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The Future of the Most Important Human Brain

mattnyc99 writes "About a year ago, we watched live as neuroanatomist Jacopo Annese sliced the brain of Memento-style patient Henry Molaison (aka H.M.) into 2,401 pieces. Since even before then, writer Luke Dittrich — whose grandfather happened to be the surgeon to accidentally slice open the H.M. skull in the first place — has been tracking Annese and a new revolution in brain science. From the article in Esquire: 'If Korbinian Brodmann created the mind's Rand McNally, Jacopo Annese is creating its Google Maps. ... With his Brain Observatory, Annese is setting out to create not the world's largest but the world's most useful collection of brains. ... For the first time, we'll be able to meaningfully and easily compare large numbers of brains, perhaps finally understanding why one brain might be less empathetic or better at calculus or likelier to develop Alzheimer's than another. The Brain Observatory promises to revolutionize our understanding of how these three-pound hunks of tissue inside our skulls do what they do, which means, of course, that it promises to revolutionize our understanding of ourselves.'"

14 of 252 comments (clear)

  1. Clearly this is a front organization by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Clearly this a front organization--for zombies!

    1. Re:Clearly this is a front organization by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Halloween--and zombies--are certainly on-topic this month.

      Unlike you bringing up Christmas, for Christ's sake!

      Did you take time to consider that maybe Anonymous Coward is suffering from S.A.D. -- Seasonal Affective Disorder? Hmm?

      Of course not, you insensitive clod!

  2. Re:An odd approach... by TapeCutter · · Score: 4, Funny

    Or as Douglas Adams put it - "If you try and take a cat apart to see how it works, the first thing you have on your hands is a non-working cat."

    --
    And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
  3. Re:This is simply misguided -- don't we know bette by EdIII · · Score: 2, Funny

    But I have a gift for analisys and abstraction, thus I'm good at writing software.

    You should put those programming skills to use creating a spell checker :)

  4. Re:An odd approach... by sznupi · · Score: 3, Funny

    As opposed to working cat before? What's that?

    (/me looks around...yup, the beast sleeps; on the coffer this time)

    --
    One that hath name thou can not otter
  5. Re:An odd approach... by Sulphur · · Score: 2, Funny

    Much later: A physician was asked what course not in Med School contributed most to his career.

    Carpentry.

  6. Re:We Have Our Priorities Straight by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Brutus! Stop playing with that knife, you're making me nervous.

    Fabulous technology news, Caesar! March have launched their own IDE!

  7. Re:A tad overrated by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 2, Funny

    Make them learn stuff, damage their brains and try teaching them new stuff.

    My friends and I survived that very experiment back in my college days. We used the "weekly drink special" methodology.

  8. Oblig. "Youing Frankenstein" quote by Kittenman · · Score: 2, Funny
    Dr. Frankenstein: [To Igor] Igor, may I speak to you for a moment?

    Igor: Of course.

    Dr. Frankenstein: Sit down, won't you?

    Igor: Thank you. [sits on the floor]

    Dr. Frankenstein: No no, up here.

    Igor: Thank you. [sits on a chair]

    Dr. Frankenstein: Now... that brain that you gave me... was it Hans Delbruck's?

    Igor: [Crosses arms] No.

    Dr. Frankenstein: [Holds up hand] Ah. Good. Uh... would you mind telling me... whose brain... I did put in?

    Igor: And you won't be angry?

    Dr. Frankenstein: I will not be angry.

    Igor: [Shrugs] Abby someone.

    Dr. Frankenstein: Abby someone? Abby who?

    Igor: Abby Normal.

    Dr. Frankenstein: [Slightly angry] Abby Normal?

    Igor: I'm almost sure that was the name. [He and Dr. Frankenstein laugh]

    Dr. Frankenstein: Are you saying... [Stands] that I put an abnormal brain... [Puts hand on Igor's hump] into a 7 and a half foot long... 54- inch wide... [Grabs Igor by throat] GORILLA?!?!?! [Strangling Igor] IS THAT WHAT YOU'RE TELLING ME!?!

    --
    "The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes" - Winston Churchill
  9. Ourselves? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    which means, of course, that it promises to revolutionize our understanding of ourselves.'"

    You might think you are nothing more than your brain, but I am really my soul.* The brain is just a channel to communicate the will to the body.

    ---

    * "Soul" in this context means "testicles."

  10. Re:This is simply misguided -- don't we know bette by jelizondo · · Score: 4, Funny

    The Funny English Language

    No wonder the English language is so very difficult to learn.
    I sometimes wonder how we manage to communicate at all!
    We'll begin with a box and the plural is boxes.
    But the plural of ox should be oxen, not oxes.

    The one fowl is a goose but two are called geese
    , Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
    You may found a lone mouse or a whole set of mice,
    Yet the plural of house is houses not hice.

    If the plural of man is always called men,
    Why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?

    If I speak of a foot and you show me your feet,
    And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
    If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth, Why should not the plural of booth be called beeth?

    Then one may be that and three would be those,
    Yet hat in the plural wouldn't be hose.
    And the plural of cat is cats and not cose.

    We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
    But though we say Mother, we never say Methren,

    Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
    But imagine the feminine she, shis and shim, So English, I fancy you will all agree,
    Is the funniest language you ever did see.

    Why can’t people from all over the world speak English?

    --
    Be very, very careful what you put into that head, because you will never, ever get it out. - Cardinal Wolsey
  11. The most important thing is... by Lord_of_the_nerf · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...whether we can still put into a great white shark.

  12. Re:An odd approach... by uninformedLuddite · · Score: 2, Funny

    simple solution - start with a live brain and work quickly

    --
    The new right fascists are bilingual. They speak English and Bullshit.
  13. Please destroy my childhood more.. by RulerOf · · Score: 2, Funny

    I am really my soul.*

    ...

    * "Soul" in this context means "testicles."

    I really, really hope you appreciate how incredibly gay you just made Mortal Kombat.

    --
    Boot Windows, Linux, and ESX over the network for free.