脑是由称为神经元的神经细胞所组成的神经系统控制中心，是所有脊椎动物和大部分无脊椎动物都具有的一个器官，只有少数的无脊椎动物没有脑，例如海绵、水母、成年的海鞘与海星，它们以分散或者局部的神经网络代替。

许多动物的脑位于头部，通常是靠近主要的感觉器官，例如视觉、听觉、前庭系统、味觉和嗅觉。脑是脊椎动物身体中最复杂的器官。在普通人类的大脑皮质（脑中最大的部分）中，包含150-330亿个神经元，每一个神经元都通过突触和其他数千个神经元相连接。这些神经元之间通过称作轴突的原生质纤维进行较长距离互相联结，可以将一种称作动作电位的冲动信号，在脑的不同区域之间或者向身体的特定接收细胞传递。脊椎动物的脑由颅骨保护。脑与脊髓构成中枢神经系统。中枢神经系统的细胞依靠复杂的联系来处理传递信息。脑是感情、思考、生命得以维持的中枢。它控制和协调行为、身体内稳态（身体功能，例如心跳、血压、体温等）以及精神活动（例如认知、情感、记忆和学习）。

The brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. Only a few invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, adult sea squirts and starfish do not have a brain; diffuse or localised nerve nets are present instead. The brain is located in the head, usually close to the primary sensory organs for such senses as vision, hearing, balance, taste, and smell. The brain is the most complex organ in a vertebrate's body. In a typical human, the cerebral cortex (the largest part) is estimated to contain 15–33 billion neurons, each connected by synapses to several thousand other neurons. These neurons communicate with one another by means of long protoplasmic fibers called axons, which carry trains of signal pulses called action potentials to distant parts of the brain or body targeting specific recipient cells.