BOOKS & ARTS NATURE|Vol 449|27 September 2007 Atlas on our shoulders

The Body has a Mind of its Own: How They may therefore be part of the neural basis Body Maps in Your Brain HelpYou Do of intention, promoting learning by imitation. (Almost) Everything Better The authors explain how mirror neurons could by Sandra Blakeslee and Matthew participate in a wide range of primate brain Blakeslee functions, for example in shared perception Random House: 2007. 240 pp. $24.95 and empathy, cultural transmission of knowl- edge, and language. At present we have few, if any, clues as to how mirror neurons compute or Edvard I. Moser how they interact with other types of neuron, Like an atlas, the brain contains maps of the but the Blakeslees draw our attention to social internal and external world, each for a dis- neuroscience as an emerging discipline. tinct purpose. These maps faithfully inform It is important to keep in mind that the map the brain about the structure of its inputs. The concept is not explanatory. We need to define JOPLING/WHITE CUBE & J. OF THE ARTIST COURTESY body surface, for example, is mapped in terms what a map is to understand how perception of its spatial organization, with the same neural and cognition are influenced by the spatial arrangement flashed through successive levels arrangement of neural representations. The of processing — from the sensory receptors in classical maps of the sensory cortices are topo- the periphery to the thalamus and cortex in graphical, with neighbouring groups of neurons the brain. Meticulous mapping also takes into Sculptor Antony Gormley also explores how the representing neighbouring parts of the sensory account the hat on your head and the golf club body relates to surrounding space. organ and thus the outside world. Other maps, in your hand, and separate systems encode the such as those of the brain’s spatial-representa- space through which your body moves. As into how our own location in space is mapped tion system, are distributed with no striking V. S. Ramachandran has remarked: God must by specialized cells called grid and place cells. correlation between firing properties and ana- be a cartographer. Anecdotes and ideas from sister disciplines, tomical location. Both are maps in the sense that In The Body has a Mind of its Own, Sandra including neurology, psychiatry and cultural they link a feature of the external world with the and Matthew Blakeslee — who represent the anthropology, mix comfortably with labora- activity of a neuron, but the functional implica- third and fourth generations in a family of sci- tory observations. New discoveries titillate tions of the map arrangements are likely to be ence writers — use this emerging knowledge our curiosity, explaining common phenomena vastly different. More complex wiring diagrams about brain maps as a springboard for present- such as yo-yo dieting and contagious yawn- may be needed to maintain coherent localized ing some of the most exciting discoveries in ing as well as some more bizarre neurological representations in a distributed network than neuroscience. The unifying theme is the idea abnormalities such as alien-hand syndrome in a topographic system. that the way our body is mapped by neural cir- and supernumerary-limb perception. Also To the non-specialist, it may not matter cuits in the brain can account for a range of our covered are why you cannot tickle yourself, whether a map is a map or not. The Body has a experiences and perceptions. Using a readable why some people have ‘out-of-body’ experi- Mind of its Own is a thought-provoking book and inspiring format, the authors showcase ences, and why babies in Mali walk earlier of wide appeal. It is a striking example of how new and classic research on neural represen- than those anywhere else in the world. complex issues in contemporary research can tations, without compromising accuracy. The chapter on mirror neurons discusses be presented to entertain everyone. ■ The stories are refreshingly up-to-date, their possible implications for social transmis- Edvard I. Moser is professor of neuroscience at covering, for example, the emerging appre- sion and cultural learning. Mirror neurons fire the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience and ciation of the dynamic borders between maps when a monkey peels a banana, say, and when the Centre for the Biology of Memory, NTNU, for body and external space, and new insights it observes another monkey peeling a banana. Trondheim, Norway. Ups and downs of a senator scientist

The Volterra Chronicles: The Life and Risorgimento — the country’s unification in the Risorgimento. He graduated in physics from Times of an Extraordinary Mathematician the 1860s — and then under Benito Mus- the University of Pisa and became a professor 1860–1940 solini’s fascist regime. As a senator, Volterra there when he was only 23 years old. Later he by Judith R. Goodstein withheld his support for the regime and was moved to the University of Turin, then to the American Mathematical Society/London therefore expelled from the University of University of Rome, where he married his Mathematical Society: 2007. 310 pp. $59 Rome in 1931 and from all Italian academies young cousin Virginia Almagià. in 1934. The Volterra Chronicles is a rich biog- The Volterra Chronicles describes the early Salvatore Coen raphy set amid this turmoil. research done by the young Volterra and his Vito Volterra was an extraordinary math- Author Judith Goodstein captures the deep and precocious interest in mathematics ematician. He was also a pioneer of bio- human, political and social environment of and its applications. His papers on real and logical modelling — a research tool that has the age. The story of Volterra’s life stems from complex analysis, on mathematical physics, increased in popularity by leaps and bounds his very close Italian Jewish family, with their hydrodynamics, electrostatics, elasticity, dif- since the publication of his seminal ‘preda- strong patriotic sentiments. He was born ferential, integral and integro-differential tor–prey’ model in 1926. Volterra lived at a in Ancona in May 1860, when the town equations are still classics. In addition, he is time when Italy was undergoing bouts of belonged to the Church, and grew up in a considered a father of functional analysis, political upheaval, as a child in the wake of the country still deeply affected by the ideals of one of the main branches of contemporary

