Armed with advanced imaging techniques and a growing knowledge of how the brain works, neuroscientists are increasingly intervening to try to fix everything from severe depression to Parkinson's disease. The age of engineering the brain has begun.
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ALL SPECIAL REPORTS
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 - Silicon Brains
- Computer chips designed to mimic how the human brain works could shed light on our cognitive capacities.
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Kwabena Boahen's lab at Stanford University is spotless. A lone circuit board, housing a very special chip, sits on a bare lab bench. The transistors in a typical computer chip are arranged for maximal processing speed; but this microprocessor features clusters of tiny transistors designed to mimic the electrical properties of neurons. Read More
- Raising Consciousness
- Some seemingly unconscious patients have startlingly complex brain activity. What does that mean about their potential for recovery? And what can it tell us about the nature of consciousness?
- Next-Generation Retinal Implant
- Scientists plan to test an implanted chip with four times the resolution of the previous version in people blinded by retinal degeneration.
- Finding Hidden Tumors
- Doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital are using whole-body MRI to illuminate a tricky disease.
- MRI: A Window on the Brain
- Advances in brain imaging could lead to improved diagnosis of psychiatric ailments, better drugs, and earlier help for learning disorders.
- A Brain Chip to Control Paralyzed Limbs
- Research is under way to make a brain chip capable of triggering muscle movement.
- Brain Chips Give Paralyzed Patients New Powers
- A neural implant allows paralyzed patients to control computers and robotic arms -- and, maybe one day, their own limbs.
- Brain Electrodes Help Treat Depression
- Studies suggest that deep brain stimulation could effectively treat depression.
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 - A Light Switch for the Brain
Scientists have developed a light-triggered switch to control brain cells, which could aid in the development of therapies for epilepsy and other diseases--and shed light on the neural code.
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- TR10: Neuron Control
- Karl Deisseroth's genetically engineered "light switch," which lets scientists turn selected parts of the brain on and off, may help improve treatments for depression and other disorders.
- What Can Neuroscience Tell Us about Evil?
- Advanced brain-imaging techniques have begun to point to specific brain patterns common among sociopaths.
- Peering into the Brain
- Watching live neurons in adult mice, MIT's Elly Nedivi has found a surprising amount of growth.
- Seeing Your Pain
- Learning to consciously alter brain activity through MRI feedback could help control pain and other disorders.
- Rerouting Brain Circuits with Implanted Chips
- A new brain chip being tested in monkeys could one day reconnect brain areas damaged by stroke or spinal-cord injury.
- Neuroscience Central
- MIT’s new Brain and Cognitive Sciences Complex is the world’s largest neuroscience research center.
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology