Thursday, December 3, 2009
Dissection Begins on Famous Brain
This article is talking about a scientific phenomenon regarding a case from 1953. Henry Molaison needed brain surgery, where his doctor removed two slug-sized chunks of brain tissue to try and prevent Molaison from continuing to suffer from seizures, which he would suffer from frequently at the young age of 26. However, the procedure was botched by the doctor performing the operation, resulting in Molaison being left completely unable to form new memories. Following Molaison's death last year at the age of 82, scientists have recently begun dissecting his brain to try and learn more about this remarkable case. During this dissection, over 2500 samples of brain tissue will be collected, all of which will be placed in a computer recording system. This will produce a "Google Earth-like map" of Mr. Molaison's brain. Scientists are hoping that this extensive study of the brain will provide a better understanding behind how memories are formed by the brain, as well as examining what happened to Mr. Molaison to cause his sudden inability to form memories.
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12 comments:
I think that George chose a very interesting topic. It is interesting because as the article and review says, it will provide a ton of insight into memory, something that has been very difficult to figure out. George summarized the article very well, giving the necessary background information as to why Molaison had the surgery in the first place and when the surgery was performed. I also like the simile of a Google-Earth like map of the brain, as it made it easier to understand how the dissection will help.
I think that the review could be made better if it gave more detail as to how Molaison helped to progress the learning about memory while he was still alive, like how he had helped researchers learn that there are two types of memories. I also think that it would have made the review better if George went into how Molaison’s brain dissection is the kickoff of a new project known as Brain Observatory.
I was shocked that there could have been a successful experimental brain surgery to stop the seizures in 1953. Although the review says that the surgery was a failure, Molaison did live on for over an additional 50 years.
This was an intriguing article. I liked the map like view of the brain. The article was very well summarized in that it gave the necessary background information as to why Molaison had the surgery as well as why it was performed. Lastly, it provided a plentiful amount of information about the memory, an aspect already troubled to figure out.
I feel it should have been clarified that the brain's dissection was a kickoff to the Brain Observatory project. It also should be focused on the detail to how Molaison helped to progress the learning about memory while he was still alive.
It was astounding to read that there was another surgery of this nature in the 1950's. I didn't feel that we had the sort of technology at that time to support this.
This was a very interesting case, but it is confusing to how it could give the scientists insight to memory. George did summarize the article short but very nicely. It was suprising in 1953 that they thought they could perform a successful brain surgery.
There wasn't much detail the actual surgery at the time. He didn't really explain what happened to the man that got the brain surgery.
It is very shocking to me that someone back then would actually give the ok to the surgery, and thought that it would solve his problems.
What I found interesting about this article was that it showed how far scientists have come. Analyzing the brain used to mean analyzing those with mental illness and now scientists are actually cutting up pieces of the brain to make a virtual map of the different parts. What I also thought was interesting was that the man had no short-term memory. It is like they gave him Alzheimer’s disease. I also found it interesting that despite missing pieces of his brain and not being able to form new memories, he was still able to live to 82 years of age.
What I would have liked to have learned more of is if the patient had any more seizures after the operation. I would also like to have known if he knew he had the operation and if he recognized his friends and family, basically to what extent was his memory loss and how it effected his everyday life. I think it would be interesting to know if he had Alzheimer’s disease in his family or any other kind of genetic mutation.
What surprised me was that the doctors were still allowed to cut up his brain despite a botched surgery, that the patients family allowed them to. There are many legal boundaries that cannot be crossed in the medical world and while the patient may have given consent, he did not know the surgery would have gone wrong. I am impressed by what a selfless person this must have been to donate his life to science.
The article, “Dissection Begins on Famous Brain,” is an interesting story on forensic scientists studying the brain. It was well presented how a surgery from the past was being reexamined, as the patient could not form new memories due to the operation. Now that he has recently died, it has been planned to examine is brain to study how he lost the ability to have memories. To have a “Google Earth-like map” of someone’s brain is an incredible capability of the doctors. This proposes new methods of solving issues related to brain damage.
While this article was very fascinating, it would be interesting to know how Molaison was treated after being left with the inability to form memories. In addition, do forensic scientists plan on discovering things that will not be relating to the cause of Molasion’s brain damage when looking at the brain tissue? Overall, this article was thought-provoking because it seems that technology continues to advance in ways that we thought weren’t possible.
