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Section 1: Built on connections
All the thoughts, behaviours and experiences that make you ‘you’ are shaped by countless connections between the cells in your brain. That’s far more connections than there are stars in our galaxy.
How you interact with the world and the people in it is reflected in these connections, and vice versa.
We think, therefore we are. And we all do it differently.
Let’s take a closer look.
Hello, neurons
You have 10 times more neurons inside your head than there are people on Earth. These specialised brain cells form highly connected networks that allow you to carry out countless tasks, from detecting the aroma of a ripe apple to remembering a loved one’s face. They come in a vast variety of shapes, each suited to their function.
Meet a typical neuron
Although there are about 10,000 specialised types of neurons in your brain and body, they all have similar features.
Cell body, or ‘soma’
Contains the nucleus, which controls and regulates all the activities of the neuron
Dendrites
Tiny branched structures, which receive incoming signals from other neurons
Axon
A fibre that carries signals away from the soma
Axon terminal
The end of the axon where neurons ‘connect’ with other neurons. They do not physically touch. Instead, the neuron releases a chemical signal that crosses the gap between axon terminal and the next dendrite. The gap is called a ‘synapse’.
Super-connectors
Purkinje cells are neurons that have extremely branched dendrites, a feature called ‘arborisation’ (‘arbour’ being Latin for ‘tree’). Through these branches, each Purkinje cell can receive signals from up to 200,000 other neurons. They integrate vast amounts of incoming information from your senses and other parts of your brain, passing on signals that help coordinate how you move and balance.
Image label: Purkinje cell tagged fluorescent green
Here you can see many dendrite branches and part of the neuron’s single axon terminal emerging from the bottom of the round cell body.
Image: Boris Barbour, Institut de Biologie de l’Ecole Normale Superieure
Speaker label: Crackle and pop
When scientists listen in on brain activity, they hear these sounds. Each ‘pop’ is a neuron firing an action potential – the tiny wave of electricity through which your neurons communicate with each other and the rest of your body.
Audio: Blake Porter, Brandeis University
Neuron and on
Just one cubic millimetre of your brain contains around 100,000 neurons, which pass signals back and forth through around 1,000,000,000 connections. That’s a lot of electrochemical chatter. One way to make sense of these signals is to make a map of all the paths they can take – a ‘connectome’.
How do neurons connect?
Electrical signals pass along individual neurons.
At synapses, the tiny gaps between neurons, the electrical signal transforms into a chemical signal.
The chemical signal triggers another electrical signal in the neighbouring neuron, and so on.
Signals can take many pathways, forming complex networks between neurons in the brain.
Object label: Embroidered connectome and 3D-printed skull
In 1848, a railway worker named Phineas Gage survived an explosion that propelled a metal rod through his head. To better understand how the injury affected Phineas, scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles reconstructed his damaged skull and compiled data from 110 men of about the same age as Phineas to represent his connectome before the accident.
Source: David Morrish, Kingfly Embroidery
Read the original research paper.
Image label: Connectome (bottom) showing Phineas’s recovery
Although Phineas was walking a few weeks later, friends said he was ‘no longer Gage’. The areas of his brain involved in personality, processing emotions and making decisions had been damaged. This smaller connectome shows the likely reconfigurations that took place in his brain. That he lived and worked for many years after his accident shows how resilient and adaptable our brains can be.
A studio portrait of Phineas Gage taken after his recovery. Gage holds the tamping iron that caused his injury.
Image: Originally from the collection of Jack and Beverly Wilgus, and now in the Warren Anatomical Museum, Harvard Medical School
Image label: Modified fMRI scans of mother and child
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can show us the broad effect of millions of neural connections at a time. When you use your brain, more blood flows to your active brain areas. This increase is visualised to represent neural signalling. Neuroscientist Rebecca Saxe created this image by combining different fMRI scans of herself and her baby. The orange patches are brain areas that respond to faces, mirrored in both mother and child in a moment of connection.
Image: Rebecca Saxe, Atsushi Takashi, and Ben Deen, McGovern Institute, MIT
Object label: Electroencephalography (EEG) cap
EEG is used to record the electrical activity of millions of neurons at a time. Next to the cap is an example of the information it records. Each squiggly line shows the electrical activity in different areas of the brain, detected by the cap’s electrodes. Doctors use EEG to detect epilepsy, sleep problems, and to monitor brain health in the wake of serious events like traumatic brain injury, stroke and coma.
Source: Waveguard™ original EEG cap, ANT Neuro
Drawing the future
With each line of ink, Santiago Ramón y Cajal sketched out our modern understanding of how the brain is constructed and interconnected. Right here and now, above and below you, hundreds of scientists are continuing the mission to understand how your neurons hold your thoughts, feelings and sense of self, and govern your every behaviour.
From Cajal to the Crick
From the near-monochrome world of Cajal to the colourful modern day – this film shows some of the ingenious and, often, beautiful ways in which Crick scientists image different brains and their contents. From individual neurons to complex networks comprising hundreds or thousands of cells, these visualisations have been created to help research teams better understand how the brain and its connections work.
