I know it's been a while since my last post. It's just amazing how days turn into weeks, weeks into months, and...well, you get my point: I've been busy!
I quite enjoy listening to NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross. A few months ago, I downloaded a show titled "After s Stroke, a Scientist Studies Herself" which left a huge impression on me. I confess that I was so riveted by this story that I listened to the interview several times and then told all my friends and students about it.
The (real-life) story goes something like this: Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a Harvard-trained neuroanatomist woke up one day to realize that she was having a stroke. The stroke, however, only happened on one side of her brain. I won't give away the story in case you want to get the scoop from the source but, I can tell you that the affected side of her brain would go on and off. During the off periods, the functions of the other side of the brain would intensify. It's just fascinating to see the extraordinary insights that Dr. Bolte Taylor experiences.
It took her about eight years to recover and she's using her experience as both a brain scientist and a stroke victim to shed light, a whole lot of it, into the subject.
While I have not read her book "My Stroke of Insight", I continued to search on the Internet to learn more about this story. Luckily, I came across a video from a TED.org presentation by Dr. Bolte Taylor. I highly recommend watching it! You can see it here. The video is about 20 minutes long.
This story has great scientific and spiritual appeal.
On a related note, back in July, there was also an interesting interview with neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga titled "Mapping The Mysteries Of The Brain's Two Halves." This one gives an easy-to-understand explanation of the relationship of both sides of the brain.
I quite enjoy listening to NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross. A few months ago, I downloaded a show titled "After s Stroke, a Scientist Studies Herself" which left a huge impression on me. I confess that I was so riveted by this story that I listened to the interview several times and then told all my friends and students about it.
The (real-life) story goes something like this: Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a Harvard-trained neuroanatomist woke up one day to realize that she was having a stroke. The stroke, however, only happened on one side of her brain. I won't give away the story in case you want to get the scoop from the source but, I can tell you that the affected side of her brain would go on and off. During the off periods, the functions of the other side of the brain would intensify. It's just fascinating to see the extraordinary insights that Dr. Bolte Taylor experiences.
It took her about eight years to recover and she's using her experience as both a brain scientist and a stroke victim to shed light, a whole lot of it, into the subject.
While I have not read her book "My Stroke of Insight", I continued to search on the Internet to learn more about this story. Luckily, I came across a video from a TED.org presentation by Dr. Bolte Taylor. I highly recommend watching it! You can see it here. The video is about 20 minutes long.
This story has great scientific and spiritual appeal.
On a related note, back in July, there was also an interesting interview with neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga titled "Mapping The Mysteries Of The Brain's Two Halves." This one gives an easy-to-understand explanation of the relationship of both sides of the brain.
