Your Brain

Your brain is always changing. Find out how and why when you explore Your Brain, The Franklin Institute’s largest exhibition. Brain science is advancing rapidly as modern technology is helping us begin to unravel age-old mysteries about ourselves. What is the brain? What does it do? How does it work? Believe it or not, scientists still don’t fully know how to answer these questions.

The exhibit invites you to think about how you think. It’s all about real life and what’s happening inside your head everyday as your brain makes sense of the world around you.

You’ll zoom in to begin your exploration at the cellular level where neurons fire chaotically. Fire a model neuron to see how brain cells use chemical and electrical signals to communicate at incredible speeds.

Where are those signals going? To the discrete pathways that enable your brain to control your body functions. When you see how parts of the brain control functions throughout body, you’ll be glad that the signals travel so quickly.

Your brain integrates those neurons into pathways in mysterious ways to manage its complex cognitive function. In other words, you become you when your pathways function together.

Use your brain to explore your world, like a street scene filled with multisensory information or scenarios from everyday life. Will your brain process what it sees correctly? Or is the world we’ve created possibly an illusion?

Consider the evolving field of neuroethics and think about the impact that brain science is having on our society. What if you could manipulate your memory? Would you erase bad memories? How about “smart” pills? Would you give them to your children?

Your brain is always changing. There’s no better place to help it change for the better than Your Brain at The Franklin Institute!