Image label: The founder of modern neuroscience
Santiago Ramón y Cajal was born in Spain in 1852. Through detailed anatomical studies and astonishingly accurate sketches, he produced the first clear evidence that our brains are made up of individual neurons. From his observations, Cajal was convinced, but could not prove, that signals flowed along neurons and across synapses in a fixed direction. Imagine his reaction to the imaging technologies available to neuroscientists today!
Image: Cajal Legacy, Spanish National Research Council
Image label: Purkinje cell by Cajal
Cajal found this Purkinje cell in a cat’s cerebellum – an area located at the back of the brain which helps control muscle movement and regulate balance. He stained slices of the brain with chemicals to darken and reveal the Purkinje cell’s slender, transparent elements. Then, he drew a detailed ink copy of what he could see with a light microscope.
Image: Cajal Institute, Spanish National Research Council, Madrid
Build-a-brain
Few people get to probe a living brain to learn its secrets. Most scientists rely on images taken through the skull or examining tissue from brains donated for research. Here at the Crick, scientists from different labs are also growing brain tissue in the lab to study how neurons develop, connect and organise themselves.
Neural Circuit Bioengineering and Disease Modelling Lab
Andrea Serio and his team grow neurons in the lab to create mini-models of the networks in our brains. Studying these is revealing how groups of neurons organise themselves and grow together. The models could help explain how our brains work and what changes for people who develop conditions like motor neurone disease and different types of dementias.
Read more about Andrea's lab.
Film label: Short film showing neurons forming connections
This shows individual, green-coloured neurons growing towards red-coloured neurons to form new synaptic connections. Scientists in this lab cut grooves into petri dishes for the neurons to grow along (left) and 3D-print silicon shapes that force neurons to grow in a desired direction (right). In the background of this case, you can see long axons growing away from neuron cell bodies along straight, pre-cut channels.
Credit: Pacharaporn Suklai, PhD student
Quote from Andrea Serio, research group leader
“We don’t understand something until we can take it apart and start putting it back together. So we’re basically turning every component of the brain into Lego pieces and assembling them a bit at a time.”
Neurodegeneration Biology Lab
Sonia Gandhi’s team use cutting-edge technologies to map the brain cell by cell and identify the cells affected by brain disorders like Parkinson’s Disease (PD). They then take skin cells from people with PD and transform the cells into the type of neuron affected by PD. By looking at these cells in high resolution, they’re starting to spot the earliest events that lead to the development of PD.
Read more about Sonia's lab.
Image label: Human midbrain brain ‘organoid’, painted fluorescent green
A newer aspect of Sonia’s team’s work is creating organoids – ‘mini brains’ – using stem cells generated from people with Parkinson’s Disease. Postdoctoral researcher Gurvir Virdi works with Sonia. He hopes these organoids will help scientists see how the affected neurons and astrocytes behave and interact with each other more clearly in 3D.
Quote from Sonia Gandhi, senior research group leader
“The technologies that we’re using to map the human brain have only become available in the last few years, but they are transforming our understanding of Parkinson’s.”
Quote from Kevin McFarthing, retired scientist and author of the Parkinson's Hope List
This research is the foundation of future treatments and provides insights into the mechanisms of disease. I hope that involving people with Parkinson’s like me in research will one day help others.
Connecting the dots
When you zoom in down to the scale of neurons, our brain structures don’t look like neat and ordered textbook diagrams. Instead, they are highly complex and interwoven. Like exploring the routes through a maze, Crick scientists from different labs are tracing pathways from neuron to neuron to figure out how they are organised and work together.
Applied Biotechnology Lab
Brain tissue isn’t easy to look at, with its tangled, tightly packed neurons. Postdoctoral researcher Rosa Park and her colleagues are using a technique called expansion microscopy to expand and unfold brain tissue using hydrogel – the same absorbent material as in disposable nappies. The hydrogel expands and spreads neurons out. Then, Rosa uses different fluorescent tags to illuminate individual neurons based on their function, creating a ‘brainbow.’
Read more about Rosa's lab.
Image label: Hydrogel samples and image of neurons with multicoloured tags
These identical samples of hydrogel show how much it expands as it goes from dry (left) to wet (right). The images above are what Rosa sees under the microscope before a slice of brain tissue has been expanded with hydrogel (left), and after (right). Before expansion, it’s hard to tell where one cell stops and another begins. After expansion, you can pick out individual neurons and where they specifically connect with each other.
Image: Rosa Park and Johan Winnubst
Quote from Rosa Park, postdoctoral researcher
“We’re asking fundamental questions: What actually is the structure of this thing inside our skulls? What does it look like and how does it all connect?”
Specification and Function of Neural Circuits Lab
One aspect of PhD student Alex Becalick’s work is to trace the networks of neurons involved in vision. He uses a technique called ‘retrograde labelling’, where he uses a modified rabies virus to hop between neurons in the brain. Instead of causing disease as it spreads, the virus tags networks of connected neurons with unique labels, creating a map of the types of neurons which are connected.
Read more about Alex's lab.
Image label: Neurons in a mouse retina tagged fluorescent red
The image above shows the neurons in the back of a mouse’s eye. The dots are neuron cell bodies or ‘soma’. The lines are axons – the long threadlike extensions that carry electrical signals to other neurons. You can see many axons joining together to form the optic nerve. This image was created using another form of retrograde labelling that uses a fragment of cholera toxin protein tagged with a red fluorescent dye.
Image: Alex Becalick and Antonin Blot
Quote from Alex Becalick, PhD student
“There are many types of neurons found in the brain. To understand how the circuits that make up our brains work, we ask how these different types of neurons are connected and how this connectivity relates to the function of these neurons.”
High-res brain maps
To study the structure and function of neuron networks, scientists need super-detailed maps of the brain that they can zoom in and out of. Different labs at the Crick are developing new techniques to create anatomical maps of how neurons connect, and linking them to how neurons – and living creatures – behave.
Social Circuits and Connectomics Lab
At his previous job, Michael Winding helped create the first map of all the neurons and connections in an entire insect brain– that of a fruit fly maggot. With 3,000 neurons and half a million synapses, mapping this ‘connectome’ was a huge, painstaking task. Here at the Crick, Michael and his team are developing new tools to link brain maps to behaviours. Their goal is to better understand social behaviours and how social isolation affects brain connections.
Read more about Michael's lab.
Object label: Embroidered connectome and 3D-printed model of a fruit fly maggot brain, magnified x2000
A fruit fly maggot’s brain is only the size of a poppy seed. But these tiny creatures can exhibit complex behaviours, like working together to dig for food. From this connectome, you can see how, even with a relatively small number of neurons compared to us, a maggot can generate highly complex connection patterns. Scientists are using the maggot’s newly completed connectome to model how signals travel through its brain.
Source: David Morrish, Kingfly Embroidery; Catmaid
Read the original research paper about the fruit fly maggot's brain.
Quote from Michael Winding, research group leader
“The dream is to image brain activity across multiple living animals while they're interacting with each other and seeing how all of their neurons fire at the same time.”
Sensory Circuits and Neurotechnology Lab
Scientists Carles Bosch and Yuxin Zhang are mapping the brain’s ‘smell centre’ to work out how our brains process every little whiff. In addition to light microscopes, they use synchrotrons – machines that create light beams billions of times brighter than the sun – to scan brain tissue. By stitching together these ultra-high-resolution scans, they’re building a detailed 3D picture of the many connections and complex pathways involved in the sense of smell.
Read more about Carles and Yuxin's lab.
Video label: What does the sense of smell look like inside the brain?
This animation shows how Carles and Yuxin gather and build their data, identify the relevant parts of the brain tissue, and trace the connections and pathways involved in the brain’s sensational ability to detect different scents.
Credit: Phospho Biomedical Animation
Quote from Carles Bosch, principal laboratory research scientist
“We combine different techniques to create a map of the brain that we can zoom in and out of. We can look closer and see original images of the tissue, and zoom out and see the whole neuronal networks we’re interested in.”
Quote from Yuxin Zhang, PhD student
“How do the connections between neurons enable humans and animals to sense and interact with the world? We’re trying to make sense of all these intricate connections, condensing them into rules that explain how this happens.”
Section 2: Ever changing, still you
Your remarkable brain keeps pace with a dynamic world, changing from second to second, over your entire lifetime.
Brains have been responding, learning, adapting and evolving for hundreds of millions of years. To try and understand the human brain’s most complex actions, scientists are studying how other animals perform simpler tasks.
What do we have in common?
What makes each of us so unique?
It’s an exciting path ahead to unravel it all.
Installation label: Do you smell like a fruit fly?
Can you detect the individual aromas in the white sacks hanging in front of you? The sacks are stuffed with different scents – from right to left, banana, yeast, orange, mango, menthol (the characteristic component of peppermint), clove, and camphor.
Neural Circuits and Evolution Lab
For fruit flies, smells signal food. They swarm to ripe fruits but some species are repelled by clove and menthol. Our brains and fruit fly brains process smell in incredibly similar ways. Scientists like Lucia Prieto Godino and Sinzi Pop are studying how preferences for different fruits evolved in different species of fruit flies to learn more about how our own brain evolved.
Read more about Lucia and Sinzi's lab.
Object label: 3D-printed fruit fly brain, magnified x300
Lucia Prieto Godino and her team expose different species of fruit flies to different smells, then map the neuron connections triggered in their brains. By comparing these maps alongside genetic, physical and behavioural differences between related fruit fly species, they can build up a picture of how the fruit fly brain evolved over time. As our brains and fruit fly brains process smell in similar ways, those insights can inform our understanding of the human brain.
Source: Catmaid
Image label: Excited fruit fly brain
In a lab a few floors above you, Crick scientist Sinzi Pop stimulates the olfactory (smell) pathway of fruit flies to see how their brains respond. She does this by puffing fruity odours onto the fly ‘nose’ (the antennae) and recording neuron activity throughout the brain. The bright areas in these images represent neuron activity in the central part of the fly’s brain before (left) and after (right) receiving the odour puff.
