If you’re even remotely interested in the human brain, please take ten minutes to watch this fantastic lecture by Dr. V.S. Ramachandran on “mirror neurons.” Read more  

We’ve all heard stories of seniors showcasing incredible feats of detailed memory recall from their childhood after receiving electroshock therapy. How about savants like Kim Peek who effortlessly digest volumes of information with inconceivable retention, even over extended periods of time. How exactly do we learn, store, and recall things as we move through life? Read more  

I’m pretty sure no one has ever been this excited to start head and neck anatomy, but I am. However nerdy it sounds, I’ve been looking forward to block 4 (head/neck, pathology, immunology, and pharmacology) since, well, the beginning of block 1. As you would imagine, it’s the extensive study of the brain which I’m anticipating more than anything else. Read more  

Probably the world’s most famous savant, Kim Peek, a confounding mixture of brilliance and disability, has sadly passed away at age 58. Most of us have either heard about him with respect to the hit movie Rain Man or in one of his exhibitions of jaw-dropping knowledge retention and recall (as shown below). His story, along with the handful of others with “savant syndrome”, was one of the factors motivating me to study the brain. It’s remarkable how much three pounds of biology can accomplish. Rest in peace, Kim Peek.

With all due respect to his family, I wonder if/how Kim’s brain will be studied post-mortem. It would be an incredible contribution to science indeed.

I know I’ll get bashed for this, but before beginning the next block (head and neck), I’d like to take a moment to write about why I think the brain is the singlemost important organ in the body. It’s true, aspiring to become a neurosurgeon has made me biased, but I think there are some valid points to be made. Read more