Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Are You Watching This?

The big brains over at the University of California San Diego are currently slicing the brain of quite possibly the most famous amnesiac ever.

There are lots more links but I'll let you find the rest of em on your own.

What's fascinating to me about this is that they're streaming the slicing process live.

That's right, you can watch them slice pieces seventy microns thick off of a whole human brain that's been encased in a gelatin block.

And you can watch it here.

Fabulous. Of course, it would be better if they'd let us watch them mount the slices on the slides, I think, but really, considering that I'm seeing the inside of a man's brain, I think I can be content.

And more importantly, thankful to Mr. Henry Gustav Molaison for the most important contribution to this journey of discovery.