What is Consciousness?

Can consciousness be explained?  Many have pondered that any explanation is utterly futile or necessarily metaphysical.  How is it possible that the interactive firing of one hundred billion neurons could give rise to perception and thought?  Is consciousness subject to scientific inquiry?

To most, the distinction between mind and brain seem fully incompatible.  A scientific theory of consciousness should provide a causal account of the connections between these domains so that properties in one domain may be understood in terms of events in the other. As all of physics is based on the concepts of the interaction of matter and energy, not more precise definition of the underlying terminology.