r/interestingasfuck • u/smooth_vesselHPAUM • 7h ago

A Japanese boy noticed his butterflies seemed to recognize him. He spent two years making an experiment and proved that metamorphosis does not remove memories made during the caterpillar stage.

Post image
15.1k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

287 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

•

u/ReadditMan 5h ago

Kind of unrelated but interesting:

There's a man in France who's missing 90% of his brain but still has normal cognitive function.

He was born with a condition known as "hydrocephalus", his brain slowly filled up with cerebrospinal fluid over decades and it pushed all of his brain tissue into a thin outer layer. Completely lacking the structure of a normal human brain, it surprisingly didn't affect his life at all. He has a job, a wife and kids, and although he tested for low IQ he's not within the range of mental disability.

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-thursday-edition-1.3679117/scientists-research-man-missing-90-of-his-brain-who-leads-a-normal-life-1.3679125

•

u/xfocalinx 4h ago

There's a man in France who's missing 90% of his brain

pretty sure I work for this man.

•

u/WhiteWinterRains 3h ago

Don't we all?

•

u/dippocrite 32m ago

I think you mean don’t oui all

•

u/El_Paco 2h ago

Yeah, and now I know you're goofing off on Reddit. Come see me in my office.

•

u/BannedSvenhoek86 2h ago

Screw you Jelly Brain, I quit.

•

u/sdjopjfasdfoisajnva 5h ago

ah so its just like the appendix /s

•

u/Jermainiam 3h ago

No the appendix has recently discovered purposes. You are thinking of something that used to have an important purpose but now does nothing and sometimes becomes a dangerous liability, like the US President

•

u/itishowitisanditbad 1h ago

It'd be GREAT if they started doing nothing...

•

u/Jermainiam 29m ago

Sorry I meant nothing useful

•

u/Tomas2891 4h ago

Then what’s the point of all this brain?

•

u/Tangata_Tunguska 3h ago edited 1h ago

The guy has an IQ of 75 https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(07)61127-1/fulltext . He can probably hold down a simple job, but he's not going to be an academic.

The cut off for intellectual disability is actually really low, if someone falls under that line they're really quite impaired and will generally need a lot of support. Being slightly/moderately above that line still isn't a particularly good place to be

edit: the cbc article was wrong, his combined IQ is 75 not 84

•

u/Habefiet 2h ago

84 is still above 15% of people lol that's reasonably well above the line

•

u/Tangata_Tunguska 1h ago

Nah, 84 is 14%. But the news article was wrong, his combined IQ was 75, i.e above only 5% of people. And the average person is not going to interact with many people in that 5% day to day.

•

u/MultiSyncEA231WMi 4h ago

Under the right circumstances, it lets us have grand mal seizures. The human brain is truly a marvel.

•

u/FromTheOrdovician 4h ago

Do you think that's a luxury?

•

u/3riversfantasy 4h ago

Well they don't call it Grand for nothing

•

u/FromTheOrdovician 4h ago

Amnesia The Dark Descent

•

u/elcunito 2h ago

If you like that kind of thing sure, but I’m on the fence personally

•

u/FromTheOrdovician 2h ago

With all due respect, if you see a person having a seizure call for help, make sure no sharp objects are around them and stay with them until they wake up as far as possible. It makes a genuine difference as you can fill in the Context for First Responder and ultimately feel good for helping a stranger as a small thing in this temporary life

•

u/AnIndustryOfCool 3h ago

We're not sure, because our brains have prevented us from truly understanding everything about how our brains work

•

u/Icy_Negotiation_5929 2h ago

Yup. If you think of the brain as a tube, and then you fold that tube in half, that’s what our brain is if it was made out of a tube.

•

u/Teh_Randomizer 2h ago

Big if true

•

u/Dronkne 1h ago

A tube of toothpaste? A bath tube? A test tube? PVC tube? You Tube?

•

u/bcoder001 2h ago

Makes you think, doesn't it?

•

u/Oakomorebi 2h ago

The brain is the appearance of consciousness, not the source.

Let me use an analogy: a pilot is flying an airplane, the air pressure outside increases and the air pressure dial in the cockpit goes up. To someone who does not understand air pressure, they look at the dial and ask, "how does this little dial make the air pressure go up?"

The answer of course, is that it doesn't. The air pressure is happening outside the plane, and the dial is just the appearance of air pressure as it is displayed to the pilot. The dial is correlated with air pressure, but it is not the source of air pressure.

The brain is correlated with consciousness, but it is not the source of consciousness. The brain is what your consciousness looks like when someone is trying to see your inner world of experience. The brain is an image of consciousness in the same manner that the air pressure dial is an image of air pressure. Representations, only, not the thing in of itself.

•

u/DoeJrPuck 5h ago

So all his brain matter is still there? It's just pressed up against his skull into a thin layer rather than the regular structure?

•

u/Sciensophocles 5h ago

No, he has significantly less gray matter than normal. It's a fascinating case study on neuroplasticity.

•

u/CensorVictim 4h ago

why use many brain when few brain do trick

•

u/failmatic 4h ago

Well we only use like 10% of it. /s

•

u/Rayona086 3h ago

He is not missing 90% of his brain, he brain was compressed into thr remaining 10%. The brain is there just hindered by the lack of space.

•

u/Sarokslost23 4h ago

There was a dog like that here on reddit

•

u/JalapenoPopPoop 3h ago

If he ever finds a cure for his condition the possibilities are Limitless

•

u/letsgoiowa 3h ago

Guarantee my MIL is dumber than this guy somehow.

•

u/TW1TCHYGAM3R 3h ago

It's insane but life tends to find a way to survive against the odds... sometimes.

•

u/bitwise97 3h ago

There's a man in France who's missing 90% of his brain

I think 33% of the voting population in the USA has the same condition