The Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, Thomas Insel supports research that will help us understand, treat and even prevent mental disorders.

Since "Awakenings" stormed the bestseller lists (and the silver screen), Oliver Sacks has become an unlikely household name, single-handedly inventing the genre of neurological anthropology.

Daniel Levitin incorporates findings from neuroscience into everyday life.

At his lab at Stanford School of Medicine, Tony Wyss-Coray studies aging -- and potential cures for it.

Isaac Lidsky has a very eclectic resume.

David Byrne builds an idiosyncratic world of music, art, writing and film.

Stuart Brown's research shows play is not just joyful and energizing -- it's deeply involved with human development and intelligence. Through the National Institute for Play, he's working to better understand its significance.

Sometimes called the "happiest man in the world," Matthieu Ricard is a Buddhist monk, author and photographer.

Carl Safina's writing explores the scientific, moral and social dimensions of our relationship with nature.

Shankar Vedantam is a science writer obsessed with understanding why humans behave the way we do -- and what it says about us.

Gregory Petsko is a biochemist who studies the proteins of the body and their biochemical function. Working with Dagmar Ringe, he's doing pioneering work in the way we look at proteins and what they do.

Daniel H. Pink is the author of several provocative, bestselling books about business, work, creativity and behavior.

Novelist, writer, culture critic and playwright Monica Byrne thinks that there's an infinite number of stories to tell, and she intends to tell as many as she can.

Nora Brown sings ballads and plays traditional old-time music with a heavy interest in eastern Kentucky banjo playing.

Marcus Byrne is fascinated by the way insects, particularly the intrepid dung beetle, have hardwired solutions to the challenges posed by their environments. Could they help humans solve problems?

Jeff Iliff is a neuroscientist who explores the unique functions of the brain.

Bruno Maisonnier founded Aldebaran Robotics, maker of the tiny, compelling humanoid Nao.

David Baron writes about science in books, magazines, newspapers and for public radio. He formerly served as science correspondent for NPR and science editor for PRI’s The World.

After making a splash in the field of bioinformatics, Sebastian Wernicke moved on to the corporate sphere, where he motivates and manages multidimensional projects.

Prosanta Chakrabarty studies fish to help explain the evolution of human beings and our planet.

Steve McCarroll is conducting groundbreaking research on the causes of mental illness.

Bernie Dunlap is a true polymath, whose talents span poetry, opera, ballet, literature and administration. He is the president of South Carolina’s Wofford College.

An engineer with Google (he helped build Google Earth), Bruno Bowden is also an enthusiastic folder of paper.

A key player in the "Boston miracle" that lowered the rate of youth crime and gang violence, Rev. Jeffrey Brown is a Baptist minister.

TED Resident tobacco brown is a social artist working at the public intersection of environmental art and restorative justice.

Jackson Browne has written and performed some of the most literate and moving songs in popular music -- and has defined a genre of songwriting charged with honesty, emotion and personal politics.

Frederick Streeter Barrett reveals how psychedelic experiences may allow us to tap into resources within ourselves to heal and to grow.

Neurologist V.S. Ramachandran looks deep into the brain’s most basic mechanisms. By working with those who have very specific mental disabilities caused by brain injury or stroke, he can map functions of the mind to physical structures of the brain.

Christina Costa teaches psychology to undergraduate and high school students and studies well-being and resilience.

A key player in the US' new brain-mapping project, Francis Collins is director of the National Institutes of Health.