Why we don't need a brain

I thought this was going to be a parody of all those 'you don't need' posts we see all the time, where someone goes off the rails about how some useful tool is totally unnecessary.<p>Instead, it's actually about the brain, how versatile it is, and ... Well, absolutely nothing about not needing one.<p>Yes, the title is complete linkbait.

This is astounding! I would have never predicted that people's brains could regenerate at such a late stage or undergo such rearrangement without loss of function. It yields light on an implicit assumption of mine—which seems almost as outdated as phrenology now—that even if the structure of the brain is not so localized as we might want it to be, a large amount of gross structure is needed for normal cognitive function.<p>Instead, plasticity wins out again? The brain will proceed to function given stimulation and time despite pretty grave odds.

This article is upside down. The title is the last line in the article: <i>How much brain is really necessary?</i>

Flagged for the title.<p>Suggested new title: "How much of the brain is really necessary?"

Plasticity and neuron interconnects seem to be keys here. Regions like the corpus callosum are immensely interesting. I am curious if we could some how manipulate animal cells to generate more of these fibers, with a better distribution and observe the level of intelligence animals exhibit.

<a href="https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Fluid_and_crystallized_intelligence" rel="nofollow">https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Fluid_and_cry...</a>

Incidentally, while the cerebrum -- the big, wrinkled top part -- is the largest part of the brain, and the most well-studied, it actually only contains a minority of neurons.<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuron#Neurons_in_the_brain" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuron#Neurons_in_the_brain</a><p>The cerebrum has ~16.3 billion neurons, whereas the cerebellum has ~69 billion.<p>Also, while people missing large parts of their brain can seem to do okay, the traumatic loss of even a small part of the brain can do severe damage:<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage</a><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broca%27s_area" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broca%27s_area</a>

Conversely, why do most people with a full brain exhibit so many signs that they have none?

I think this answers the questions we all have about politicians.