Despite everything that has been written about the brain, a very important part of this vital organ has been overlooked in most books until now. The Other Brain is the story of glia, which make up approximately 85% of the cells in the brain. Long neglected as little more than cerebral packing material ("glia" means glue), glia are sparking a revolution in brain science.

Glia are completely different from neurons, the brain cells that we are familiar with. Scientists are discovering that glia have their own communication network, which operates in parallel to the more familiar communication among neurons. Glia provide the electrical insulation for neurons, and glia even regulate the flow of information between neurons.

But it is the potential breakthroughs for medical science that are the most exciting frontier in glia research today. Diseases such as brain cancer and multiple sclerosis are caused by diseased glia. Glia are now believed to play an important role in such psychiatric illnesses as schizophrenia and depression, and in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. They are linked to infectious diseases such as HIV and prion disease (mad cow disease, for example) and to chronic pain. Scientists have discovered that glia repair the brain and spinal cord after injury and stroke. The more we learn about these cells that make up the "other" brain, the more important they seem to be.

Written by a neuroscientist who is a leader in the research to reveal the secrets of these brain cells, The Other Brain offers a first-hand account of science in action. It takes us into the laboratories where important discoveries are being made, and it explains how scientists are learning that glia cells come in different types, with different capabilities. It tells the story of glia research from its origins to the most recent discoveries and gives readers a much more complete understanding of how the brain works and where the next breakthroughs in brain science and medicine are likely to come.

About the author

R. Douglas Fields is the Chief of the Section on Nervous System Development and Plasticity at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Adjunct Professor in the Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program at the University of Maryland, College Park. In 2004 Dr. Fields founded the scientific journal Neuron Glia Biology, where he is the Editor-in-Chief, and he is a scientific advisor to Scientific American Mind and Odyssey magazines. He is an internationally recognized authority on neuron-glia interactions, brain development, and the cellular mechanisms of memory. Dr. Fields received advanced degrees at UC Berkeley, San Jose State University, UC San Diego, and he held postdoctoral fellowships at Stanford University, Yale University, and the National Institutes of Health before starting his research laboratory at the NIH in 1994. The author of over 150 articles in scientific journals and books, he also enjoys building guitars, rock-climbing, and scuba diving.