The cost of these diseases is high across the globe. In fact, neurological diseases make up 11 percent of the world’s disease burden, not including mental health and addiction disorders. In 2007, the World Health Organization estimated that neurological disorders affect up to one billion people worldwide. More than 1,000 disorders of the brain and nervous system result in more hospitalizations than any other disease group, including heart disease and cancer. The importance of this research cannot be overstated. And they strive to advance a centuries-old scientific quest to understand how the world around us works. How do cell circuits enable us to read and speak? How and why do we form relationships? How do we think, remember, despair, or motivate? Scientists discover possible causes of devastating disorders of the brain and body, as well as ways to prevent or cure them. They study how these cells organize themselves into effective, functional circuits that usually remain in working order for life.īrain researchers are motivated to understand behavior. Scientists continue to strive for a deeper understanding of how the brain’s 100 billion nerve cells are born, grow, and connect. Over the years, the neuroscience field has made enormous progress. They have the daunting task of deciphering the brain’s commands of all these diverse functions. Neuroscientists specialize in the study of the brain and the nervous system. It is the brain’s ability to perform all these functions that makes us human. It shapes our thoughts, hopes, dreams, and imaginations.
The brain controls the immune system’s response to disease and determines, in part, how well people respond to medical treatments. This single organ controls every aspect of the body, ranging from heart rate and appetite to emotion, learning, and memory.
#FOCUS ON HUMAN BRAIN MAPPING FULL#
Scientists still have not uncovered the full extent of what the brain can do. The brain has enabled humans to achieve breathtaking milestones - walking on the moon, mapping the human genome, and composing masterpieces of art, literature, and music. It has a capacity to store more information than a supercomputer and to create a network of connections that far surpasses any social network. The human brain - a spongy, three-pound mass of tissue - is the most complex living structure in the known universe.