What the artist tries to do (either consciously or unconsciously) is to not only capture the essence of something but also to amplify it in order to more powerfully activate the same neural mechanisms that would be activated by the original object.

Great art allows you to transcend your mortal frame and to reach for the stars. I think great science does the same thing.

Without ducking responsibility, what's wrong with medicine today is that it is predicated on providing treatment, not on reducing suffering. Not on solving problems.

What the neurology tells us is that the self consists of many components, and the notion of one unitary self may well be an illusion.

A genius is somebody who seemingly just reaches out of nowhere.

Lofty questions about the mind are fascinating to ask, philosophers have been asking them for three millennia both in India where I am from and here in the West - but it is only in the brain that we can eventually hope to find the answers.

The adage that fact is stranger than fiction seems to be especially true for the workings of the brain.