Cover Picture: Neurotrophic Natural Products: Chemistry and Biology (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 4/2014).

The human brain is an incredibly complex network of neurons that controls life, thoughts, and emotion. Age‐ or disease‐related neural degeneration leads to breakdown of this network, incapacitating the affected individual. Certain natural products can induce outgrowth of neurites, the bridges that allow cell–cell communication in the brain, and so restore the neuronal web. E. A. Theodorakis et al. summarize in their Review on page 956 ff. recent advances in the synthesis of these molecules and highlight their potential as tools for studying neuronal web structure and function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]