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Brain of Patient H.M. Being Sliced, Streamed Live

Posted by timothy on from the he-certainly-won't-remember-it dept.

buswolley writes "The slicing of the brain of the famous amnesic patient H.M. into giant histological sections is now in full swing, and is being streamed live. The brain specimen is frozen and sectioned whole during one continuous session that is expected to last approximately 30 hours."

41 of 199 comments (clear)

  1. Streaming? Not any more by cdrudge · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, it was prior to being posted on /.

  2. This is ... by Conchobair · · Score: 5, Funny

    Zombie Pr0n.

    1. Re:This is ... by buswolley · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Deli Sliced brain though.. yeah definitely for Zombies.

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    2. Re:This is ... by dwywit · · Score: 2, Funny

      Carpaccio for Zombies?

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    3. Re:This is ... by niktemadur · · Score: 2, Funny

      Deli Sliced brain

      Headcheese, very European.
      Or you could do some authentic Mexican food, dice up the brain and toss the chunks into a vat of simmering bone marrow soup, in which case the brains are called sesos.
      No joke, I've had this with a dash of lemon and besides being super tasty, it's an incredible hangover recipe, although the amounts of cholesterol involved are ridiculously high.

      Speaking of hardcore food from the central Mexico region, the only thing I can think of that I haven't dared try yet are escamoles, a buttery, cheese-like spread made of (wait for it...) ant eggs.
      This thing won a culinary competition in Spain a couple of years ago, the judges finding out what they ate and praised only after they handed out the prize. Some of the judges then probably scrambled towards the toilets, head first.
      Seriously though, they don't use just any ants, but those that set up their colonies in fields of maguey plants, where mezcal and tequila come from. Call it Mexico's idea of "kosher", I dunno.

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    4. Re:This is ... by tsa · · Score: 2, Funny

      I think you mean cock testes.

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  3. So... by chill · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm guessing H.M. is dead, right? Wasn't this a scene out of Hannibal Lecter? Excuse me while I dig up a good chianti and some fava beans.

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    1. Re:So... by rattaroaz · · Score: 5, Funny

      Not necessarily. He just doesn't have a brain. He could still be a lawyer.

    2. Re:So... by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Funny

      Not necessarily. He just doesn't have a brain. He could still be a lawyer.

      Or a Slashdot moderator.

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    3. Re:So... by OakDragon · · Score: 4, Funny

      Not necessarily. He just doesn't have a brain. He could still be a lawyer.

      Or a Slashdot moderator.

      -1 Flamebait

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    4. Re:So... by celery+stalk · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Not necessarily. He just doesn't have a brain. He could still be a lawyer.

      Or a Slashdot editor.

      Fixed that for ya.

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  4. Not H. M. by SlowMovingTarget · · Score: 4, Funny

    Some gal named Abby Normal...

    1. Re:Not H. M. by Eggplant62 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      And to think, I'm sitting here watching Young Frankenstein on AMC. Good show.

  5. HM by serviscope_minor · · Score: 5, Informative

    For those of you unaware, HM had essentially complete loss of long term memory, but a normal short term/working memory and, curiously the ability to commit long term learning to his motor memory. So, he could learn new motor skills (an example would be juggling, but I do not know if HM learned that particular task), but not high-level memories.

    If you're interested in more, then try reading the excellent book: "The man who mistook his wife for his hat".

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    1. Re:HM by johncadengo · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yeah. That was exactly what I was wondering when I read this. A nice link to wikipedia would've been nice.

      P.S. UC San Diego. Go Tritons!

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    2. Re:HM by Jahava · · Score: 4, Informative

      We can call it 1 / Memento.

    3. Re:HM by Digital+Pizza · · Score: 3, Informative

      The full link to the book is here:

      http://www.amazon.com/Phantoms-Brain-Probing-Mysteries-Human/dp/0688172172/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259799787&sr=8-1

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    4. Re:HM by masmullin · · Score: 2, Funny

      I forget.

  6. Mirror by NiteMair · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://neurosciences.ucsd.edu/

  7. Article by qmaqdk · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/12/02/slicing-up-h-m-s-famous-brain-live-and-on-the-internet/

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  8. Pity it's a week late... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is like a foodtv thanksgiving marathon for zombies!

  9. Henry Gustav Molaison by phizi0n · · Score: 3, Informative

    I had to go through 3 links just to find the poor guy's name. http://www3.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/nov/30/hm-recollected-famous-amnesic-launches-bold-new-br/

  10. Re:And the server crashed under the load! by joocemann · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It is working for me. This is pretty awesome looking

  11. They could have done it while he was alive ... by tomhudson · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's not like he would have remembered anything ...

