How can three pounds of jelly inside our skulls enable us to do everything that makes us human? For centuries, scientists have been fascinated and puzzled by the mysterious workings of the brain. Now, for the first time, they can re-create in the computer the shapes of every one of the billions of nerve cells that make up our brains, the component parts of the intricate neural circuits that allow us to move, see and hear, to feel and to think.

At TEDMED, Sheila Nirenberg shows a bold way to create sight in people with certain kinds of blindness: by hooking into the optic nerve and sending signals from a camera direct to the brain.

Neuroscientists David Eagleman and Henry Markram debate whether or not it's possible to ever fully understand the workings of the brain. While Eagleman is skeptical, Markram defends his work on the Human Brain Project, which aims to recreate the brain by assembling its individual parts.

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Neuroscientist Joy Hirsch talks about the new frontier of brain imaging.

An award-winning neuroscientist with a deep appreciation for the rewards and benefits of teaching, Wendy Suzuki discusses her research, and the teachers who inspired her.

Wendy Suzuki holds a faculty position in the Center for Neural Science at New York University, where she also runs an active research lab. Her research focuses on understanding the patterns of brain activity underlying long-term memory as well as the role of aerobic exercise in improving learning, memory and cognition.

Dr. Howard Rankin B.A., M.Phil., Ph.D, has published over thirty-five scientific papers on addictions and eating disorders and for ten years was the associate editor of the scientific journal Addictive Behaviors. At the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London, he conducted groundbreaking research on the subject of temptation and self-control and was part of the team that redefined the scientific concept of dependence. Dr. Rankin has authored or co-authored 10 books on communication, relationships, wellness and weight loss, including the best selling Inspired to Lose .Dr.

The Ethics of Designer Brains

Bryan Appleyard and Rod Liddle discuss how fast-moving technological forces are shaping our future and consider the shift from simple solutions to the "new complexity".

Listen to the full audio: www.thersa.org/events/audio-and-past-events/2011/the-brain-is-wider-than...

David Eagleman, neuroscientist and author of Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, discusses the relatively minor role that the conscious mind plays in comparison to the rest of the brain. "The conscious part is like a stowaway on a transatlantic steamship that's taking credit for the whole journey without acknowledging the engineering underfoot," he says.

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A talk by Anders Sandberg, of the Future of Humanity Institute, Oxford University. Whole brain emulation (WBE) is the possible future one-to-one modelling of the function of the entire (human) brain. This would achieve software-based intelligence by copying biological intelligence (without necessarily understanding it).