The nature of the Irish border post-Brexit is currently much debated. In neuroscience, historical arguments about the demarcation and definition of borders have played a significant role in investigating how the brain works.
There is always interest in locating the area of the brain responsible for love, or the ‘centre’ for religious experience, and these discoveries are usually driven by modern brain imaging techniques, such as fMRI or PET.
But experts have to rely on an atlas that was built more than 100 years ago. Korbinian Brodmann, a German anatomist, used a microscope to study the types and arrangements of cells in the cortex of the brain and discovered that it could be separated into 50 or so distinct areas. He did this by looking at the structure of the various cortical layers.
At the time, very few of the areas had a clear function: only by studying the brain in action could these areas be fully described. Later work has subdivided some areas and lumped others together - but the original boundaries still persist. Worth bearing in mind as Brexit negotiations continue their tortuous path.
Dr Daniel Glaser is director of Science Gallery at King’s College London