Image credit: Sinzi Pop
Installation label: Spin your own illusion
See a swirling cone? If so, that’s because your brain is assuming that the parts of this image that appear to move more slowly are further away than the parts that appear to move faster. In everyday life, this ‘motion parallax’ effect is a form of visual information that helps us work out where we are relative to other objects in space. Crick scientists study how mice combine visual information like this with an understanding of their own movements. All with the goal of better understanding ourselves.
Video caption: Mice in motion
How do mice see the world? Crick scientists are finding out by watching brains in live action as the mice chase light dots and explore virtual environments on a treadmill, shown in this short film. They record the activity of hundreds or thousands of neurons at once, then map the connections between the neurons involved. By studying the area involved in vision – a brain region that’s similar in mice and humans – they hope to work out how neurons are connected in our own brains.
Read more about Petr's lab.
Reality check
Your brain shapes the way you see the world. But the world can present it with random and ambiguous information. To make decisions efficiently, your brain draws on information coming from your senses while also making assumptions and predictions based on what you already know. As a result, each of us perceives the world slightly differently.
How can hallucinations reveal how our brains work?
Crick research group leader Katharina Schmack and her team in the Neural Circuits and Immunity in Psychosis Lab study the biological mechanisms involved in psychosis. In this film, she explains how their work to understand what happens when mice and humans hallucinate could reveal more about how neurons connect and function, as well as new treatments for schizophrenia.
Read more about Katharina's lab.
Illusion or hallucination?
Your brain constantly makes informed guesses about the world around you, using existing knowledge and new information from your senses. Illusions exploit this by giving you real sensory information that tricks you into experiencing what you expect, rather than what exists.
Hallucinations, on the other hand, occur when you think you can see, smell, touch, hear or taste something that doesn’t exist at all. More extreme hallucinations are sometimes associated with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or dementia. However, we all experience them. At home alone and think you can hear footsteps? Think about bedbugs and suddenly feel an itch?
For more information about psychosis and other mental health conditions, visit Mind's website.
New neurons and connections
All brains constantly reconfigure the connections between their neurons as they adapt to the world - a capability called 'plasticity'. Every spring, some birds can even grow new 'song' neurons. And moles bulk up brain tissue that's withered over winter. You also generate neurons throughout your life, forming new connections and transforming old ones.
Neural Stem Cell Biology Lab
Stem cells are immature cells that can generate new, more specialised cells. When scientists first found neural stem cells in the mouse brain, it shattered the belief that the brain couldn't grow more neurons. Francois Guillemot and his team are exploring how these neural stem cells for new neurons. Understanding this process of neurogenesis could help scientists better support people with neurodegenerative conditions like dementia.
Read more about Francois's lab.
Image label: Immature mouse neurons tagged fluorescent green
This image shows a slice through the hippocampus of a mouse - a part of the brain involved in memory, learning and navigation. Older, established neurons are coloured red. The two bright green shapes are new, immature neurons that have developed from neural stem cells during the mouse's adulthood.
Object label: New neurons for flirty songbirds
Press the button to see how many more neurons the song sparrow develops in spring. Male songbirds like the goldfinch (left), robin (right) and the song sparrow (bottom) ramp up their twittering in spring as they try to win mates. In the part of the song sparrow's brain responsible for producing song, the number of neurons can increase from 150,000 in autumn to 250,000 during the spring breeding season.
Source: David Morrish, Kingfly Embroidery
Read the original research paper about seasonal changes in songbirds.
Lights out
We spend a third of our lives asleep, but sleep remains deeply mysterious. Although your thoughts and feelings go on hold when the lights go out, your brain remains switched on. As you snooze, connections between your neurons change, take in fresh information, and lay down new memories.
Object label: The dreaming zebra finch
Male zebra finches practise singing in their sleep: their vocal cords vibrate and ‘song neuron’ networks activate. One team of scientists believe that sleeping finches also improvise new tunes. This chart shows the activation of vocal muscles during daytime singing (top) and at night (bottom). Many patterns are common to both, but can you spot evidence of where the finch improvised its song in its dreams?
Read the original research paper about dreaming zebra finches.
Video label: What do our neurons do while we sleep?
Crick postdoctoral fellow Julia Harris studies how our brains have evolved to process information efficiently. She is particularly interested in the role sleep plays in achieving this. In this film, she describes what she and her colleagues in the Sensory Circuits and Neurotechnology Laboratory are learning about he brain's surprising activities beyond bedtime.
Born with it?
You grew 250,000 neurons every minute on average in the months after your birth. And yet you were born with so much still to learn. In your first few yers, your young neurons formed over a million new neural connections every second. What can you remember from your early childhood?
Formative memories
Some experiences stay with us almost all our lives, preserved in the neural connections we form as small children. We asked neuroscientists here at the Crick to tell us about an early memory that shaped them in some way.
"When I was five, my dad took me to a reptile show where I held snakes and lizards. Since then, I've rehomed several reptiles and have tattoos dedicated to them!"
Kelly O'Toole, visiting student
"My grandmother would get a chair for my brother and me to stand on so we could reach the kitchen table. Helping her make gnocchi inspired my love of cooking!"
