The mind/body divide

While many people still talk about the mind and the body as though those things were separate—I think, I feel, mental health versus physical health—with advanced imagery and enhanced technological capabilities, those distinctions are fading into the background. The stories in this issue look at research that takes advantage of Yale School of Medicine’s resources. Studies are shedding light on previously dark corners of the brain including mechanisms responsible for or connected to Alzheimer’s Disease, epilepsy, schizophrenia, even imperfectly understood activities including sleep and thought. Once considered to be distinct from the body, the physical processes underlying the “mind”—and consciousness itself—are less mysterious by the year.