What does your mind look like?

A new book, Portraits of the Mind by Carl Schoonover, looks at how scientists have visualised the brain through the centuries.

Spiny neuron

This image of a neuron was taken with a scanning electron microscope: a beam of electrons is scanned across the surface of a sample, and a detector keeps track of electrons bouncing off the surface, revealing the outer shape of the specimen.

The bulbous mound is the soma – the main cell body where the nucleus, containing most of the cell's genetic material, lies. Radiating outwards from the soma, spiny dendrites conduct electrical impulses to other neurons. (Image: Thomas Deerinck and Mark Ellisman, 2009)
 The brain in pictures - Image 4 - New Scientist