Marcelo Moglie, postdoctoral fellow
"I learned to play chess at a very young age, and I think that shaped the way I approach problems."
Karolina Farrell, postdoctoral fellow
"One of the earliest memories is my mom singing a lullaby to stop me feeling scared of the dark. If anxiety hits at night, this bittersweet memory returns to me."
Basma Husain, postdoctoral fellow
"I used to spend sunny afternoons with my grandmother on her balcony, helping her take care of her plants. That's where my love for nature started."
Francesca Montesi, PhD student
"I was bought a soft toy penguin and penguins quickly became my favourite animal. We visited many zoos to see them, which inspired my interest in biology and subsequently neuroscience."
Tim Goodman, senior lab research scientist
Video label: Short film showing babies in the womb
With every sight, sound, taste, touch and interaction, a baby’s brain adapts to the world around them – even before it’s born. Being isolated in a hospital incubator can affect how premature baby brains process sound and touch. One study found that playing these babies the sound of their mother’s voice and heartbeat for a few hours each day helped the auditory cortex – the brain area that processes sound – develop and thicken.
mama brain
During and after pregnancy, surges of hormones trigger changes that help prepare a pregnant person’s brain for caregiving. As some networks of neurons expand, others shrink, often altering how parents think, feel and experience the world.
Together, ten local mums with tots in tow, artist Zoë Gardner and Crick scientist Bradley Jamieson explored the science and lived experience of this transition to motherhood.
mama brain facilitator, Zoë Gardner
Zoë is an artist, performer, writer and mother of two. She journals and works as a peer supporter, including on NHS maternity wards. Both have helped her own transition to motherhood.
Zoë facilitated our mama brain community project, hosting creative workshops and conversations. In each session, those who attended mapped and shared their transitions to motherhood – the changes they felt in their bodies and brains, the perceived losses and gains.
Zoë journals as @limberdoodle on Instagram.
mama brain book – a conversation about change in motherhood
Zoë had previously created a handcrafted book about her experience of motherhood, full of doodles, creative prompts and poems she wrote while breastfeeding in the dark. She called it her mother record book. A sequel, mama brain book captures the conversations that unfolded between herself, local mums and Crick scientist Bradley during this community project.
You can find copies of the mama brain book on the coffee tables on the other side of the room behind you.
State-Dependent Neural Processing Laboratory
Five floors above you, scientists like Bradley are exploring how brain connections are shaped by what happens in the body. They’re particularly interested in instinctive behaviours, including feeding, aggression and parenting.
Hormones from the body and brain trigger instinctive behaviours in the brain both day-to-day and over a lifetime. How do these signals reconfigure entire networks of neurons? What happens to our brains when someone is hungry, sleeping, stressed… or when they’re pregnant?
Read more about Bradley's lab.
Image label: Neurons associated with caring in the mouse brain
The green, yellow and white areas above mark the location of neurons involved in caring. Postdoctoral Fellow Bradley Jamieson studies changes in these areas to understand why mice do – or sometimes don’t – care for their pups.
How much parenting instinct are mice born with? Which brain connections are crucial and what sparks their activity? Through mama brain, Bradley was able to share his research with human parents who, in turn, shared their insights with him.
Read more about Bradley's research.
Image: Bradley Jamieson and Maxwell Chen, 2022
Wise ideas
Although we lose neurons as we age, our brains retain their plasticity – the ability to prune old connections and make new ones. By learning more about our brains, researchers hope to develop new treatments for brain diseases that affect millions. You can support your brain as it ages too. Take a card or two to find out how.
Practise mindfulness
A string of recent scientific research suggests that regular meditation practice and mindfulness may boost mental flexibility and focus.
Get active
In older mice, physical activity of moderate intensity is proven to generate the development of new neurons and improve brain function. Could it do the same for humans?
Learn something new
Think about how much you concentrate when learning. In acquiring new skills, we make new connections between our neurons. Better yet, combine learning with physical coordination for a real brain workout.
Eat well
For rats, a diet rich in vitamins and antioxidants and low in fat seems to boost the production of new neurons. Scientists aren’t sure how much diet could affect our brains but acknowledge that eating well boosts energy and improves mood.
Just do it
Take an active step of your own to maintain your brain’s connections and health. Take a blank card and draw or write down one thing you will do to keep your brain plastic and fantastic.
Brain cards
Make your next cocktail a brain-friendly mocktail
Very heavy drinking has been linked to an increased risk of dementia. Doctors recommend consuming fewer than 14 units of alcohol a week – that’s 6 pints of lager or a bottle and a half of wine.
Find out more at Age UK
Spice up your life
Research seems to suggest that spices such as turmeric could give your brain a boost. Eating high doses of cucurmin, the substance that gives turmeric its distinctive yellow colour, has been associated with performing better in cognitive tests.
Read about the research from UCLA
Chew. Crunch. Chomp. Enjoy a variety of different textures in your daily diet.
A diet based on soft foods, as opposed to foods that require chewing or crunching, is thought to impair the growth of new neurons in mice.
