Neuroscience

Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, developmental biology, cytology, psychology, physics, computer science, chemistry, medicine, statistics, and mathematical modeling to understand the fundamental and emergent properties of neurons, glia and neural circuits. The understanding of the biological basis of learning, memory, behavior, perception, and consciousness has been described by Eric Kandel as the "epic challenge" of the biological sciences. The scope of neuroscience has broadened over time to include different approaches used to study the nervous system at different scales. The techniques used by neuroscientists have expanded enormously, from molecular and cellular studies of individual neurons to imaging of sensory, motor and cognitive tasks in the brain. History of neuroscience The earliest study of the nervous system dates to ancient Egypt. Trepanation, the surgical practice of either drilling or scraping a hole into the skull for the purpose of curing head injuries or mental disorders, or relieving cranial pressure, was first recorded during the Neolithic period. Manuscripts dating to 1700 BC indicate that the Egyptians had some knowledge about symptoms of brain damage. Early views on the function of the brain regarded it to be a "cranial stuffing" of sorts. In Egypt, from the late Middle Kingdom onwards, the brain was regularly removed in preparation for mummification. It was believed at the time that the heart was the seat of intelligence. According to Herodotus, the first step of mummification was to "take a crooked piece of iron, and with it draw out the brain through the nostrils, thus getting rid of a portion, while the skull is cleared of the rest by rinsing with drugs." The view that the heart was the source of consciousness was not challenged until the time of the Greek physician Hippocrates.

About this result

This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.

Related publications (35)

Related people (16)

Related units (1)

Related concepts (287)

Related courses (56)

Related lectures (344)

Related MOOCs (16)

BIO-501: Lab immersion I

The student will engage in a laboratory-based project in the field of life sciences engineering. Student projects will emphasize acquisition of practical skills in experimentation and data analysis.

BIO-502: Lab immersion II

The student will engage in a laboratory-based project in the field of life sciences engineering. Student projects will emphasize acquisition of practical skills in experimentation and data analysis.

BIO-503: Lab immersion III

The student will engage in a laboratory-based project in the field of life sciences engineering. Student projects will emphasize acquisition of practical skills in experimentation and data analysis.

Neuroscience

Psychology

Psychology is the study of mind and behavior in humans and non-humans. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between the natural and social sciences. Psychologists seek an understanding of the emergent properties of brains, linking the discipline to neuroscience. As social scientists, psychologists aim to understand the behavior of individuals and groups.

Human brain

The human brain is the central organ of the human nervous system, and with the spinal cord makes up the central nervous system. The brain consists of the cerebrum, the brainstem and the cerebellum. It controls most of the activities of the body, processing, integrating, and coordinating the information it receives from the sense organs, and making decisions as to the instructions sent to the rest of the body. The brain is contained in, and protected by, the skull bones of the head.

Data-driven whole mouse brain modeling for multi-scale simulations

Dimitri Bruno Marie Rodarie

In this thesis, we present a data-driven iterative pipeline to generate, simulate and validate point-neuron models of the whole mouse brain. The ultimate goal is to replicate close loop experiments wi

EPFL2022

Uncovering the neural encoding of behavior in the adult Drosophila motor system

Chin-Lin Chen

One of the most important goals in neuroscience research has always been to understand how animals control their behavior. However, the long focus on the role of brain neurons in behavioral control mi

EPFL2022

Biologically plausible unsupervised learning in shallow and deep neural networks

Bernd Albert Illing

The way our brain learns to disentangle complex signals into unambiguous concepts is fascinating but remains largely unknown. There is evidence, however, that hierarchical neural representations play

EPFL2021

Explores systems neuroscience and brain interactions using various technologies for potential clinical applications.

Introduces modeling in neuroscience, focusing on the brain's complexity and investigation methods.

Covers downloading, extracting, compiling, and visualizing single cell models for analysis and simulation.

Understanding the brain requires an integrated understanding of different scales of organisation of the brain. This Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) will take the you through the latest data, models

Learn how to digitally reconstruct a single neuron to better study the biological mechanisms of brain function, behaviour and disease.