A No Brainer?

[Iacchus]

And then there's this guy you see who had no brain (http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=2009) ...

You Can Get Along Fine with No Brain
03-Oct-2002

The campus doctor at the University of Sheffield in the U.K. was treating a math major, when he noticed that the student’s head was a little larger than normal. He referred the student to neurology professor John Lorber, who gave the student a CAT scan and discovered he has virtually no brain at all, despite having an IQ of 126 and doing well in college.

Instead of two hemispheres filling the cranial cavity, as is normally the case, the student has only a tiny bit of cerebral tissue covering the top of his spinal column. Lorber discovered he has hydrocephalus, in which the cerebrospinal fluid, instead of circulating around the brain and entering the bloodstream, becomes dammed up inside the brain, leaving no space for the brain to develop normally. The condition is usually fatal in the first months of childhood. When a patient survives, he’s almost always seriously retarded. But somehow this student lived a normal life and even graduated from college with honors in math.
Just thought I would add this in support of lifegazer in the other thread (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=58964).

[jmercer]

Thanks for the quote. Problem is, the source is hardly what I would call "authoritarian" in any way.

[Upchurch]

Originally posted by Iacchus
And then there's this guy you see who had no brain (http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=2009) ... Golly. With a source as creditable as that, who wouldn't believe it?

After all, it's using this (http://www.alternativescience.com/no_brainer.htm) as a resource which sports such not-at-all-crazy ideas like this (http://www.alternativescience.com/is_the_sun_hot.htm) and this (http://www.alternativescience.com/esp-new.htm). Thank you for bringing this valuable information to light, Iacchus.


eta:
Oh, the other site also mentions Randi (http://www.alternativescience.com/photographic-evidence-paranormal.htm)! Well, I'm convinced. I'll be handing in my resignation as admin tomorrow.

[c4ts]

Well, what are you waiting for? Break out the bonesaw and the ice cream scoop and remove your own brain.

[Iacchus]

Originally posted by Upchurch
Golly. With a source as creditable as that, who wouldn't believe it?

After all, it's using this (http://www.alternativescience.com/no_brainer.htm) as a resource which sports such not-at-all-crazy ideas like this (http://www.alternativescience.com/is_the_sun_hot.htm) and this (http://www.alternativescience.com/esp-new.htm). Thank you for bringing this valuable information to light, Iacchus.


eta:
Oh, the other site also mentions Randi (http://www.alternativescience.com/photographic-evidence-paranormal.htm)! Well, I'm convinced. I'll be handing in my resignation as admin tomorrow. It's an interesting article nonetheless, and I'm sure if people would like to learn more about it, they could look into it themselves. It was of my understanding that this was a legitimate account or, at least in the way it was presented to me -- i.e., I was under the impression that it was well documented -- but, maybe it's not?

[Ryokan]

You can live without a brain? That helps explain Lifegazer, all right. Thanks for the information, Iacchus :)

[Upchurch]

Originally posted by Iacchus
I was under the impression that it was well documented -- but, maybe it's not? Maybe it's not
Article (http://www.sci-con.org/articles/20040901.html)
Lorber's claims were never publicly refuted. And Lorber – who died in 1996 – stuck firmly to his story, claiming that in 500 CT scans he had found many hydrocephalics with hardly any brain left above the level of the brainstem and yet living ordinary lives (Lorber, 1981). So a little detective work was needed to get to the bottom of this one.

Talking to colleagues and contemporaries of Lorber, it was revealed he was probably greatly exaggerating the extent of brain loss in his cases. Said one source: "If the cortical mantle actually had been compressed to a couple of millimetres, it wouldn't even have shown up on his X-rays." Another agreed, adding that brain scans with modern techniques such as MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) show stretching, but not much real loss of brain weight with slow-onset hydrocephalus. He says the brain structure adapts to the space it is allowed: "The cortex and its connections are still there, even if grossly distorted."

