In his book, ‘The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark’ the astronomer, Carl Sagan wrote, “… every question is a cry to understand the world. There is no such thing as a dumb question.” This seems particularly relevant when it comes to the science of the human brain and mind. It seems like we’ve barely scratched the surface in our understanding, there are so many questions still to answer, and yet we’ve already developed a wealth of knowledge about the brain.

At the beginning of my transition from a life of physics and engineering into the world of neuroscience, I still remember the reply I got from an pre-eminent professor to my apologies for asking so many “dumb” questions. “Far from being dumb”, he said, “each question you’re asking me would be a PhD topic in itself.” I recall one of those questions being to ask how long it takes for a neuron to die.

This project is a work in progress as I’m starting to collate the responses I’ve had to the many questions I’ve asked, and the many conversations I’ve had over the years with colleagues, family and friends, during my transition from a brain science newbie to less of a newbie as I tackle trying to understand the mechanisms of Alzheimer’s disease.

Image adapted from AI-generated artwork of Kohji Asakawa.