At the crossroads of physics and neuroscience, this unique book offers a new approach to brain function based on Einstein's work on relativity and the cosmological constant.

"The book goes back and forth between what we know about these two universes, the cosmos and our brain, their energy and their matter, be it black, grey or white. It alternates between the fundamental questions of contemporary physics and cosmology, and our knowledge of the functioning of the brain based in particular on the revelations of neuroimaging." D. L. B.

The revolutionary hypothesis of a relativistic brain space-time sheds new light on our perception of the world, on our consciousness, on our social interactions and on mental illness.

A masterful, daring book that invites us to a journey in thought, from the confines of the universe to the depths of the brain.

Author of the best-selling book Le Cerveau de cristal (2012), Denis Le Bihan, a physician and a physicist, is a member of the French Academy of Sciences and of the National Academy of Medicine. He founded and directed NeuroSpin, and has received numerous prestigious international awards for his work in neuroimaging.

On the cover: the letter represents the cosmological constant, Einstein's error, while the two brains, with their clocks, can be seen as two mental states of the same person or as two people interacting, within the framework of a relativistic brain space-time. 

1. Cover Page
2. Title Page
3. Copyright Page
4. Dedication Page
5. Preface
6. Structure of this book
7. CHAPTER 1 - How time was put in its place
   1. Genesis of the annus mirabilis articles
   2. Successes and failures of the principle of relativity
   3. Light illuminates time
   4. Space-time
8. CHAPTER 2 - Meanwhile, on the brain side
   1. Regional functioning of the brain
   2. The catalog of cerebral areas
   3. A little man in the brain
   4. Neurons take action…
   5. … and pass the torch
   6. The cortical mosaic
   7. The neural code
9. CHAPTER 3 - The wrinkles of space-time
   1. The illuminating fall
   2. Effects of gravity on time and on the propagation of light
   3. There, all is but order and beauty
   4. Space-time bows to gravity
   5. When the light goes off: black holes
   6. City lights
   7. From triumph to doubt and remorse: the cosmological constant
10. CHAPTER 4 - Gray, white, and colored matter
    1. Diffusion and virtual biopsy
    2. Einstein twice at work in the brain
    3. How white matter got colors
    4. Gray matter gets colors too
    5. The “resting” brain
    6. The dance of the neurons
    7. The brain connectome
    8. Brain dynamics
11. CHAPTER 5 - Black holes, dark matter, dark energy, and black magic
    1. The no-hair theorem
    2. Black holes, stars of the universe
    3. Anatomy of a black hole
    4. Information theory, black holes, and secrets
    5. Mind the wide gap: between the infinitely large and the infinitely small
    6. The zoo of dark matter
    7. The grand return of Einstein's constant
    8. The hot potato of physics
12. CHAPTER 6 - The grand illusion (interlude)
    1. Games of scales and dimensions
    2. Perception and interpretation
    3. Variable-geometry perception
    4. Immobility in motion
    5. Perceptual and cognitive duality
13. CHAPTER 7 - The brain has its own space-time
    1. The relativity of brain time
    2. The time corridors of the connectome
    3. Einstein and Minkowski invite themselves into the connectome
    4. Brain gravitation
    5. Einstein's second error
    6. The relativistic “butterflies of the soul”
    7. The voices of the schizophrenic
    8. Is space-time free or under the influence?
14. CHAPTER 8 - Social brain, conscious brain, and multiple universes: some working hypotheses
    1. Return of the cosmological constant
    2. The cosmological constant and the multiverse
    3. Terra incognita
    4. The best of all worlds
    5. Copycat
    6. Everything is information
    7. Mirage or reality?
    8. Information and the brain: surface extension or volume cramming?
    9. And consciousness emerged
    10. The connected brain
    11. Consciousness in all its forms
15. CHAPTER 9 - Science without experimentation is but the ruin of the soul
    1. A chemistry set for Christmas
    2. Einstein's infinitely large world
    3. The infinitely small world and the proton smasher
    4. The brain hasn't been left behind: a giant MRI scanner
    5. An extraordinary magnet
    6. A magnet's tribulations in Europe
    7. Raiders of the lost ark
16. EPILOGUE - Brain and cosmos
17. Acknowledgments
18. Illustration credits
19. Bibliographical references
20. Index
21. Contents