Have you heard the one where a reporter, producer, and editor walk into an art exhibit?

Well, you'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Producer Thomas Lou brought us this story a year ago about the life and death of a neuron,

their sound and light. And we're revisiting this immersive experience

in honor of Shortwave Art Week. So slap on a pair of headphones and enjoy the show.

You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.

A few weeks ago, my editor and I ventured down three stories below ground into the basement of

an unassuming building in Washington, DC. We're heading to a new exhibit housed at the technology-based

art space, Art Tech House. So what we're looking at here is our main space gallery at Feb.

That's Art Tech House DC sales manager, Josh Feldman. He's our guide for this visit.

As we step foot through the installation, you are stepping foot into our brain.

Quite literally, you're walking into a projection of the human brain.

The main gallery space is illuminated by high definition laser projectors from the floor to the wall.

And as we roam the room, our bodies become an extension of the floor, another surface for the

projections to shine on. The focus of this exhibit is the brain, more specifically the nerve cells in our brains.

We wanted to tell the story of a neuron, a single neuron, in order to educate the public,

regarding the fact that the neuron is the essential element of the brain.

That's John Morrison, professor of neurology at the University of California Davis,

and the lead neuroscientist for this new exhibit. He tells me that everything we do is the result

of about 86 billion neurons talking to one another, from our senses, touch, smell, sight,

taste, and hearing to how we interpret and understand our world.

The neuron is a cell that's specialized for communication. All the circuits within the brain

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