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| 2007/7/23-26 [Uncategorized] UID:47380 Activity:nil |
7/23 Apparently we really *do* use only 10% of our brain:
http://www.news-medical.net/?id=27900
Given this, I wonder WTF we evolved such a huge brain.
\_ "...with a government job." I rest my case.
\_ Granted, the guy took an IQ hit, but even so he's way
smarter than the next smartest animal. How come we have
such large brains given this info? Seems like a waste.
\_ yeah, and why do we have four fingers and two ears?
\_ A brain is an extremely expensive object to
maintain. Selection pressure favors two eyes
and two ears (depth and direction perception).
Good question on the # of fingers. Anyway,
the point is that the cost of 4 fingers isn't
much more than the cost of three, but a brain
that is 5x larger than required for a given
intellect is hard to understand.
\_ the brain isn't 5x larger than required for a given
intellect. We also have two kidneys and two gonads.
Nature builds redundancy.
\_ The key section of the article, "Experts say it shows how amazing
the brain is in that it can deal with something which is not
considered to be compatible with life and they suggest that when
something happens very slowly over a period of time, different
parts of the brain assume functions that would normally be done by
the part that is pushed to the side."
\_ As an aside, it's not really clear that
we have 2 kidneys for "redundancy". Why not
two hearts/two brains/two spines? It might
just be "easier" to have certain organs
symmetric--i.e., the reason for 2 kidneys
may not be redundancy at all.
\_ It *seems* that you must be right--I do not
think an item as expensive as a brain would
be allowed to have a 5x redundancy factor by
selection pressure. However, this person is
pretty much functional with a very small brain.
It is hard to understand. |
| www.news-medical.net/?id=27900 Add our medical news to YahooMyWeb - Man with a small brain shows that size isn't everything! Man with a small brain shows that size isn't everything! Miscellaneous News Published: Sunday, 22-Jul-2007 Print - Man with a small brain shows that size isn't everything! Email to a Friend French doctors have discovered a man who led a normal life yet his brain was considerably smaller than normal. It seems as a result of hydrocephalus as a baby, the 44 year old man unknowingly had an excess of fluid in his brain but lived a normal life, is a married father of two with a government job. The man went to a hospital in Marseille, France, because his left leg had been weak for two weeks and doctors learned he had had hydrocephaly as a baby which is the abnormal buildup of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain. Apparently when he was 6 months old, doctors inserted a shunt to drain away the excess fluid but when he reached age 14, he had leg and balance problems which were resolved when doctors revised his brain shunt. However when the 44-year-old man's brain was scanned, it showed that a huge fluid-filled chamber took up most of his skull leaving room for only a thin sheet of actual brain tissue. The scans revealed a "massive enlargement" of the lateral ventricles - chambers which are usually small in size, that hold the fluid that acts as a cushion for the brain; Lionel Feuillet, MD, of the neurology department at Marseille's Universit de la Mediterrane says apart from that the man's medical history was otherwise normal despite having an unusually small brain and low IQ scores due to the hydrocephaly. The 44-year-old man's leg problems were again resolved by inserting a brain shunt but that did not alter either his brain size or his IQ scores. His doctors say though the man is not a typical hydrocephaly patient their report shows that high-tech brain scans and IQ tests do not always tell the full story, and that an "average" life may actually be astounding. Experts say it shows how amazing the brain is in that it can deal with something which is not considered to be compatible with life and they suggest that when something happens very slowly over a period of time, different parts of the brain assume functions that would normally be done by the part that is pushed to the side. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. |