Man is a surprisingly sturdy creature. We cannot grow ourselves new limbs, like lizards, but we can well survive without the most important parts of the body. Why are there limbs: here are stories about people who live happily ever after without a brain!
Wind in my head
Railroad worker Phineas Gage was struck through his head with a steel bar. The man did not even lose consciousness from such a gift of fate, and after a few days he seemed to completely recover from the wound. The rod damaged the frontal lobes of the brain, but at that time doctors believed that they were not very important. Over time, Gage's character completely changed - now doctors would understand why. The man has actually lost his prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for making decisions, controlling impulses and, in general, shapes our personality. In fact, Gage survived, but his personality died.
Water in my head
A 44-year-old Frenchman came to doctors with a complaint of weakness in his legs. No apparent reason was found and the doctors decided to just do an MRI just in case. And then it was time for surprises: the patient had a very small brain, 75% smaller than usual. The rest of the space was occupied by cerebrospinal fluid. Surprisingly, the man has never experienced any special problems in his life. This incident allowed scientists to make an important discovery about the extraordinary plasticity of the brain, capable of redistributing loads even with external damage.
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Nothing in my head
Dick Swaab, a Dutch physician, performed an emergency operation to remove a brain tumor from a teenager. The surgeon cut out almost the entire hypothalamus, which caused the guy to have very serious problems with memory, thermoregulation and eating behavior. In addition, without the hypothalamus, the necessary hormones were not produced, and now the teenager is forced to constantly take medications. We can say that he lives without one of the most important parts of the brain.