The article that George reviewed, "Dissection Begins on Famous Brain" is an interesting topic to be discussed. One thing that I found interesting was how easily a doctor was able to make a mistake resulting in huge consequences. Another fact that was intriguing was that Mr. Molasion is unable to have any new memories. Also, doctors were/will be able to create an image of Mr. Molasion's brain, now that he has passed away.
To make this summary better, George could have added his own opinions to the article. In addition, Mr. Molasion's opinions would have helped the readers figure out if Mr. Molasion regretted ever having the surgery.
From this article, I learned that although doctors may have good ideas on how to cure an illness, there is always the chance that something will go wrong and the procedure will be unsuccessful.
George’s article, “Dissection Begins on Famous Brain” was a very interesting article that was worth reading and discussing. I found it interesting how it was so easy for a doctor to make a mistake that would result in major consequences. I also found it interesting how doctors were able to create an image of Mr. Molasion’s brain after he passed away. In addition, I liked how George used an analogy to describe the computer recording system as a “Google Earth-like map” of Mr. Molasion’s brain. In this article, I thought that George could have described in detail of how the computer recording system works. I think that is very interesting how it can reveal those kinds of images of the brain. Overall, I learned that even though doctors are great at what they do to cure diseases, there can always be a circumstance where something can go wrong and therefore lead to harmful effects.
"Dissection Begins on Famous Brain" was an interesting article about analyzing the brain in order to learn more about mental illnesses. What I found intriguing was that the man discussed in the story lacked certain parts of his brain but was still able to continue living, even being in his 80’s. Another component that was interesting to learn about was the fact that the doctor removed two big chucks of brain tissue to prevent the man from getting seizures. However, I would have liked to learn more about what parts of the brain create what and other procedures they have done on patients. Also, it would have been helpful to have learned how serious his disease was and how much better it got after the surgery, to see exactly how well it works. One part of the presentation that surprised me was that the doctors ignored legal boundaries in order to dissect his brain. It is scary to think that in the beginning, they were performing this surgery without knowing how unsuccessful the results might be.
I think that George chose a very interesting topic. It is interesting because as the article and review says, it will provide a ton of insight into memory, something that has been very difficult to figure out.
What I would have liked to have learned more of is if the patient had any more seizures after the operation. I would also like to have known if he knew he had the operation and if he recognized his friends and family, basically to what extent was his memory loss and how it effected his everyday life. I think it would be interesting to know if he had Alzheimer’s disease in his family or any other kind of genetic mutation.
this article was thought-provoking because it seems that technology continues to advance in ways that we thought weren’t possible.
This article is very appealing to people that study the brain and how it reacts to certain things. It provided a great deal of information about brain memory and the way it reacts when losing part of the brain. There was all the right background needed to understand what was going on and the idea that the brain is like goggle earth. On the other hand, it would be interesting to know how Molaison was treated after being left with the inability to form memories. Also if they talked about how the surgery went and if it was gory or not. I was unaware you could live and process things without part of your brain I am amazed how that works.
I think this article review was very interesting for many reasons. This article explores the strange topic of memory. George gave a good summary of the article and gave all of the different background information. For instance, he talked about how Molaison had surgery and also why the surgery was performed. It was also very interesting to me how he was able to live such a long life to the age of 82 despite having pieces of his brain removed.
I think the review was very good although it could have been improved in a few ways. Perhaps if George detailed the scientific process of how memories form, it would have enhanced the review. I also believe that it would have enhanced the review to have more quotes from integral sources. It also would have helped to describe Molaison’s brain surgery in more detail.
One thing that really surprised me was the fact that there was such a successful surgery on the brain to stop these seizures more than 50 years ago, I had no idea that technology was so advanced during those times.
Three aspects that were well presented:
I thought the topic itself was interesting and very different from some of the other articles posted, with Molaison’s brain it seems there could be a fount of untapped knowledge on the workings of the human mind, George presented the topic very well and the background information helped in understanding the future procedures that will be conducted on Molaison’s brain.
Two suggestions:
I would suggest the addition on how Molaison lived after his botched procedure and also it would be interesting to know how the doctors might have tried to correct his condition.
One aspect that impressed/was unaware of:
I was impressed at how Molaison was able to live without being able to form new memories, the workings of the human mind are unfathomable and hopefully with Molaison’s brain we can better understand them.
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