Listen to neuroscientist Sandrine Thuret describe this and other research behind growing new neurons in her TED talk
Read the research
Sink your teeth into some trout, tuna or salmon
Fatty fish feed new neurons. There’s evidence that omega-3 fatty acids – found in foods like salmon, kiwi fruit and walnuts – could help improve brain function.
Find out more at Age UK
Eat foods rich in curcumin, resveratrol, polyphenols, salvionic acid, sulforaphane, polyunsaturated fatty acids... Just eat a rainbow
Eating a wide variety of foods is far better for our brains and general wellbeing than focusing on one or two fad nutrients. Research has shown that people who consume diets high in fruit and vegetables have a lower risk of stroke.
Find out more at the British Nutrition Foundation
Stop and smell the roses. Or jasmine tea, coffee, cloves, fresh bread...
A recent piece of research showed that being exposed to different smells could help improve learning and memory.
To find out more, listen to a short podcast about this theory
Your brain is 70-80% water. Make sure you keep it topped up.
Staying hydrated by drinking plenty of plain water is linked with lots of health benefits, including a decrease of depression in adults. Dehydration, on the other hand, can cause brain fog, exhaustion, headaches and disrupted sleep.
Are you drinking enough? Get an idea by comparing the colour of your urine to this infographic
What does the research say?
Look after your teeth before you’re long in the tooth.
Gum disease and tooth loss seem to be linked to brain shrinkage in the hippocampus – a part of the brain involved in memory, which is affected in Alzheimer’s disease.
Check out The Conversation’s guide to oral health
What does the research say?
Hip hop, Zumba, seated dance… Find your groove and move to the music
Regular physical activity is not only good for your heart, circulation, weight and mental wellbeing, it’s also known to reduce your risk of dementia.
Read more about this on the Alzheimer’s Society website
Standing up or sitting down, shadow-boxing can help you work up a sweat and de-stress.
Air punching is a great cardio workout that can be done from a standing or seated position.
For more ideas of varied and fun exercises you can do with any kind of reduced mobility, visit HelpGuide.Org
Give some weights a lift and your brain a boost.
Physical activity is good for your brain’s health. Strength training can also help prevent dementia. A recent study found that strength training can help reduce degeneration in some parts of the brain.
You can read about the research here
What does the research say? DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2020.102182
Close the map app and walk or wheel without a rigid route in mind.
Physical activity is good for the health of your brain. Plus, navigating by yourself challenges your brain, which researchers think improves its ability to keep working properly.
Read more about this at Alzheimer’s Research UK
What does the research say? DOI: 10.1038/s41598–020–62877–0
Newbie to running? Run, walk, run. Alternate between the two for a bit at a time, and you’ll go far.
Studies show that people who are physically active throughout their lives have a lower-than-average risk of decline in thinking skills as they get older.
Try getting into running with the popular NHS Couch to 5K programme
Dip your toe, make a splash – dive into swimming!
Swimming is a great low-impact activity that you can adapt for your physical abilities. Physical activity supports a healthy brain, and it also releases hormones called endorphins that help reduce stress and improve your mental wellbeing.
Get the lowdown on the many benefits of exercise from the NHS
Kick a ball... and the habit while you’re at it.
Physical activity is important in supporting your brain’s health, and that takes healthy lungs. If you’re a smoker, quitting is one of the best things you can do for your brain.
Learn more about how smoking harms the brain from Age UK
“When I feel tired, I just think about how great I will feel once I finally reach my goal.” Michael Phelps
Take some inspiration from swimmer Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, with 28 medals!
Set yourself achievable goals and get some ideas from this Harvard Medical School article
Your health is your wealth, but burning calories needn’t burn a hole in your pocket.
You don’t need an expensive gym membership or brand-new trainers to exercise. Dance to your favourite tunes, make a homemade assault course with your kids, or find a standing desk on a swap site – there are so many options.
Browse 10-minute home workouts from the NHS
Just do you.
Be kind to yourself. If you do what’s available to you and what’s comfortable for your body, you’re more likely to stick with it.
For some great workout suggestions that can be adapted to your own pace and ability, check out Every Body Moves
Put pencil to paper in a drawing class or just doodle on your own.
Anything that helps you engage your mind, process different information and develop your thinking skills is good for the brain and may help improve its ability to cope with disease.
Discover other ways to care for your mind on the Alzheimer’s Society website
Learn a language to master new concepts and create new connections.
The ability to speak more than one language has been linked to better performance on different tests of thinking skills, including tests used for screening for dementia.
Read more about this at Age UK
What does the research say? DOI: 10.1002/ana.24158
Juggling balls could help you juggle your mental load.
One group of researchers found that mastering the trick of three-ball juggling led to growth in the areas of the brain involved in perception and memory.
Find out more about this research from the University of Oxford
What does the research say? DOI: 10.1038/nn.2412
Absorb what’s around you like you’re on holiday.
Wander around a new area, try a new route home. Plenty of research suggests that challenging your brain and keeping it active builds its resilience to ageing and disease.
Read more about this from Alzheimer’s Research UK
What does the research say? DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000012388
Tickle the ivories, toot your own horn.
