Originally published in France under the title Le Cerveau de cristal. Ce que nous revele la neuro-imagerie, copyright (c) Odile Jacob, 2012.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction -- 1. Elementary particles -- Broca's discoveries -- Neuroimaging -- X-ray CT scanner -- Nuclear magnetism -- From NMR to MRI -- Anatomy of an MRI scanner -- The crystal skull -- 2. The magnetic brain -- The computer at work -- The brain's GPS -- When the brain is constructed -- The destiny of neurons -- Language and cerebral plasticity -- Genes or environment? -- The phrenology of the brain -- 3. Seeing the brain think -- I think, therefore I irrigate -- Seeing the brain with antimatter -- The glory of PET -- Positrons on the verge of being replaced by magnetism -- Electrons come to the aid of protons -- Functional MRI -- The homunculus seen in fMRI -- 4. The magnetic brain in action -- Mental reading -- What side do you speak on? -- The intimate brain -- Does free will exist? -- At the doors of awareness -- 5. The brain probed through water molecules -- Einstein's visions- -- NMR sensitive to diffusion -- From NMR to MRI : diffusion ... confusion -- Diffusion and cancer -- An asynchronous brain -- 6. Water : molecule of the mind? -- Swelling neurons -- Protons -- A dance of spines -- Mechanical neurons -- 7. The crystal brain -- Nanoparticles -- MRI of the extreme -- NeuroSpin -- In search of a neural code.

"It is now possible to witness human brain activity while we are talking, reading, or thinking, thanks to revolutionary neuroimaging techniques like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). These groundbreaking advances have opened infinite fields of investigation--into such areas as musical perception, brain development in utero, and faulty brain connections leading to psychiatric disorders--and have raised unprecedented ethical issues. In Looking Inside the Brain, one of the leading pioneers of the field, Denis Le Bihan, offers an engaging account of the sophisticated interdisciplinary research in physics, neuroscience, and medicine that have led to the remarkable neuroimaging methods that give us a detailed look into the human brain. Introducing neurological anatomy and physiology, Le Bihan walks readers through the historical evolution of imaging technology--from the X-ray and CT scan to the PET scan and MRI--and he explains how neuroimaging uncovers afflictions like stroke or cancer and the workings of higher-order brain activities, such as language skills. Le Bihan also takes readers on a behind-the-scenes journey through NeuroSpin, his state-of-the-art neuroimaging laboratory, and goes over the cutting-edge scanning devices currently being developed. Considering what we see when we look at brain images, Le Bihan weighs what might be revealed about our thoughts and unconscious, and discusses how far this technology might go in the future. Beautifully illustrated in color, Looking Inside the Brain presents the trailblazing story of the scanning techniques that provide keys to previously unimagined knowledge of our brains and our selves"--Jacket.

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