Weighing only about three pounds, the human brain is a complex system that controls all human behavior. How does this incredible organ function? How do our brains and actions differ from those of other animals? This five-part course examines how the brain, genes, and other factors such as hormones influence how humans behave; whether biological adaptations influence cultural beliefs; the biological roots of characteristics such as selfishness or altruism, aggression or empathy; and how neurogenetics can be used to understand conditions such as mental illness and addiction. Instructors for this course will include physical anthropologist Joseph Califf.

The Museum greatly acknowledges The Mortimer D. Sackler Foundation, Inc. for its support to establish The Sackler Brain Bench, part of the Museum's Sackler Educational Laboratory, in the Spitzer Hall of Human Origins, offering ongoing programs and resources for adults, teachers, and students to illuminate the extraordinary working of the human brain.