This course takes you inside this astonishingly complex organ to show you how it works. Recent decades have seen unparalleled advances in understanding how the brain does what it does. Today we can pinpoint the specific regions, or nuclei, where some of life's most mysterious processes take place, including: where light that enters the eye is converted into the subjective experience of sight; where pressure waves that reach the ear are processed into sound; where fear originates; which nuclei are involved in language and the ability to read; where the ineffable chemistry of love is kindled.