In 1848, railroad worker Phineas Gage had a 3.5-foot, 13 pound tamping iron blown through the front of his skull in a construction accident. Hell of a way to start your Wednesday (yes, I checked). He survived.
The story of Phineas Gage is now the stuff of legend, taught to first-year neuroscience students around the world. How did this man survive a rod through the frontal lobe? Doctors that wrote of him later spoke of extreme behavioral changes, a man who was “. . . fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the grossest profanity (which was not previously his custom), manifesting but little deference for his fellows”.
Unfortunately, the legend of Phineas Gage’s post-injury brain is largely exaggerated, or at least based on rather thin evidence. But still, he was still a changed man, even if not in the extreme ways his legend suggests.
UCLA’s Jack Van Horn has reconstructed a model of Phineas Gage’s connectome. In the image above, the lower left image shows the “connectogram” of 110 healthy right-handed males, the major highways and byways between brain regions (the brain stem is at 6 o’clock, left and right hemispheres at 9 and 3 o’clock). The lower right image shows the connections that were likely disrupted by the iron spike through Gage’s frontal lobe.
Mo Costandi has a great write-up that you should check out. We now have a map of the damage to Gage’s brain. But do we really know any more about his supposed behavioral changes? Thanks to the exaggerations and sideshow mentality of those who studied hm while alive, likely not.
BONUS: Be sure to check out Robert Krulwich and Carl Zimmer moderating this debate on how much stock we should put in the connectome.
(via Neurophilosophy blog)
Explore The Human Microbiome
The human microbiome refers to all of the microbial organisms that reside in the body including bacteria, fungi, and archaea. Notably, the human body contains over 10 times more microbial cells than human cells.
To illustrate the diversity of these ‘body bugs’, Scientific American have profiled this impressive, interactive map of the key microorganisms commonly identified in the human body and their predominant location.
Interest in the human microbiome has increased in recent years, following reports that the type and number of microorganisms seem to play a role in the onset of several medical conditions including obesity, cancer, and diabetes.
(via freshphotons)
Radiolab’in sıradaki bölümünün renklerle alakalı olacak olmasının nimetleri.
Aspen Mays went to every college and university library in Illinois and cleared the shelves of Einstein books (1500+). Then she made them into chair-rainbows.
Something tells me there were a lot of angry physicists in Illinois that week…
Keşke dediğinizi duyar gibiyim.
The Milky Way as a subway map, and other creative derivatives of the London Tube map
ne ilginç kafalar. ve evet, devamı için link(ler)e tıklayınız.
by Hope Kroll
Whoa, you should definitely check out the rest of the stuff on Hope Kroll’s site. Or, you know what, just wait a little while, we’ll probably end up posting it all here.
Hey by the way we just did a show on Guts here it is.
- Albert Einstein
via NASA’s One Hundred Year Starship Program
So you know, why old books smell. Also see this new research on why old paper turns yellow.
Then again, old-book smell is part of the joy of books.
Holland’s tulip fields from above. Like the world’s most beautiful bar graphs.
Via the so-good-it-should-be-illegal blog Aesthetics of Joy.
10 Great Reads About the Senses
From hacking our senses and creating new ones to understanding how scent triggers primal urges, here’s an excellent selection of reads to keep you stimulated.
tetw:
A Tetw reading list
The Blind Man Who Learned To See by Michael Finkel - A fascinating profile of a man who is helping other blind people to see using echolocation.
Mixed Feelings by Sunny Bains - How researchers can tap the plasticity of the brain to hack our 5 senses, and build new ones.
Sense and Sensitivity by Andrea Bartz - Is it possible that some people are wired to take in more sensory information than others, and that are our attitudes towards sensitivity are misguided?
Double Vision by Lawrence Weschler - A classic article about a pair of twins whose art unlocks the secrets of perception.
The Sniff of Legend by Karen Wright - “Human pheromones? Chemical sex attractants? And a sixth sense organ in the nose? What are we, animals?”
The Taste Makers by Raffi Khatchadourian - This trip to the heart of the flavour industry is essential reading for anyone who wants to know how modern food gets its taste.
You’ve Got Smell by Charles Platt - DigiScent is here. Will it take off, and if it does, will it be a fad or a technological revolution?
Seeing by Annie Dillard - An excellent essayist takes a personal, often abstract look inside the world of vision.
Master of Illusion by Ed Yong - How a neuroscientist from Stockholm can use mannequins, rubber arms and virtual reality to transport you outside your own body.
The Smelliest Block in New York by Molly Young - Deep in the Lower East Side, a terrible odor lurks. Where is it coming from?
Great selection.
