Brain Anatomy
A guided tour of the brain: the cortex and its lobes, the limbic system, thalamus, basal ganglia, cerebellum and brainstem.
15 articles
Brain Anatomy
Intermediate
The Thalamus
The brain's central switchboard: a pair of egg-shaped structures that relay and gate almost every sensory signal on its way to the cortex, and help regulate sleep, attention and consciousness.
October 4, 2026 · 2 min read
Brain Anatomy
Beginner
A Tour of the Brain
A guided walk from the bottom of the brain to the top: brainstem, cerebellum, the deep structures of the forebrain, and the folded cerebral cortex — with what each part is best known for.
September 19, 2026 · 2 min read
Brain Anatomy
Intermediate
The Amygdala
An almond-sized cluster of nuclei that detects threats and other emotionally important events, drives fear learning, and tags memories with emotion.
September 12, 2026 · 2 min read
Brain Anatomy
Beginner
Left Brain, Right Brain and the Corpus Callosum
What the split-brain experiments really showed, which functions are lateralised, and why the 'left-brained versus right-brained' personality idea is a myth.
August 25, 2026 · 3 min read
Brain Anatomy
Intermediate
The Limbic System
The hippocampus, amygdala, cingulate cortex, hypothalamus and their connections: what the 'emotional brain' idea got right, and why many neuroscientists now treat the term with caution.
July 18, 2026 · 2 min read
Brain Anatomy
Intermediate
The Brainstem
Medulla, pons and midbrain: the compact stalk that keeps you breathing, keeps your heart beating, wakes you up and carries every message between brain and body.
June 3, 2026 · 2 min read
Brain Anatomy
Intermediate
The Hypothalamus and Pituitary
A region the size of an almond that keeps the body in balance — temperature, hunger, thirst, sleep, sex and stress — by commanding the autonomic nervous system and the pituitary gland.
May 26, 2026 · 2 min read
Brain Anatomy
Beginner
The Temporal Lobe
Hearing, language comprehension, recognising faces and objects, and — on its inner surface — memory and emotion: the many jobs of the temporal lobe.
May 24, 2026 · 2 min read
Brain Anatomy
Intermediate
The Hippocampus
A seahorse-shaped structure deep in the temporal lobe that is essential for forming new memories and for finding your way — and one of the first places damaged in Alzheimer's disease.
April 16, 2026 · 2 min read
Brain Anatomy
Advanced
The Basal Ganglia
A set of deep nuclei — striatum, globus pallidus, subthalamic nucleus and substantia nigra — that select actions, form habits and learn from reward, through 'go' and 'no-go' pathways.
March 21, 2026 · 3 min read
Brain Anatomy
Beginner
The Occipital Lobe
The brain's visual centre at the back of the head: primary visual cortex, the maps of the visual field, the 'what' and 'where' streams, and what happens when it is damaged.
January 11, 2026 · 2 min read
Brain Anatomy
Beginner
The Parietal Lobe
Touch, body sense, space and number: the parietal lobe builds your sense of where your body is and where things are around you — and its damage can make half the world disappear.
January 9, 2026 · 2 min read
Brain Anatomy
Intermediate
The Cerebellum
The 'little brain' at the back of the head holds most of the brain's neurons and fine-tunes movement, balance and timing — and turns out to help with thinking and emotion too.
January 4, 2026 · 2 min read
Brain Anatomy
Beginner
The Cerebral Cortex
The brain's wrinkled outer sheet: its folds, its six layers, its lobes and Brodmann areas, and how sensory, motor and association regions divide the work.
December 16, 2025 · 3 min read
Brain Anatomy
Beginner
The Frontal Lobe
The largest lobe: motor control, speech production, planning, self-control and personality — from the primary motor strip to the prefrontal cortex.
November 21, 2025 · 2 min read