Inside a human brain bank, where frozen tubs preserve slices of spongy tissue

In plastic jars brimming with formaldehyde sit dozens of brains - each belonging to former teachers, doctors, accountants, plumbers - which are now bathing in preservation fluid for the sake of scientific research.

There are 82 brain banks in North America alone. This one lives in Bronx, New York, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

The bank opened in 1982 to better understand Alzheimer's patients. In 1990 it began looking at patterns of schizophrenia, too. And today, it keeps dozens of specimens sliced into thousands of pieces in an attempt to understand a raft of neurological disorders.

Here's what it's like inside the brain bank.