THE MEDICAL ISSUE

Brain Power

As scientists move closer to understanding how the brain thinks, they're making strides toward finding what causes schizophrenia and other mental illnesses.

By Pamela Ferdinand

December 5, 2004

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Charles, a 55-year-old with schizophrenia, sits motionless and alone in the vaultlike chamber of a Charlestown laboratory. He leans back on a low-slung chair, and the white maw of an imaging machine swallows his head like a dryer in an old-fashioned hair salon - only this one contains more than 300 sensors bathed in liquid helium. Wires run down his ... (Full article: 2704 words)