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The article presents a discussion on the association between spirituality and the functioning of human brain. Neurologists have been conducting research studies to examine whether the mind exists beyond the body or whether basic scientific knowledge must be linked to human values. These researchers are part of a small but growing group of investigators who are exploring the connections between the brain and spirituality. According to Patrick McNamara, an assistant professor of neurology at Boston University School of Medicine, Massachusetts, this is a new science that is emerging. This science can be called the cognitive neuroscience of religion. Almost all neuroscientists agree that the mind is a product of the brain, but McNamara questions that assumption. He says that it is absurd for someone to say that consciousness is nothing but a certain set of brain-activation patterns. He openly wonders whether consciousness has an immaterial aspect, perhaps related to what theologians have traditionally called the soul. INSETS: What Happens to Your Brain While Praying?;Researcher Brings Intelligent Design to Mind.

Comments on the misunderstandings among researchers involved in the creation of a shared database in the field of cognitive neuroscience. Details on the research project; Other incidents where sharing data contributed to the project's success; Recommendations for researchers.

The article discusses an annual event titled the Cognitive Neuroscience Summer Institute or "brain camp," with particular focus given to its influence on the development of the field of cognitive neuroscience and success in creating a sense of community and facilitating interdisciplinary projects between scholars in different fields. The social nature of the camps is commented on, and the meeting of the neuroscientists Andrea Heberlein and Joshua Greene at the 2001 camp and their later marriage is discussed.

The article discusses scientific collaboration, the annual summer Cognitive Neuroscience Summer Institute, or Brain Camp, and scientists such as Joshua Greene, Michael S. Gazzaniga, and Elizabeth Phelps. The combination of fields such as behavioral science, psychology, and philosophy is discussed, and the lectures and collaborative atmosphere of the Brain Camps since 1988 are described. The benefits of scientific cooperation, organizations such as the Experimental Philosophy Institute (EPI), and congresses in related fields such as behavioral economics are discussed. Other summer institutes such as an annual physiology course at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where scientist Tim Hunt discovered the cyclin B molecule, are discussed.