A new exhibition in London is putting the brain under a microscope — literally. “Brains: The Mind as Matter” asks not what brains have done for us but what, in the name of science, we have done to brains.

The brain has fascinated and baffled scientists for centuries. The exhibition, which opens Thursday at the Wellcome Collection, features mummified, desiccated, galvanized and pickled brains as it charts humanity’s sometimes misguided attempts at scientific understanding. Exhibits range from slices of Albert Einstein’s brain to neurosurgery tools and artworks inspired by the contents of our skulls.