Welcome to Quantum Magazine's podcast.

Each episode, we bring you stories about developments in science and mathematics.

I'm Susan Vallett.

We can pick out a conversation in a loud room amid the rise and fall of other voices or the hum of an air conditioner.

We can spot a set of keys and a sea of clutter or register a raccoon darting into the path of our onrushing car. Somehow,

even with massive amounts of information flooding our senses, we're able to focus on what's

important and act on it. But how do we actually focus our

attention? Attentional processes are the brain's way of shining a searchlight on relevant

stimuli and filtering out the rest. Neuroscientists want to find out which circuits aim and power that searchlight.

For decades, their studies have revolved around the cortex, the folded structure on the outside of the brain,

commonly associated with intelligence and higher order cognition.

It's become clear that activity in the cortex boosts sensory processing

to enhance features of interest. But now, some researchers are trying a different approach. They're

studying how the brain suppresses information rather than how it augments it. They've found that this

process involves more ancient regions,

much deeper in the brain, regions not often considered when it comes to attention. By doing so,

scientists have also inadvertently started to take baby steps toward a better understanding of how

body and mind are deeply intertwined.

For a long time, attention seemed tied up with consciousness and other complex functions.

So scientists assumed that it was first and foremost a cortical phenomenon.

A major departure from that line of thinking came in 1984 with Francis Crick,

known for his work on the structure of DNA. Here's Michael Halasa, a neuroscientist at the

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