This section might just "blow your mind," to use a common expression.
But do you even have a mind? Scientists don't know where the brain
ends and the mind begins. Are they the same thing? What about souls?
Are these located in our brains? What is responsible for all of the
unique thoughts and feelings that make us who we are? Everyone from
philosophers to physicists has taken up this question of
consciousness and come up empty.



Lambert/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Baby Sherlock Holmes tries to determine if he's attained
consciousness yet.
For a long time, the study of consciousness was considered too far
out to study. How do you scientifically study something so
subjective? How can what one person feels become something that
another person can quantify? But now, in their relentless pursuit to
understand every single thing about the world, scientists are trying
to figure out what exactly is going on with consciousness.


Though deep metaphysical questions about the nature of a soul, a mind
and brain leave questions as to whether this issue is in the realm of
scientists, the brain is likely involved in some way with our
conscious thoughts. With the help of brain imaging, scientists can
watch different parts of the brain light up, and they know they can
alter the brain and our consciousness with surgeries or chemicals
[sources: Eagleman, Pinker]. But what scientists don't know is at
what stage of the process a firing neuron becomes a conscious
thought. The things that make up consciousness may be scattered all
over the brain, with different cranial parts responsible for
different pieces of a person. But, as we've mentioned, there are tons
of other brain mysteries about how these parts might work together.


Scientists are also trying to figure out the relationship between
conscious and unconscious experiences. There are some things -- like
breathing and maintaining a regular heart beat -- that we don't have
to think about. How are these unconscious actions wired differently
than the conscious ones? Is there any difference at all? We like to
think we make our own decisions, but one recent study shows that we
may not even do that. This study found that by using brain scanners,
researchers could predict how a person was going to act a full seven
seconds before the person knew that a decision had been made [source
Keim]. Our consciousness might just be an illusion.


It's possible that something like free will could enter into the
equation at the last possible moment, overriding the decision made by
the brain. The researchers in the study also admitted that this test
was best suited to a simple laboratory test that involved pushing a
button, as opposed to a more important decision like taking a job
[source: Keim].


Will we ever solve these brain mysteries? Who knows -- our instrument
for doing so is the very one we're trying to figure out. But you
could start combing the scene for overlooked clues by reading the
stories and links on the next page.