I am sitting at a lab bench peering down the microscope at the brain of a chicken embryo. Dense networks of delicate young nerve fibres surround patches of newborn cells with their DNA stained dark brown. I am witnessing the end products of neurogenesis, the birth of new brain cells. It is one of the hottest topics in neuroscience, and the idea that we can boost the growth of new brain cells with various kinds of physical or mental exercise seems to have equally taken hold of the public imagination. On top of this is the exciting prospect that we could one day use new neurons to repair the brain after injury or disease.
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