Anatomy of a Mystery … Secrets of the Brain.

With all the talk around health care, we’re still advancing rapidly in research. Here is a fascinating article.

The color of thought. With new technologies scientists are able to shed light on life’s greatest unsolved mystery. How the mind really works. The brains many regions are connected by 100,000 miles of fibers called white matter – enough to circle the earth four times. Images taken at the Martinos Center reveal for the first time the specific pathways underlining cognitive functions.

Now scientists have the tools they need to get a dynamic picture of the brain. As they see the brain in action, they can also see the flaws. They are starting to identify the differences in the structures of ordinary brains and brains in people with disorders such as schizophrenia, autism, and alzheimer disease. As they map the brain in greater detail, they are learning how to diagnose disorders by their effect on anatomy and perhaps even understand how those disorders arise.