalities from your environment is taken and interpreted to facilitate a rich and complex communication with the world around us. Such capabilities and complexities, in context, have served to produce the inherent mystery and beauty that we so associate with the brain today.

In terms of describing the brain an interesting analogy that one could use is that of a radio. The brain, like a radio, is a unit comprising of many distinct parts, each contributing to its functioning as a whole. Like a radio it is powered by electrical signalling throughout its components and in tandem these components and their various functions and the communication between them serve to produce a higher function in its entirety (in the case of a radio: the sound we hear and in the case of the brain: consciousness, cognition and mental functioning). In furthering this analogy we also acknowledge that both the brain and a radio hold the function of picking up energy in one form and converting it into another (also known as transduction). A radio by means of its antenna picks up waves and converts them into electricity to then produce sound waves whereas the brain receives a whole host of energy forms and converts them into electrical energy by means of its own antennas; the sensory systems of the nervous system (E.g. Visual/auditory). Whilst this analogy serves to provide a general overview of the role of the brain, it is axiomatic that simplicity and the processes surrounding brain function cannot be associated with one another.

The study of Neuroscience allows us to delve further into such complexity in search of the workings behind the remaining mysteries of the brain. With Neuroscience we are ever advancing in our quest for a true understanding of the human condition and in this our appreciation for the brilliance that is the brain continues to grow…

Tom Barrett

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