More than a century ago, the anatomist Santiago Ramón y Cajal unveiled his incredibly detailed drawings of neurons. From these, he posited that neurons were the main building blocks of the brain and that memories might be encoded in the connections between neurons.1 Since then, neuroscientists have been trying to answer how neurons and the networks they weave capture something so complex, so illusory, as a memory.
Our three-pound brains are home to nearly 100 billion neurons (almost equivalent to the number of stars in the milky way) that communicate across short and long distances, shaping our behavior and identities. Intercellular communication is not unique to neurons, but the sheer scale of their interactions distinguish neurons from other cells. “Neurons are in the business of interacting and connecting,” said Erin Schuman, a neuroscientist at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research.
Neurons are in the business of interacting and connecting.
...
