In case you wondered...

...Are we living in the age of the brain?

We know a lot about how genes work. But just as we have only a rudimentary knowledge of how genomes relate to traits (genotypes to phenotypes), so too do we lack an understanding of how patterns of neural connectivity and interaction lead to thoughts, emotions, creativity and imagination, psychosis and joy. Let’s not over-state the case: it is extraordinary what we know about the basic neural mechanisms of, say, memory and vision. But not only is there no theory of the brain, there is not even a clear indication that such a thing exists. “What I still believe to be lacking,” says Marcus, “is a theory about how sets of neurons might come together to support something as complex as human cognition.”