Music is a multisensory experience. Playing an instrument uses both sides of the brain and builds attention, concentration, memory and verbal skills.
Get the lowdown on getting started with music from the BBC
Read a new novel: books boost brainpower.
Studies have shown that reading can reduce symptoms of memory decline, helping you to retain your short-term memory for longer.
Take your pick from 100 of the must-read classics
What does the research say? DOI: 10.1017/S1041610220000812
Make new plans with old friends.
Research suggests that maintaining social contact and having meaningful interactions with friends and family may help keep our brains sharp.
Find out more at Age UK
What does the research say? DOI:10.1016/S2666–7568(22)00199–4
Gardening. Geocaching. Gaming. Level up on what you love doing.
Take an activity you already love to the next level. Upskill by joining a class or getting together with others. Getting better at doing things you already enjoy is an easy way to protect your thinking skills as you age.
Find out more about ‘cognitive reserve’ – your brain’s capacity to cope with change – from Age UK
Develop a new hands-on skill – learn to massage yourself or a lucky loved one.
Indulge your sense of touch while improving your coordination by learning how to give a massage – to yourself or someone else.
This step-by-step guide from the charity Sense should put you on the right track
Switch pop for punk or country for classical.
Try exercising your ears (and your auditory cortex – the part of your brain that processes sound) by listening to unfamiliar music.
If you’re hunting for a new hobby, online learning platform FutureLearn has lots of ideas
Pause, and focus. Think of one thing you can hear, see, feel, taste and smell.
Various studies suggest that cultivating mindfulness - an awareness of your internal state and surroundings - may help improve attention, focus and cognitive function.
Learn more about this and other ways to care for your mind and brain at Mind
What does the research say? DOI: 10.1007/s12671–020–01532–1
Inhale and exhale deeply. Feel your breath move through you. Repeat as needed.
Focusing on your breath can make you feel immediately more relaxed. In the long term, meditative exercises like this may benefit the areas of the brain involved in memory, learning, attention and self-awareness.
New to meditation? Read about how to get started on the NHS website
What does the research say? 10.3389/fnagi.2021.702796
Yoga is a great way to keep your body flexible and brain agile.
There’s some evidence to suggest that regular yoga practice could support connectivity in parts of the brain most prone to age-related decline.
Keen to get started? Check out these short, guided yoga videos from the NHS
What does the research say? 10.3233/BPL–190084
Move mindfully. Tai chi is one way to learn to connect your body and mind in motion.
There’s some evidence that tai chi and other types of mindful movement may reduce your risk of getting dementia.
Find out more about mindfulness from Age UK
What does the research say? 10.2147/CIA.S202055
Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.
This is Buddhist monk Th ch Nhat Hanh’s advice, calling for people to walk with an awareness of the present moment.
The charity Mind has some other tips for mindfulness exercises
Press snooze.
Regularly getting seven or eight hours of sleep a night seems to be a sound way of maintaining cognitive and brain health in later life.
The NHS has some good tips on sorting out sleep
What does the research say? DOI: 10.1126/science.1241224
Make mindfulness a win-win, not a zero-sum game.
When it comes to mindfulness, set intentions for yourself, not fixed goals. An intention could be as simple as: “I’m going to try to meditate and see what happens.”
Give it a go with these five everyday mindfulness exercises
Scan your body from head to toe using your mind.
Mindful activities, such as mentally checking in with your body, may help improve attention and focus, and increase the brain’s efficiency at processing the endless streams of stimulation coming at you.
Get started with free guided meditation exercises here
Learn how to identify the signs of depression.
Ongoing, severe depression is a risk factor for the onset of dementia. If you find yourself feeling down more and more often, don't just dismiss it as something that will pass.
The NHS website has advice to help people dealing with this condition
What does the research say? DOI 10.1001/jamaneurol.2023.2309
Knitted neuron labels
Buff, orange and yellow handmade neurons
These neurons have been made by volunteers from the Crick, community group Hooked on Crochet, the Bristol University Neuroscience Department, Springer Nature, Cancer Research UK, the Camden Working Men’s College and others.
With each stitch and knot, they created new connections between the Crick and its communities. Why not pick up a kit in the gallery café and have a go at making one yourself?
For a full list of contributors, visit the acknowledgements page.
Betz cell
These are the largest neurons in your brain. The bulbous bit in the centre can measure as much as a tenth of a millimetre across. That’s big enough to see without a microscope. This cell was knitted by therapeutic radiographer Karen Gurney.
“Recently, I’ve knitted breasts to help start discussions around prosthetics or reconstruction for breast cancer patients who have often experienced emotional and psychological distress and trauma.”
Cerebellar granule cell
These neurons are small, but they’re the most common type you have. They make up three-quarters of all the neurons in your brain.
Knitted by Crick research integrity officer Eleanor Adams
Astrocyte
Surprise – this star-shaped cell isn’t a neuron! It’s a type of ‘glial’ cell, which are cells that help keep neurons functioning well. As many as half the cells in your brain are glial cells.
