Big questions in the science of the brain

An hour-long tour of some of the big questions in brain science discussed by five leading scientists of the day. Watch it on Charlie Rose's show

[If that link opens with some other show, go to the archives and choose 29 October 2009. ]

This is the first of a 12-part series -- the later episodes will go into the details of what we know about each of these questions.

What I found even more fascinating than the questions themselves is the scientists' ability to communicate the big ideas -- and also the excitement of working with and shaping those ideas -- in a language that's accessible to most of us outside the field. Yes, there's some occasional jargon such as "animal models" and "neural correlates of consciousness", but (a) they are not too many, and (b) there's sufficient context around these phrases that gives us some idea about what they mean.

Like I said, the excitement of doing high science shines right through this episode.