Harvard University
Since founding the world’s first Neurobiology Department in 1966, Harvard has been a hub for researchers who aspire to understand how the brain works, and clinician-scientists who are driven to fix it when it doesn’t.
On the brain
The Harvard Mahoney Neuroscience Institute (HMNI) created the lecture series “On The Brain” to educate the public on the latest scientific discoveries in neuroscience and translate how these discoveries are relevant in our daily lives.
Cannabis and the brain
Cannabis products are everywhere these days. As a growing number of states relax their medical and recreational cannabis laws, millions of Americans are using the cannabis sativa plant, known as marijuana or hemp, to relax…
Circadian rhythms and the brain
Scientists want to know how prolonged changes to circadian rhythms—the internal processes that follow a roughly 24-hour cycle—may affect metabolism and body weight in people who keep unconventional sleep-wake schedules, such as nurses, security guards,…
Delirium, dementia, and the brain
Delirium affects up to half of all hospitalized seniors—including at least 70 percent of those treated in the intensive care unit—and 20 to 60 percent of nursing home patients.
The brains of the operation
Meet people from across Harvard who are working to understand everything about the brain, from Zellweger syndrome to Alzheimer’s disease.
… an exciting first step to understanding the mechanisms that lead to autism spectrum disorder and other complex psychiatric conditions …"
Paola Arlotta, the Golub Family Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology
… no one person, even a world's expert on delirium, can prevent delirium by themselves.”
Sharon Inouye, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School
… we have this library of concepts that we can use to formulate an effectively infinite number of thoughts."
Joshua Greene, professor of psychology
I am interested in how sensory neurons acquire and maintain specialized properties to accurately send information about the world to the brain."
Isle Bastille, graduate student in neuroscience at Harvard Medical School
These experts come from a network of Schools, Institutes, and Initiatives almost as vast as the neural networks of the brain, including but not limited to:
Beauty of the brain
Long-term memory
Look back at some of the research and discoveries that led to our current understanding of the brain.
The brain and personality
Phineas Gage
The story of Phineas Gage illustrates some of the first medical knowledge gained on the relationship between personality and the functioning of the brain’s frontal lobe.
The ear-brain connection
S.S. Stevens and Psychoacoustics
One of many Harvard scientists studying how the senses connect to the brain, Stanley Smith “SS” Stevens was a pioneer in studying the psychological responses associated with sound. He served as professor of psychophysics and the founder and director of the Harvard Psychoacoustics Laboratory.
Origins of psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud
This new online exhibition opens a unique window into Freud’s thought processes using his rarely seen drawings and collected artwork.
Explore the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments exhibition
Trick your brain
With these optical illusions the Harvard Vision Sciences Laboratory demonstrates the limits of visual processing in the brain.
Instructions: Play the movie while looking at the small white speck in the center of the ring. At first, the ring is motionless and it’s easy to tell that the dots are changing color. When the ring begins to rotate, the dots suddenly appear to stop changing. But in reality they are changing the entire time. Take a look.
Changing color
Changing size
Changing shape
Feed your brain
Explore these free courses and discover how neurons work together to create complex networks inside the brain.