Sufferers with hydrocephalus also report many subtle symptoms that don't show up in standard tests of cognition. They do well on basic reading and arithmetic or IQ-type questions, but struggle with focused attention, spatial imagination, general motor co-ordination, and other skills that rely on longer-range integrative links across the brain. This fits a picture of a brain in which all the cortical processing regions are in place but where the white matter - the wealth of insulated connections that actually occupies much of the centre of the cerebral hemispheres - has been pulled out of shape.

So Lorber's results were striking but overplayed. And certainly the rise of neuroimaging over the past decade ought finally to have put paid to this long-running myth about the 10 percent brain. One of the most important lessons from the first scanning studies of brains actually caught in the act of thinking - with areas lighting up with increased metabolic activity – was just how widespread were the patterns of activation for the most minor mental responses. No areas were silent, just relatively active or inactive in forming the reaction to the moment.

Realizing that CT scans came out in the mid to late 70's and Lorber reported this particular scan in 1981 or perhaps earlier, one has to question his proficiency with the technology and interpretation of the results.

[triadboy]

Originally posted by Upchurch
After all, it's using this (http://www.alternativescience.com/no_brainer.htm) as a resource which sports such not-at-all-crazy ideas like [URL=http://www.alternativescience.com/is_the_sun_hot.htm]...

Upchurch,

I live in Tucson...so I'm going to have to get onboard this one. :)

[Iacchus]

Here's another article on Lober's work (http://flatrock.org.nz/topics/science/is_the_brain_really_necessary.htm) ...

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.While it's hard to imagine someone would go so far as to exaggerate such results? There seems to be a lot more articles on Lober's work. All you need do is Google, hydrocephalus lorber (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&biw=782&q=hydrocephalus+lorber&btnG=Search).

[Upchurch]

Originally posted by Iacchus
Here's another article on Lober's work (http://flatrock.org.nz/topics/science/is_the_brain_really_necessary.htm) ... That's the same case mentioned above. Almost the same wording.
While it's hard to imagine someone would go so far as to exaggerate such results? There seems to be a lot more articles on Lober's work. All you need do is Google, hydrocephalus lorber (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&biw=782&q=hydrocephalus+lorber&btnG=Search). I'm not saying there is something wrong with all of his work. He obviously played a major part in the study of hydrocephalus. What I'm questioning are the results of this one case (almost no brain and above normal IQ) that no one has found another instance of, apparently.

[Upchurch]

Originally posted by Upchurch
that no one has found another instance of, apparently. My mistake. Several of the web pages refer to other such cases were found, unfortunately they all seem to have been found by Lober and no one else. The actual number seems to be in some dispute from "a couple of hundred" to around 60. I can find no creditable documentation on any of these small brain/high IQ cases and no cases found by anyone other than Lober.

[Iacchus]

Originally posted by Upchurch
That's the same case mentioned above. Almost the same wording.

I'm not saying there is something wrong with all of his work. He obviously played a major part in the study of hydrocephalus. What I'm questioning are the results of this one case (almost no brain and above normal IQ) that no one has found another instance of, apparently. Quoted from the original article (http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=2009) ...

And he’s not the only one. In 1970 in New York, an autopsy of a man who died at age 35 showed he had practically no brain at all. He wasn’t academic, but had a perfectly normal life as a building janitor, and was a popular figure in his neighborhood. He read the newspaper daily.

[Upchurch]

Originally posted by Iacchus
Quoted from the original article (http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=2009) ... Correction made above.

[Bodhi Dharma Zen]

It would be really something to see more examples done in a few labs around the world. So far, it is interesting, but nothing more.

[roger]

Show me an MRI scan that shows little to no cognitive functioning occuring while a person performs a cognitive task and I'll pay attention. Until then....

[Beerina]

Originally posted by roger
Show me an MRI scan that shows little to no cognitive functioning occuring while a person performs a cognitive task and I'll pay attention. Until then....


Really. Haven't some of these people died? Is it that hard to open their skull and see what's in there? I mean, come on people!