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This grey, folded organ enables us to think, speak, and move. It consumes about 20 per cent of the body's daily energy intake and consists of approximately 80-90 billion cells. Today marks the start of Brain Week, a global initiative aimed at raising public awareness of the brain's importance and advancing scientific understanding of how it works. Over the coming days, we will highlight research conducted by institutes of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS) that explores this extraordinarily complex part of the human body.

"The brain's most fundamental function is probably movement and orientation in the environment. Higher functions such as thinking, intelligence, and emotions are built on top of that," said Tomáš Hromádka from the Institute of Neuroimmunology of the SAS at the March SAVinci Science Café.

The outer layer of the brain, the cerebral cortex, is approximately 3-4 mm thick. The brain consists of two hemispheres, left and right, and includes the cerebellum at its base, which contains roughly half of all brain cells.

Studying brain tissue, which is not naturally transparent, is made possible by fluorescence techniques. In this method, cells are labelled with fluorescent proteins. "When illuminated with blue light, the protein absorbs energy and emits green light. With specialised microscopes, we can directly observe cells, even in living tissue. The process of fluorescence is truly remarkable," explains the neuroscientist.

The brain is composed of billions of cells, the most well-known of which are neurons, which transmit information. Neurons receive signals through short extensions called dendrites, process them in the cell body, and transmit them further via a long extension known as an axon. Communication between neurons occurs at synapses.

The complexity of the brain lies not only in the number of its cells, but especially in the vast network of connections between them. A single neuron can connect to approximately 10,000 others. In addition to neurons, the brain contains glial cells that support, protect, and nourish neurons while maintaining the environment necessary for signal transmission.

It is this immense number of cells and connections that makes the brain one of the most complex systems in nature. For this reason, scientists often study simpler nervous systems to understand the fundamental principles of brain function better. "If we understand the brain of a mouse or even a fruit fly, we can better grasp the basic

principles of how the human brain works," adds Hromádka, noting that these systems, although much smaller, provide valuable insights.

Tomorrow, we will explore new findings about the cerebellum, from its role in motor control to its broader function in automated processes.

Calendar of Brain Week events across regions of Slovakia

Compiled by: Andrea Nozdrovická