--- title: Neuroscience description: Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system and the brain. Learners will understand the cellular biology of neurons, the structure of brain regions, and how neural circuits govern sensory perception, motor control, behavior, and cognition. category: health-medicine subcategory: medical-sciences difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/neuroscience --- # Neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system and the brain. Learners will understand the cellular biology of neurons, the structure of brain regions, and how neural circuits govern sensory perception, motor control, behavior, and cognition. ## Available Resources 4 Books • 10 Courses • 8 Websites ## Websites ### 1. The Brain from Top to Bottom McGill University's interactive tutorial on brain function, free and praised by practitioners **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://thebrain.lecerveau.ca/ **Tags:** brain anatomy, neuroanatomy, cognition, brain disorders, interactive learning ### 2. Khan Academy Neuroscience Khan Academy's free video-and-article unit on the nervous system, covering neuron structure, action potentials, synaptic transmission, and how sensory and motor pathways are organized. After it you can follow how signals travel through the brain. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.khanacademy.org/science/health-and-medicine/neuroscience-basics **Tags:** nervous system, neurons, action potentials, synaptic transmission, introductory neuroscience ### 3. Allen Brain Atlas The Allen Institute's portal to open brain-mapping datasets: gene expression atlases, cell type databases, connectivity maps, and viewers for human, mouse, and non-human primate brains. Useful once you need primary data rather than textbook summaries. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://portal.brain-map.org/ **Tags:** brain atlas, gene expression, connectomics, open data, allen institute ### 4. QBI - Queensland Brain Institute Resources Queensland Brain Institute's public explainer section on brain anatomy, cognition and behaviour, plus overviews of conditions such as stroke, dementia, Parkinson's and traumatic brain injury. A short orientation before committing to a full course. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://qbi.uq.edu.au/brain-basics **Tags:** brain anatomy, cognition, neurological disorders, stroke, dementia ### 5. Neuroscience for Kids Eric Chudler's University of Washington site with plain-language explanations of neurons, the spinal cord and the senses, plus experiments, activities and games. A gentle entry point for younger students or complete beginners. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html **Tags:** neurons, senses, hands-on activities, k-12 education, science outreach ### 6. Khan Academy Biology/Neuroscience Khan Academy's human biology unit on the nervous system: neuron structure, resting and action potentials, synaptic transmission, and how sensory and motor pathways connect. Short videos with practice questions build the vocabulary needed for later neuroscience coursework. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/human-biology/neuron-nervous-system **Tags:** neuroscience, neurons, nervous-system, action-potential, biology ### 7. brainfacts.org BrainFacts.org is an educational site from the Society for Neuroscience that explains brain science for a general audience. It offers accessible articles, images, videos, and interactive features on brain structure, function, disorders, and current neuroscience research. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://brainfacts.org **Tags:** websites, science-research, neuroscience ### 8. Khan Academy Health and Medicine Free video lessons and practice questions from Khan Academy on human anatomy and physiology organized by organ system, with material on common diseases, diagnostic tests and treatments. Learners build the foundational biomedical vocabulary and mechanisms needed before clinical training or MCAT and NCLEX study. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://khanacademy.org/science/health-and-medicine **Tags:** anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, pharmacology, premedical ## Courses ### 1. Brain Structure and Its Origins (MIT 9.14) **Author:** Gerald E. Schneider Vertebrate functional neuroanatomy through evolution and development: early nervous systems, brain and spinal cord connections, regional differentiation, regeneration, motor and sensory pathways, and systems for motivation and habit. Includes 35 lecture videos, slide notes, problem sets, and exams with solutions. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/9-14-brain-structure-and-its-origins-spring-2014/ **Tags:** neuroanatomy, brain-development, comparative-neuroanatomy, neural-evolution, sensory-motor-pathways ### 2. Neuroscience and Behavior (MIT 9.01) **Author:** Gerald E. Schneider 30 recorded lectures and writing assignments on how nervous system structure relates to behavior: functional neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, sensory and motor systems, sleep and dreaming, motivation and reward, emotion, the neocortex, and neural mechanisms of learning and memory. Builds a foundation for systems neuroscience. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/9-01-neuroscience-and-behavior-fall-2003/ **Tags:** behavioral-neuroscience, neuroanatomy, sensory-systems, motor-systems, learning-and-memory ### 3. Understanding the Brain: The Neurobiology of Everyday Life **Author:** Peggy Mason Introductory neurobiology course covering functional human neuroanatomy, neuronal signalling, sensory perception, voluntary movement, homeostasis and social behaviour. Learners come away able to explain how neural circuits produce everyday behaviour and how common neurological and psychiatric problems arise from them. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/neurobiology **Tags:** neurobiology, neuroanatomy, neural-signaling, sensory-systems, motor-control ### 4. Fundamentals of Neuroscience, Part 2: Neurons and Networks The second course in Harvard's introductory sequence, moving from single neurons to circuits: synaptic transmission, plasticity, and small networks, with browser-based simulations. Expects the membrane-potential and action-potential material covered in Part 1. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.edx.org/learn/neuroscience/harvard-university-fundamentals-of-neuroscience-part-2-neurons-and-networks **Tags:** neural circuits, synaptic plasticity, computational neuroscience, harvard, edx ### 5. Fundamentals of Neuroscience, Part 1: The Electrical Properties of the Neuron **Author:** David Cox HarvardX's first of three courses on neuroscience, covering the electrical behavior of single neurons: resting potential, action potentials, and synaptic transmission. Includes an interactive neuron simulator so learners can model how membrane currents produce firing. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.edx.org/learn/neuroscience/harvard-university-fundamentals-of-neuroscience-part-1-the-electrical-properties-of-the-neuron **Tags:** neurophysiology, action-potential, membrane-biophysics, neurons, resting-potential ### 6. Fundamentals of Neuroscience Discover what makes your brain tick in this third course in our introductory series in neuroscience. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.edx.org/learn/neuroscience/harvard-university-fundamentals-of-neuroscience-part-3-the-brain **Tags:** courses, health-medicine, medical-sciences ### 7. Computational Neuroscience **Author:** Adrienne Fairhall, Rajesh Rao University of Washington course on how neurons and networks represent and process information, covering neural encoding and decoding, information theory, single-neuron biophysical models, synaptic plasticity and network learning. Learners can build and interpret quantitative models of neural computation through programming exercises. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/computational-neuroscience **Tags:** computational-neuroscience, neural-coding, information-theory, neuron-models, synaptic-plasticity ### 8. Medical Neuroscience Medical Neuroscience explores the functional organization and neurophysiology of the human central nervous system, while providing a neurobiological framework for understanding human behavior. In this course, you will discover the organization of the neural systems in the brain and spinal cord that mediate sensation, motivate bodily action, and integrate sensorimotor signals with memory, emotion and related faculties of cognition. The overall goal of this course is to provide the foundation for understanding the impairments of sensation, action and cognition that accompany injury, disease or dysfunction in the central nervous system. The course will build upon knowledge acquired through prior studies of cell and molecular biology, general physiology and human anatomy, as we focus primarily on the central nervous system. This online course is designed to include all of the core concepts in neurophysiology and clinical neuroanatomy that would be presented in most first-year neuroscience courses in schools of medicine. However, there are some topics (e.g., biological psychiatry) and several learning experiences (e.g., hands-on brain dissection) that we provide in the corresponding course offered in the Duke University School of Medicine on campus that we are not attempting to reproduce in Medical Neuroscience online. Nevertheless, our aim is to faithfully present in scope and rigor a medical school caliber course experience. This course comprises six units of content organized into 12 weeks, with an additional week for a comprehensive final exam: - Unit 1 Neuroanatomy (weeks 1-2). This unit covers the surface anatomy of the human brain, its internal structure, and the overall organization of sensory and motor systems in the brainstem and spinal cord. - Unit 2 Neural signaling (weeks 3-4). This unit addresses the fundamental mechanisms of neuronal excitability, signal generation and propagation, synaptic transmission, post synaptic mechanisms of signal integration, and neural plasticity. - Unit 3 Sensory systems (weeks 5-7). Here, you will learn the overall organization and function of the sensory systems that contribute to our sense of self relative to the world around us: somatic sensory systems, proprioception, vision, audition, and balance senses. - Unit 4 Motor systems (weeks 8-9). In this unit, we will examine the organization and function of the brain and spinal mechanisms that govern bodily movement. - Unit 5 Brain Development (week 10). Next, we turn our attention to the neurobiological mechanisms for building the nervous system in embryonic development and in early postnatal life; we will also consider how the brain changes across the lifespan. - Unit 6 Cognition (weeks 11-12). The course concludes with a survey of the association systems of the cerebral hemispheres, with an emphasis on cortical networks that integrate perception, memory and emotion in organizing behavior and planning for the future; we will also consider brain systems for maintaining homeostasis and regulating brain state. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/medical-neuroscience **Tags:** courses, humanities-social-sciences, psychology ### 9. Synapses, Neurons and Brains **Author:** Idan Segev Hebrew University of Jerusalem course on how synapses, neurons and neural networks compute, covering synaptic and dendritic integration, the plasticity underlying learning and memory, and large-scale cortical simulation like the Blue Brain Project. Learners understand neurons as computational elements and debates in brain research. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Duration:** 16 hours | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/synapses **Tags:** neurons, synapses, synaptic-plasticity, neural-computation, brain-simulation ### 10. Neuronal Dynamics: Computational Neuroscience of Single Neurons **Author:** Wulfram Gerstner EPFL graduate-level course on mathematical models of single neurons, from Hodgkin-Huxley and integrate-and-fire models to dendrites, synapses, noise and spike-train coding, preparing learners to analyse and simulate neuronal activity with differential equations and Python exercises. **Difficulty:** Advanced | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.edx.org/learn/neuroscience/ecole-polytechnique-federale-de-lausanne-neuronal-dynamics **Tags:** neuron-models, hodgkin-huxley, spiking-neurons, neural-coding, dynamical-systems ## Podcasts ### 1. This Week in Neuroscience **Author:** Vincent Racaniello MicrobeTV's neuroscience show, where Vincent Racaniello and working neuroscientists walk through recent papers episode by episode. Listeners follow how findings on memory, circuits, and brain disease are actually argued, evidenced, and contested by researchers. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://microbe.tv/twin **Tags:** neuroscience, podcast, brain-research, journal-club, neurobiology ### 2. Brain Inspired **Author:** Paul Middlebrooks Interview podcast hosted by neuroscientist Paul Middlebrooks, featuring researchers working where neuroscience meets artificial intelligence. Episodes cover computational models of the brain, deep and reinforcement learning, decision-making, neuromorphic hardware and philosophy of mind, showing how each field informs the other. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** en-US | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://braininspired.co/series/brain-inspired/ **Tags:** computational-neuroscience, neuroai, deep-learning, reinforcement-learning, cognitive-science ## Books ### 1. Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain **Author:** Mark F. Bear, Barry W. Connors, Michael A. Paradiso The standard undergraduate introduction to the brain, moving from neuronal membranes and synaptic transmission to sensory systems, motor control, and cognition. Readers finish able to reason about how cellular mechanisms produce perception, movement, and behavior. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0683004883?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, health-medicine, medical-sciences ### 2. Neuroscience **Author:** Dale Purves, George J. Augustine, David Fitzpatrick Used in medical and upper-level undergraduate courses, it moves from neural signaling through sensory and motor systems to plasticity and cognition. Readers come away knowing the experimental evidence behind each claim, not just conclusions. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0878937250?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, science-research, neuroscience ### 3. Principles of Neural Science **Author:** Eric R. Kandel, James H. Schwartz, Thomas M. Jessell The reference text of the field, building from ion channels and synaptic transmission up through perception, movement, development, and memory. Dense but authoritative; readers gain a unified framework connecting molecular detail to behavior. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0838580343?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, health-medicine, medical-sciences ### 4. The Brain: The Story of You **Author:** David Eagleman Companion to Eagleman's PBS series, written for general readers: how experience wires the brain, how perception is constructed rather than recorded, and what that implies for identity, decision-making, and criminal responsibility. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0525433449?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, health-medicine, medical-sciences --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/neuroscience