• Question: how do u make a brain work ???

    Asked by ashleighbee2k10 to Anne, Carolyn, Joe, Mariana, Nick on 25 Mar 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Joseph Devlin

      Joseph Devlin answered on 25 Mar 2010:


      Assuming you have a brain that doesn’t work, the first thing to do is put it in the body of a monster yu’ve designed, built and named after yourself. Then, wait until a stormy night and harness the lightning down into the monsters using gothic looking tables and electrical equipment. The brain will start to work and the monster will rise from the bed. At that point, it’s traditional to rub your hands gleefully and cackle, “It’s alive! IT’S ALIVE!!!”

    • Photo: Nick Bradshaw

      Nick Bradshaw answered on 25 Mar 2010:


      Leave it exactly where you found it in the owner’s head. Provide food, drink, oxygen and preferably some light music.

    • Photo: Carolyn McGettigan

      Carolyn McGettigan answered on 25 Mar 2010:


      Well, in all living people the brain is working all the time to do things from controlling breathing up to performing complex tasks. In my experiments, I get my participants’ brains working by asking them to do tasks in the scanner, like listening to speech and repeating words. Thankfully, people are usually cooperative and their brains generate lots of lovely activations related to the specific tasks that I can analyse and interpret to find out more about how we process speech!

      Repairing a brain that has been injured is a much more difficult prospect, and so far there has been very limited evidence that this works. There has been some short-term success from implanting dopamine-producing cells into the brains of Parkinson’s patients where these cells have died. Thankfully, in the case of brain injury during stroke, the brain can do some of its own reorganisation in the way it functions, so people can recover some of the behaviours that were initial impaired. However, re-wiring a damaged brain is an extremely complex job and is probably a long, long way off as a medical treatment.

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