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Boy with no brain has 126 IQ and honor student in Mathematics

yougene

yougene

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Is the Brain Really Necessary?

This was the question asked by British neurologist John Lorber when he addressed a conference of pædiatricians in 1980. Such a frivolous sounding question was sparked by case studies Lorber had been involved in since the mid-60s. The case studies involve victims of an ailment known as hydrocephalus, more commonly known as water on the brain. The condition results from an abnormal build up of cerebrospinal fluid and can cause severe retardation and death if not treated.

Two young children with hydrocephalus referred to Lorber presented with normal mental development for their age. In both children, there was no evidence of a cerebral cortex. One of the children died at age 3 months, the second at 12 months. He was still following a normal development profile with the exception of the apparent lack of cerebral tissue shown by repeated medical testing. An account of the children was published in Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology.

Later, a colleague at Sheffield University became aware of a young man with a larger than normal head. He was referred to Lorber even though it had not caused him any difficulty. Although the boy had an IQ of 126 and had a first class honours degree in mathematics, he had "virtually no brain". A noninvasive measurement of radio density known as CAT scan showed the boy's skull was lined with a thin layer of brain cells to a millimeter in thickness. The rest of his skull was filled with cerebrospinal fluid. The young man continues a normal life with the exception of his knowledge that he has no brain.

Although anecdotal accounts may be found in medical literature, Lorber is the first to provide a systematic study of such cases. He has documented over 600 scans of people with hydrocephalus and has broken them into four groups:
  • those with nearly normal brains
  • those with 50-70% of the cranium filled with cerebrospinal fluid
  • those with 70-90% of the cranium filled with cerebrospinal fluid
  • and the most severe group with 95% of the cranial cavity filled with cerebrospinal fluid.

Of the last group, which comprised less than 10% of the study, half were profoundly retarded. The remaining half had IQs greater than 100. Skeptics have claimed that it was an error of interpretation of the scans themselves. Lorber himself admits that reading a CAT scan can be tricky. He also has said that he would not make such a claim without evidence. In answer to attacks that he has not precisely quantified the amount of brain tissue missing, he added, "I can't say whether the mathematics student has a brain weighing 50 grams or 150 grams, but it is clear that it is nowhere near the normal 1.5 kilograms."

Many neurologists feel that this is a tribute to the brain's redundancy and its ability to reassign functions. Others, however, are not so sure. Patrick Wall, professor of anatomy at University College, London states "To talk of redundancy is a cop-out to get around something you don't understand."

Norman Geschwind, a neurologist at Boston's Beth Israel Hospital agrees: "Certainly the brain has a remarkable capacity for reassigning functions following trauma, but you can usually pick up some kind of deficit with the right tests, even after apparently full recovery."
References

Anthony Smith The Mind New York Viking Press, 1984, page 230

Roger Lewin "Is Your Brain Really Necessary?"Science 210 December 1980, page 1232

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Source: web.syr.edu 30 October 1993
Click to expand...
http://flatrock.org.nz/topics/science/is_the_brain_really_necessary.htm
^---More related articles
 
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"bullet those with nearly normal brains
bullet those with 50-70% of the cranium filled with cerebrospinal fluid
bullet those with 70-90% of the cranium filled with cerebrospinal fluid
bullet and the most severe group with 95% of the cranial cavity filled with cerebrospinal fluid."

Is this homie talk for shooting people in America? I was just getting used to the idea of "capping some honky's ass", now they go and change it to "bulleting some brainless mofo". 8o
 
sounds fishy to me
The condition results from an abnormal build up of cerebrospinal fluid and can cause severe retardation and death if not treated.
Click to expand...
of the group with only 5% of their brain, over half were profoundly retarded. Id venture to guess that there is some other explanation besides, "you don;t need your brain to live."
 
No the average IQ is 100. anything less is borderline retarded 90 is the cutoff.
 
elemenohpee said:
sounds fishy to me

of the group with only 5% of their brain, over half were profoundly retarded. Id venture to guess that there is some other explanation besides, "you don;t need your brain to live."
Click to expand...

The boy doesn't have a brain, but a thin layer of neurons lining the inside of skull.


