THE CURIOUS CASE OF PHINEAS GAGE.
The Osgood File. Sponsored in part by Pure Silk Moisturizing Shave Cream for Women. Made with soothing aloe and fabulous moisturizers to help your legs look and feel like pure silk. This is Charles Osgood.
A bizarre accident that happened to a 25-year-old railroad worker named Phineas Gage 164 years ago is being digitally simulated at UCLA, because neuroscientists there believe that they can learn much from it about the human brain and how it works.
What happened to Phineas Gage after this...
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In 1848, Phineas Gage had been laying railroad track for a new line in Vermont when an explosive charge blew a three-foot-long iron railroad spike upward through his cheek and his brain and out the top of his head.
Remarkably, it did not kill him. It did change him, though.
SOT - Prof. John Van Horn, a neuroscientist at UCLA
"He was so different after this injury. He was profane and he was irresponsible - and a number of other adjectives to describe him - that he was no longer who he was before the injury." (:13)
That is Professor John Van Horn, a neuroscientist at UCLA - who believes that there are similarities between Gage's radical change and the behavior of people afflicted with certain degenerative neurological disease.
SOT - Prof. John Van Horn
"Understanding the pattern of connectivity in the brain can help us to understand and develop cures for things like Alzheimer's Disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease, Huntington's Disease - as well as other forms of degenerative disorders of the brain." (:15)
The spike that went through Phineas Gage's brain was found later covered with blood and white brain tissue.
SOT - Prof. John Van Horn
"The white matter connects and conveys the signals between the different brain areas - indicating that the potential damage was much more widespread than people had previously believed." (:11)
Although Phineas did survive, he changed dramatically - and died after a series of convulsions 11 years later.
The Osgood File. This is Charles Osgood on the CBS Radio Network. |
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