  12. Re:brain structures by simcop2387 · · Score: 2, Informative

    about the normal brain structures? maybe none, BUT they might learn how his brain rewired itself, and get an idea of what areas of the brain weren't connected anymore to get a better idea of why he had no long term memory (and provide information about how the brain actually does that!), it at the very least might shed light on how the brain forms those connections

  13. Re:sectioned while alive? by HawkinsD · · Score: 4, Funny

    I thought the same thing. Nowhere in the summary does it say that the patient is deceased.

    May I suggest a clarification?

    The slicing the brain of the famous amnesic patient H.M. WHO IS FRICKIN' DEAD into giant histological sections...

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  14. Organ donation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    So I can't help but wonder how they got HM to consent to organ donation ? Did they ask him everyday until his death ? Or perhaps he got "organ donor" tattooed on his body ?

    1. Re:Organ donation by buswolley · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yeah good question. I suspect that they might have tricked him by a process of implicit motor learning.

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    2. Re:Organ donation by Tynin · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I cannot find the article that goes over it, but I recall reading about him some time ago. During the interview he was quite aware of his condition, after all he remembers everything that happened prior to his surgery to help control his seizures. He basically said that he wanted to help the doctors better understand his condition in any way that could be beneficial because that information could help other people. Wish I could find the article, as I do believe he had enough understanding and did give permission.

    3. Re:Organ donation by noidentity · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I bet the MAFIAA would have hated this guy. Every day he could listen to the same song or watch the same movie, never paying them more then the one-time cost to purchase it. Imagine the laws they would have crafted to deal with people like him who rob them of all that profit!

  15. Re:Exactly how long? by camperdave · · Score: 4, Funny

    The difference is the commercials.

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  16. Necessary? by seven+of+five · · Score: 2, Insightful

    With MRI, CAT scans, etc, is this ghoulish exercise really necessary anymore?

    1. Re:Necessary? by Pronkzilla · · Score: 5, Informative

      I am a pathology resident who has done about ten autopsies and from my limited experience I can say that this practice is absolutely necessary. The reasoning behind sectioning the brain is to obtain tissue for histologic examination (i.e. under a microscope). This is done to correlate clinical or radiologic findings with actual disease processes. A simple example would be a case of a small brain hemorrhage, where the radiologist thinks he/she sees some bleeding in a certain area of the brain. On autopsy, we can slice up the brain, take sections to be processed and placed on a glass slide, and actually look at the brain microscopically to confirm that there was indeed hemorrhage in the area of brain suspected by the radiologist. Also, brain sectioning/microscopic evaluation can reveal lesions or abnormalities that are not visible to the radiologist (i.e. early Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, etc.)

    2. Re:Necessary? by RobVB · · Score: 2, Funny

      You damn youngsters don't even know how to have some fun anymore...

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  17. Re:they should record a video by MillionthMonkey · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If you want a movie of successive MRI layers, you can check out this animated GIF of an MRI scan of my own head (sagittal plane).

  18. Nice headline by aylons · · Score: 2, Funny

    Brain of Patient H.M. Being Sliced, Streamed Live At first, I understood that his brain was sliced and streamed (just like pasta) while he was still alive. It only took a second, but was an indeed creepy thought.

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  19. Re:they should record a video by timeOday · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Correct, watching the slicing is not really the point of this. What they do is make a bunch of very thin slices, scan them, then make a 3d computer image which can be viewed in cross section from any angle, or you can use algorithms to isolate given structures in the brain, estimate their volume, etc etc.

  20. Re:Limited bandwidth and limited prospective audia by timeOday · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The video is working just fine for me. Besides, there really isn't a "legitimate" audience for this; you can't do any brain science by watching the video, its value is purely as a curiosity whether you're a brain surgeon.

  21. Paraffin slices are very useful by damn_registrars · · Score: 3, Informative

    If they are making paraffin (yes as in wax) slices of the brain, it could lead to some very useful research. One research application in particular that has been of great value is tissue MALDI mass spectrometry. Essentially, from a wax section we can now evaluate protein expression across different cell types. When looking at unusual tissue, the ability to study differential protein expression is a fundamental technique to understanding what makes the tissue different.

    So for those who are wondering what the application of this is, there are many.

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  22. Sliced Live by Barbarian · · Score: 2, Interesting

    For a second I thought this would be about some cruel and unusual punishment in a third-world country.

  23. Re:Streaming? Not any more by dargaud · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's exactly how I read the story title: "Brain of patient H.M. being sliced, steamed alive". And my first thought was, why, it's so much better fried after being rolled in bread crumbs... That was 1st thing in the morning, before coffee.

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