Posted on 09/12/2014 6:25:50 AM PDT by Red Badger
DON'T mind the gap. A woman has reached the age of 24 without anyone realising she was missing a large part of her brain. The case highlights just how adaptable the organ is.
The discovery was made when the woman was admitted to the Chinese PLA General Hospital of Jinan Military Area Command in Shandong Province complaining of dizziness and nausea. She told doctors she'd had problems walking steadily for most of her life, and her mother reported that she hadn't walked until she was 7 and that her speech only became intelligible at the age of 6.
Doctors did a CAT scan and immediately identified the source of the problem – her entire cerebellum was missing (see scan, below left). The space where it should be was empty of tissue. Instead it was filled with cerebrospinal fluid, which cushions the brain and provides defence against disease.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
Somebody should pull out the Homer Simpson brain X-ray picture ......
D’oh! Too late.
No, no... not an airhead. Didn’t you read the article?
If anything she’s a “cerebrospinal fluid head”.
Wow. This woman is the only documented person ever to reach adulthood without her cerebellum. Its amazing but also probably sad and depressing for her because it probably means she won't live much longer. Its also amazing how her brain has tried to compensate by having other parts take over for the cerebellum. Goes to show how amazing our brains are.
That should qualify her for a job in the Obama White Hut.
A Chinese woman who’s speech was unintelligible until she was 6? That puts her ahead of the rest of the population.
Yes, it is. I’m no neuroscientist or molecular biologist, but I can’t fathom how this ability to adapt could be encoded in DNA.
Exactly. Truly amazing! It is interesting too that it did find a way to adapt and as you mentioned just how long (or short of time considering the situation! it took)
Somewhere there.... there is a joke about spinaltap. I dunno..
Xinhua News Agency reports her name to be Nan’se P’lo-se . . . .
Do you have a link for that? I like to give my son links to interesting stories that fit with what’s in his psychology textbook, and it’s been talking about peculiarities of brain function.
Did the doctors inspect the CAT scan to see if the missing area hadn't simply been covered with white-out by one of the blonde nurses?
Not just encoded,
but a product of random mutation, natural selection, and lots of time....
nope, not possible.
“Woman of 24 found to have no cerebellum.” Why did I immediately believe she had 24 children? And what does that say about childbearing, or me?
Teenage Lobotomy - by The Ramones
Lobotomy! Lobotomy! Lobotomy! Lobotomy!
DDT did a job on me
Now I am a real sickie
Guess I’ll have to break the news
That I’ve got no mind to lose
All the girls are in love with me
I’m a teenage lobotomy
Slugs and snails are after me
DDT keeps me happy
Now I guess I’ll have to tell ‘em
That I got no cerebellum
Gonna get my Ph.D.
I’m a teenage lobotomy
Lobotomy! Lobotomy! Lobotomy! Lobotomy!
DDT did a job on me
Now I am a real sickie
Guess I’ll have to break the news
That I’ve got no mind to lose
All the girls are in love with me
I’m a teenage lobotomy
At the same time, the higher brain functions that normally would have been going on were delayed but still completed. Fearfully and wonderfully made!
I am terrible at that kind of trivia...
Doesn’t Sarah Bellum work for The Tappet Brothers?
I don’t think it actually works that way. But if its dark and you hold a flashlight to the other ear...
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