Human cognition is often attributed to a relatively large brain. I find this article interesting because it puts that assumption into question and raises alot of other questions.

Do the mice injected with human brain cells posses human cognition?


Noface said:
Why would you immediately assume someone with a large head has no brain?

Hmm
Click to expand...
An enlarged head is a symptom of this condition
 
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yougene said:
The boy doesn't have a brain, but a thin layer of neurons lining the inside of skull.


Human cognition is often attributed to a relatively large brain. I find this article interesting because it puts that assumption into question and raises alot of other questions.
Click to expand...
Its not just the size, whales have brains much larger than ours. ITs the ratio of body mass to brain mass. That, and the size of our cortex compared to other animals. We still need al lthe lower parts of the brain to regulate the incredibly complex system called the body. I find it hard to believe that a thin layer of neurons could take over all these tasks, while still allowing for above level intelligence. I'm gonna call bullshit on this.

Do the mice injected with human brain cells posses human cognition?
Click to expand...

Of course not, human cognition arises from the structure of our brains, not what this network is made of. If you swallowed a silicon chip could you do lighting fast calculations?
 
elemenohpee said:
Its not just the size, whales have brains much larger than ours. ITs the ratio of body mass to brain mass. That, and the size of our cortex compared to other animals. We still need al lthe lower parts of the brain to regulate the incredibly complex system called the body. I find it hard to believe that a thin layer of neurons could take over all these tasks, while still allowing for above level intelligence. I'm gonna call bullshit on this.
Click to expand...
You're welcome to follow up on the provided sources.

Of course not, human cognition arises from the structure of our brains, not what this network is made of. If you swallowed a silicon chip could you do lighting fast calculations?
Click to expand...
Human neurons naturally arrange into these same structures, maybe even in another organism.
 
the source is http://flatrock.org.nz/
their source is this page: http://www.mysteries.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/6,2.htm
that page gives "Sources: The X Factor" (no link) as its single source

wiki's disambiguation page for 'the x factor' (and google) just show some reality shows and albums and drinks with the name... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_X_Factor

other topics of interest on 'mysteries' website include paranormal, cover ups, and UFOs. all of their articles seem to have 'the x factor' as their source as well
 
yougene said:
Human neurons naturally arrange into these same structures, maybe even in another organism.
Click to expand...

Not without the instruction of genes. Without the framework of the human brain as set up by genes, the human neurons aren;t going to spontaneously form a human-like cortex in a mouse.
qwedsa said:
other topics of interest on 'mysteries' website include paranormal, cover ups, and UFOs. all of their articles seem to have 'the x factor' as their source as well
Click to expand...
 
Not without the instruction of genes. Without the framework of the human brain as set up by genes, the human neurons aren;t going to spontaneously form a human-like cortex in a mouse.
Click to expand...
why do you think this? there might be some similarities that the neurons could form on their own
 
qwedsa said:
the source is http://flatrock.org.nz/
their source is this page: http://www.mysteries.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/6,2.htm
that page gives "Sources: The X Factor" (no link) as its single source

wiki's disambiguation page for 'the x factor' (and google) just show some reality shows and albums and drinks with the name... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_X_Factor

other topics of interest on 'mysteries' website include paranormal, cover ups, and UFOs. all of their articles seem to have 'the x factor' as their source as well
Click to expand...

I was referring to the Syracuse University page. It looks like I'm not allowed to enter the site though. Also the web.syr.edu domain seems to be for home pages so it may very well be a hoax.
 
elemenohpee said:
Not without the instruction of genes. Without the framework of the human brain as set up by genes, the human neurons aren;t going to spontaneously form a human-like cortex in a mouse.
Click to expand...

The neurons contain DNA as well. It's arguable that the organism needs to set prerequisite conditions in order for the proper structures to form, but it's also possible that this is not so.
 
it contains the dna, but no instructions on how to use it. The genes need to be turned on at the right time in the development of the fetus to set up a workable framework. Neurons spontaneouly forming networks capable of the high-level abstractions of human thought is just not going to happen. the magic that is human consciousness is not going to be found in the physical differences between a mouse and a human neuron.
 
^then it depends on how different a human brain is from a mouse brain (in terms of structure and hormonal qeues..?
 
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