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| What makes us tick?
The study of human behaviour is a topic involving many research fields—including biology, psychology and behavioural science—that investigates how our brains and our genes rule our behaviour. Research into human thought and cognition has given new insights into how and why humans behave the way they do. This research and the discussions surrounding this topic are the theme of Genes, brain/mind and behaviour, the July 2007 special issue of EMBO reports, featuring 15 articles by internationally renowned experts. The special issue focuses on the ethical and social consequences of our increasingly sophisticated understanding of human thought and behaviour and most articles are based on talks presented at the 7th joint EMBL/EMBO Conference, “Genes, brain/mind and behaviour”, which was held in November 2006. The themes explored in the special issue include: rethinking the biological determinants of behaviour, the emergence of genomic psychology, the genetic determinants of depression, and ethical issues for neuroscience. Contributors to the special issue include experts in neuroscience, philosophy, bioethics and psychology: Wolf Singer (Director of the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt, Germany), Michael Kosfeld (University of Zurich, Switzerland), Turhan Canli (Psychology Department at Stony Brook University, USA), Judy Illes (Director of the Program in Neuroethics at the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, USA), Anne Harrington (Chair of the Department of the History of Science at Havard University, USA) and Kathinka Evers (Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Center for Biolethics at Karolinska Institute and Uppsala University, Sweden). Genes, brain/mind and behaviour is the fifth special issue produced by EMBO reports. Former special issues covered the topics: ‘Infectious Diseases’ (2003), ‘Science & Risk’ (2004), ‘Time & Ageing’ (2005) and ‘Science and Security’ (2006).
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