Circuit Breakers

Neuroscientist Dr. Anna Chambers takes us inside a state-of-the-art brain research laboratory, showing us how scientists unpack the biological secrets that make headlines and save lives

In recent decades, neuroscience has revealed fascinating details about how the brain works in health and disease. But how do we know what we know?

In Circuit Breakers, Harvard neuroscientist Dr. Anna Chambers pulls back the curtain to show us what happens in the modern brain research laboratory. Here, we learn how cutting-edge tools can manipulate memories, make neurons glow in the dark, and record signals at every level, from the whole brain to a single synapse. In the rapidly expanding field of neuroscience, unprecedented discoveries may be all in a day’s work. Through stories of the ‘science around the science’—all the daily problems a scientist must solve, like accessing a living brain encased in a skull, or figuring out how to coax unusual creatures like cuttlefish and bats into behaving naturally in a lab—Chambers invites us into spaces where few of us ever venture. 

Circuit Breakers weaves down-to-earth explanations of futuristic tools, like human brain implants and laser-controlled neurons, with candid interviews and stories from her own often-grueling journey as a researcher. Throughout, Chambers tells the little-known stories of these discoveries with equal parts humor and wonder. Through sharing this fascinating—and sometimes downright strange— profession with the wider world, Circuit Breakers is deeply committed to inspiring young neuroscientists, improving scientific literacy, and dispelling the many myths about the brain, the ultimate “black box.”