Growing Evidence of Brain Plasticity
Presenter:
Michael Merzenich
Time:
23:10
Summary
Neuroscientist Michael Merzenich looks at one of the secrets of the brain's incredible power: its ability to actively re-wire itself. He's researching ways to harness the brain's plasticity to enhance our skills and recover lost function
Transcript
This machine, which we all have, uh, residing in our skulls, that reminds me of an aism of, uh, a comment of Woody Allen that, that ask about what's the very best thing to have within your skull? And it's this machine and it's constructed for change. It's all about. It confers on us the ability to do things tomorrow that we can't do today.
Things today that we couldn't do yesterday, and of course it's born stupid. The last time you were in the presence of a baby, this happens to be my granddaughter Mira. Isn't she fabulous? But nonetheless, when she popped out, despite the fact that she had, her brain had actually been progressing in its development for several months before on the basis of her experiences in the womb, nonetheless, she had very limited abilities, as does every.