Every human is fortunate to have this organ inside our skull called the brain. It allows us to breathe, create art, develop new technology — and yet there's much that is undiscovered about how these masses of neurons work. Why is everyone's brain a different shape? When the brain starts to deteriorate, what's really happening?  And what is thought?

In this episode, we explore these provocative questions with three people who think about them often: Suzana Herculano-Houzel, a neuroscientist/biologist who has developed a method to count the number of neurons in the brain; Beverly Patnaik, a gerontologist who works with Alzheimer’s patients; and Karl Sillay, a neurosurgeon who specializes in deep brain stimulation.

The show's host and producer is Emily Siner. Its editors are Mack Linebaugh, Anita Bugg and Blake Farmer, and its engineers are Carl Pederson and Cameron Adkins. Music by Blue Dot Sessions courtesy of the Free Music Archive. To find more Nashville Public Radio podcasts, go to podcasts.wpln.org.