Knitted by Crick research integrity officer Eleanor Adams
Von Economo neuron
So far, these neurons have only been found in mammal brains. Some scientists think these cells are involved in helping large brains process information more rapidly, generating social emotions like trust and empathy, and learning how to make vocal sounds.
Knitted by Crick research integrity officer Eleanor Adams
Double bouquet cell
Does this neuron look like two bunches of flowers? The scientist who first studied – and named – them thought so. Neuroscientist Dawn Davies made this one.
“Frankie MacMillan (who knitted the basket cell) and I contribute to festivals and events through Knit a Neurone. We love talking to people about neuroscience while they create their own neurons!”
Purkinje cell
These tree-like super-connectors can connect and interact with up to 200,000 other neurons to help fine-tune your balance and movements. Crick scientist Marg Crawford made this one.
“There’s evidence that Purkinje cells are less common in the brains of autistic people like me, so I decided to knit my own!”
Pyramidal neuron
These make up two-thirds of all the neurons in the outer layer of your brain, which is involved in learning, thinking and language. They are ‘excitatory’ neurons, which means they can ‘turn up’ the activity of the neurons they connect to, making them more likely to pass on a signal.
Knitted by Crick craft club member and information services specialist Patti Biggs
Basket neuron
The basket-like branches of these neurons give them their name. These cells are ‘inhibitory’. This means they can ‘turn down’ the activity of the neurons they connect to and make them less likely to pass on a signal.
Crocheted by neuroscientist Frankie MacMillan
Medium spiny neuron
Each spine on these neurons could potentially connect to another neuron. These spiky neurons make up most of the striatum – an area deep in the centre of the human brain that supports learning and decision-making, and helps control movement.
Knitted by textile artist and Neural Knitworks collaborator Rita Pearce
Chandelier neuron
The connections between these neurons and others are one of the types that change the most during our teenage years. Neural Knitworks co-founder Pat Pillai (left) made this one.
“We’re very proud of the decade of Neural Knitworks events held around Australia and overseas, promoting mind and brain health through ‘yarncraft’.”
Acknowledgements
Curator
Holly Cave, Scientia Scripta
Exhibition scientific advisors
Antonin Blot, Marion Bosc, Bradley Jamieson, Andreas Schaefer
Exhibition development and delivery
Crick Public Engagement and Communications team
Exhibition design
Galmstrup architects
Graphic design
studio HB
Lighting design
DHA Designs
Film and audio
Chocolate Films, Ben Witt, Steve Potvin
Brand identity
Sadie May Studio
Marketing design agency
Go Agency
Evaluation consultant
Emma Pegram
Access consultant
Katie Gonzalez-Bell
Access resources
RNIB, Easy Read UK
3D models
Crick Making Lab: Xavier Cano Ferrer, Christina Dix, Albane Imbert, George Konstantinou, Simon Tupin
Crick Crafters
Adam Hurst
Illustration
Aishling Caomhanach
mama brain project artist and facilitator
Zoe Gardner
mama brain project mental health consultant
Kim Evans MSc MUKCP
mama brain book reproduction
Rapidity London
Exhibition build
MER Services Ltd
Graphic production
Displayways
AV installation
John Mumford
We would like to thank all our colleagues and contributors who have generously lent us objects and supported us with their skills and expertise.
Crick researchers
Andrea Adden, Anastasia Aliferi, Magdalena Armas Reyes, Lorena Arancibia Carcamo, Alexander Becalick, Carles Bosch, David Briggs, Maxwell Chen, Ben Clarke, Richard Clayton, Lucy Collinson, Emma Davis, Kelvin Dempster, Karolina Farrell, Christophe Galichet, Noemi Gatto, Ali Ghareeb, Mary Green, Francois Guillemot, Julia Harris, Tiffany Heanue, Basma Husain, Florencia Iacaruso, Mihaly Kollo, Anna Mallach, Neil McDonald, Lucy Meader, Marcelo Moglie, Francesca Montesi, Mariya Moosajee, Estelle Nassar, Paul Nurse, Kelly O'Toole, Rosa Park, Marija Petric Howe, Sinzi Pop, Rozalinda Pose, Lucia Prieto Godino, Piero Rigo, Ruairi Roberts, Sam Rodriques, Katharina Schmack, Andrea Serio, Bernard Siow, Doaa Taha, André Teixeira Lopes, Maria Toms, Richard Treisman, Sila Ultanir, Gurvir Virdi, Patty Wai, Tom Warner, Michael Winding, Yuxin Zhang, Petr Znamenskiy.
mama brain project participants
Aisha Ali, Salina Amin Aziz, Dawn Batchelor, Jessie Begum, Luthfa Begum, Aisha Chimwaji, Monica Kelly, Naima Khatun, Sarah McCreadie, Arlina Zhuri.
Knitted neurons
Neural Knitworks founding artist Pat Pillai and UK representative Sophie Weeks. The Neural Knitworks initiative is supported by Inspiring Australia and the NSW Government. Neural Knitworks was first displayed at Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Arts Centre during National Science Week 2014.
Crick colleagues, friends and family donated knitted neurons to the exhibition. Read the full list of contributors.
