It

Hi,

The last decade, despite its bad news, has also seen an unparalleled burst of scientific studies of emotion. Most dramatic are the glimpses of the brain at work, made possible by innovative methods such as new brain-imaging technologies. They have made visible for the first time in human history what has always been a source of deep mystery: exactly how this intricate mass of cells operates while we think and feel, imagine and dream.

Should I look at it as an interrogative content clause or a fused relative phrase?

Here is what I think.

<fused relative phrase scenario>

The verb "make" is transitive, which means that you need an object between "made" and "visible".

They made X visible.

The sentence in question has its object placed at the end of the clause.

The made visible X.

There is nothing wrong with this construction, given that the object is relatively "heavy".

But the problem is the meaning of the sentence doesn't seem to go with this scenario. The whole sentence basically says that they were able to provide some answers to the question of how brain functions while we think and feel, imagine and dream. It's like a "I know what you want" example. "I know what you want" does not mean I know the very thing that you want. It means that I know the answer to the question of "What do you want?".

<interrogative content clause scenario>

This scenario has a bit of problem on its own. As for interrogative content clauses, they can intervene between the matrix verb and the predicative complement, as shown in A.

A: I consider how he cheated us less important than why he did.

But they also occur with extraposition, as in B.

B: I consider it immaterial whether we do it now or later.

In the case of extraposition, a dummy "it" is inserted in that position, moving the interrogative content clause to the end of the clause.

The sentence in question appears to be an example of exraposition and yet, it does not have a dmmy "it".

I would appreciate it if someone could answer my question. Thanks.