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But there has been one major payoff from our investigations of the brain: an increasing emphasis on educating young children, before they reach kindergarten. Decades of research have demonstrated that the cortex is astonishingly plastic at a young age and that many important traits and habits seem to solidify before the age of 4.

With the right training, scientists now know the brain can reshape itself to work around dead and damaged areas, often with dramatic benefits.

Therapies that exploit the brain's power to adapt have helped people overcome damage caused by strokes, depression, anxiety and learning disabilities, and may one day replace drugs for some of these conditions.

Children with language difficulties have been shown to make significant progress using computer training tools that are the equivalent of cerebral cross-training.