Suzana Herculano-Houzel:

What is so special about the human brain?

The human brain is puzzling — it is curiously large given the size of our bodies, uses a tremendous amount of energy for its weight and has a bizarrely dense cerebral cortex. But: why? Neuroscientist Suzana Herculano-Houzel puts on her detective's cap and leads us through this mystery. By making "brain soup," she arrives at a startling conclusion.

Suzana Herculano-Houzel

Neuroscientist

Suzana Herculano-Houzel shrunk the human brain by 14 billion neurons — by developing a new way to count them. Full bio