Asking scientists what career they would have pursued if they hadn’t gone into science is a crapshoot: It can either stop the conversation cold or uncork misty-eyed reminiscences about the road not ...

Santiago Ramón y Cajal's ink and pencil drawing of injured Purkinje neurons, created in 1914. (Courtesy of Instituto Cajal) Are our brains beautiful? Not just figuratively, for what they can do, but ...