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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.'"
Well there are differences in people's organs. Some people can drink more than others. Some are better athletes, etc. People have different hair -- mine happens to be thin and fly-away, which annoys me.
This idea that all people are of equal capability intellectually is just really silly. You think geniuses like Newton or Einstein didn't have something different going on in their brains besides just upbringing or education?
Anyways, this particular brain is interesting for it's known impairments. An unfortunate slice that causes memory failure teaches us about how the brain functions. We've actually learned a lot by doing tests on people for brain surgery. More detailed information of physiology can only help.