Brain research has made great strides but there is still a long way to go before scientists understand how the organ which runs our central nervous system works.
This week is Brain Awareness Week, when scientists will hold a range of public events to explain what we do know about the brain - and what we don't know.
"Brains are very complex - we can do some amazing things with our brains, but we don't know how," Associate Prof Christine Jasoni, director of the University of Otago Brain Health Research Centre, said.
"A lot of the fundamental things we are beginning to understand, but it's putting it all together and having some kind of behavioural outcome that we don't fully understand yet.
"And what happens when things break? If you don't know fully how whatever the behaviour is happens in the first place ... when it breaks down then there is even more that we don't know."
Scientists were making good headway on beginning to understand how the complex pieces of the brain fitted together, but the bigger question of how those pieces interacted was still much debated, Prof Jasoni said.
"It's such a higher level that it almost becomes philosophical, in a way."
While Brain Week is a cerebral exercise, organisers do not intend it to be taxing on the lay person's grey matter.
A range of lectures, including some aimed specifically at children, have been scheduled for this week.
An inflatable brain will be on display in the Octagon at lunchtime on Thursday, and on Saturday - Brain Day - a wide range of events will be held at Otago Museum.
While Brain Week was about raising public awareness of neurological science and health, it also had value for clinicians, Prof Jasoni said.
"This is an opportunity for them to interact with the public in a way which is different from the way they ordinarily do.
"Not only do we have clinicians involved in the events we present, but we also hope that clinicians attend events because it is an opportunity for them to hear about the wider range of research that is going on.
"Clinicians have a tendency to focus on their own very important work and sometimes do not have the opportunity to hear about the latest research, especially stuff which is a little different from their own field."
