As a student of the brain, I've found that learning about that pudding inside our heads increases, rather than deflates, the mystery and wonder that surround this organ and all it accomplishes. I've also found that outlining a few basic principles about our brain goes a long way in understanding how it works and, almost as a corollary, who we are - Quoted by Tom de Graaf.

In a series of five lectures, De Graaf will attempt to explain your brain. We will get to know our brain, the storm that rages inside every second of every day, the organization that emerges from it and becomes in effect hyper fast computation. We will discuss how this brain came to be, and what it can do. In the end, it is that very brain that has built statutes and statues, skyscrapers and sublime art. It is a social brain. It is a smart brain. Maybe it is time you got to know it...

The individual lectures

1. Close Encounter: Meet your brain (4 Nov)

2. Brain Storm: The universe inside your head(11 Nov)

3. Smooth Operator: Emergent Organization (25 Nov)

4. Man at Dawn: An evolutionary tale (2 Dec)

5. Modern Brain: Society, art and future (9 Dec)