Neuroscience needs some new ideas

Neuroscience needs some new ideas

Neuroscience needs some new ideas

Scientists facing the daunting task of describing the brain conventionally conjure up different kinds of metaphor. The problem comes when we forget that they are descriptors, and see them instead as natural properties, writes historian Stephen Casper. Casper reviews a new book by biologist and historian Matthew Cobb, which provokes contemplation about how some metaphors burden us with invisible assumptions made in the past.

Nature | 5 min read