Researchers get a better picture of the brain

Think of your brain as a mess of wires? Us too — until researchers at Harvard Medical School found that the brain is actually organized in a simple, grid-like structure (shown) with perpendicular fibres.

Why it matters: "We pay a big price in mental health for not having an objective standard of diagnosis we can rely on. Imagine if you could see changes in dementia on a two-month basis and see if pills worked for you, personally. The possibility of putting mental health into a scientific paradigm would change all our lives," says the study's lead author, Van Wedeen.