406 NATURE|Vol 449|27 September 2007 BOOKS & ARTS

mathematics. But he never lost contact with tary intervention by Italy during the First the experimental sciences, and the final chap- World War to fight alongside France, Britain ter of the book covers his ground-breaking and Russia. He volunteered at the age of 55 incursions into biomathematics. when he was a senator and a member of many Volterra was a key participant in scientific illustrious academies. During the conflict, he organizations in Italy and worldwide. He was involved in military action and scientific CENTRO PRISTEM - ELEUSI PRISTEM CENTRO was president or vice-president of important research, and cooperated closely with scientists research institutes including the International in allied countries, particularly France. Bureau of Weights and Measures (1921–40) He was a fierce opponent of fascism. In 1924, and the International Research Council, and still a senator, he cast a no-confidence vote in founder of, among other things, the Italian Mussolini as head of the government and in National Research Council and the Italian 1931, he refused to sign a loyalty oath profess- Society for the Progress of Science. ing allegiance and devotion to king, country His family has generously donated sev- and the Fascist regime. This refusal cost him eral archives to the Accademia dei Lincei in his university post and academy memberships, Rome, which are now fully catalogued. This as well as the support of most of his colleagues. biographical material has been invaluable for He also faced persecution under racial laws scholars, and important contributions about issued in 1938. But the regime allowed him to Volterra have been published during the past keep his passport and he continued to travel decade or so — for example, by Giorgio Israel until his death in October 1940, four months and Ana Millán Gasca in 2002 and Rita Levi- after Italy joined the Second World War. Montalcini in 1996. One of three appendices (the others being The Volterra Chronicles is different from translations of his most important speeches) these other works in that it is a dedicated to The Volterra Chronicles reproduces a touch- biography of Volterra, based on original Vito Volterra modelled predator–prey dynamics. ing and sensitive obituary written by the dis- documents, which invites us into the math- tinguished English mathematician Edmund ematician’s intimate circle. Short passages Griffith Evans, Marcel Brelot, Enrico Fermi Whittaker. It is a fitting end to a biography translated from his correspondence provide and Joseph Pérès, whom he helped in vari- of an outstanding scientist, which is remark- insight into his intense relationships with the ous ways or with whom he collaborated. able for its accuracy and scholarly rigour, and most prestigious mathematicians of his time, The characters of his family and friends, — unlike its predecessors — for its potential to which were always grounded in mutual scien- including Carlo Somigliana and the physicist engage a wide readership. ■ tific and personal respect. The book reveals Antonio Ròiti, and of his teachers Ulisse Dini Salvatore Coen is professor of geometry in the his knack for spotting talent in young scien- and Enrico Betti are perceptively drawn. Department of Mathematics at the University of tists, including Tullio Levi-Civita, André Weil, Volterra was resolutely in favour of mili- Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy.

Oceanography fathomed

To Follow the Water: Exploring the Ocean to Discover Climate by Dallas Murphy Basic Books: 2007. 288 pp. $26

Arnold Gordon IMAGES NICKLEN/GETTY P. The ocean covers nearly 71% of our planet, providing food, minerals, energy, transport, even recreation. It is also crucial in governing our climate system. Indeed the 29% of solid land, which depends on the sustained health of the entire environmental system, is arguably itself anchored in the ocean. In To follow the Water, Dallas Murphy gives the general reader and the specialist an ocean view beyond the confines of the laboratory or computer model. He rolls from topic to topic in a readable and scientifically astute narra- tive that touches on the oceans’ many aspects — from their exploration over the centuries to their current impact on climate — and their study as a quantitative science today. Fundamental discoveries await oceanogra- phers, but observations are difficult; the oceans are vast and controlled experiments are impos- sible. I entered physical oceanography decades Remotely operated vehicles, controlled from aboard ships, measure the ocean’s fluctuations.

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