Science & technology | The easy problem is not so easy

Thousands of species of animals probably have consciousness

A group of scientists are trying to track down how it works in the brain

a brain cutout from paper and folded to reveal a face silhouette — Image: Eiko Ojala

Jun 28th 2023|New York

The Amygdaloids sound like one of the aliens-of-the-week from “Star Trek”. In fact, they are a rock band from New York University (NYU), whose singer, lead guitarist and moving spirit is Joseph LeDoux. Dr LeDoux is one of the world’s top authorities on the amygdalas, a pair of almond-shaped structures in the brain that are responsible, among other things, for generating fear in response to threats. But he is also president of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (ASSC), which held its 26th meeting at NYU between June 22nd and 25th.

This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Conscious thinking”