Savants

Savants are people who are born with lack of abilities such as speaking, walking or even sight, however, this group of people have a great forte in one specific area, being music, art, or memory, among others.

There are three different groups of savants the normal savants, the gifted savants, who dominate extremely well a skill that has no practical purpose and lastly the prodigious savants who are the best in a certain area. What I believe is particularly interesting is the fact that there are only about one hundred savants around the world. This limitates scientist’s study of their brain, which is kind of the down side.

There is a case of a savatn named George, he is a gifted savant. He can remember any day of the week of any month and year…fascinating isn’t it? However he is limited in doing other things because he was born with autism.

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Make me a genius !!!

Can you truly make some one a genius?  I find this idea very interesting, but most importantly very challenging. However, there is  fascinating case, where a father proves that all it takes is practice and dedication.

Susan is one of the world best chess players in the worlds; she is the one who made chess be a sport not only for men, but women as well. As a very young child she found a chess board by mistake when she was looking for a new toy to play with at home, little did she know, she had found the sport that she would excel in.  Her father believed that geniuses could be made, they did not have to be born, and he proved everyone that his ideas were accurate.

He made his young girl practice every day for about six hours.  Susan got better and better very day. It is important to point out that girls are better at reasoning; this gave her a small advantage. Since she had so much time to practice, she remembered so many different chess moves by chunking. Chunking is the ability to remember things in groups rather than individually.

She is truly an admirable women, but I believe that  her fathers support and this admirable idea of being able to make a genius , made her who she is.

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Born Genius

Born genius? I believe that this question is debatable; there is no right or wrong answers. However, it is extraordinary when we get to see kids at a very young age doing things that grown ups struggle do accomplish.  A case which resembles this is Mark Yus' one.

Mark Yu is a seven year old boy, which by glancing at him , you would think he is a normal boy, however, when you hear him play the piano, you get transported to a different world. Suprisingly he has over fourty different piano pieces memorized and has played with five different orchestras just in one year.

Many people believe that this prodigies have genes that make them stand out from the ordinary and become extraordinary, however, other believe it’s due to environment. The fact that Mark Yu started playing the piano for the first time at the age of two without receiving any kind of lesson prior to that, supports the genes theory.  However, the fact that musicians brains are different because of how much they practice, supports the theory of environment, because they are not born with the different brain, they develop it.

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Homosexuality

When you think of identical twins, you think that every thing they do, think, or say will be the same, rarely do you think about their sexual interests. However, not all twins are the same, even though they physically look the same.

There is a case where two male twins are physically identical, however they are very different. Jared is very masculine while his brother Adam is very feminine. Adam has childhood gender non conformity which means that he does not act like the typical stereotype. When scientist see this case they wonder like many people, is homosexuality genetic or does the environment affect you? Aren’t identical twins supposed to have identical genes?

Early behavior which determines homesexuallity such as choosing girly colors or playing with dolls rather than with toys support the genes theory. However, when one brother is straight and the other one is gay, the environment theory is supported.

I learned and found highly interesting the fact that for every new male baby that a woman has there is a one-third percentage chance that he will be homosexual. But what is more interesting is that this only applies when the baby boy is left handed. Bizarre isn’t it?

So, is homosexuality due to nurture or nature?

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Murderers, can they be justified?

Have you ever wondered why people out there kill others? How is it possible for them to feel pleasure when they take someone else’s life, how can people enjoy it?

What makes/ creates a dangerous killer? Usually the people who grow up to be killers have a very hard childhood, they are generally abused as an infant, either being physically, verbally or emotionally.  They are tortured and they become mentally ill.

There is a wide difference between a violent and a non-violent person. Their frontal lobes work differently mostly because violent people have suffered some kind of head injury. People who kill don’t have a conscious they don’t feel bad or even guilty after they kill.

I find it absolutely repulsive when a person tries to justify a murder in which they are completely guilty of committing.  Scientists try to defend the murder claiming that they have brain damage due to the environment they grow up in; they claim that the murder lacks intelligence, that they have been beaten by their parents or even suffer identity disorder. However, does this give them the right to kill someone? I highly doubt it! How do scientists know if the murder is not lying?  Every single murder out there know that when they are asked about their youngster years, they must make it as dramatic as possible in order for every one to believe that that is what has driven them to commit the murder. Some of them may be speaking the truth, but that does not mean all of them are.

Murderers are made, not born. The surroundings in which they grow up can affect them greatly. However, I also believe that more murders rise when they see that different cases are dismissed and the murder is not found guilty because his/her actions were justified due to mental illnesses. Murders should not be 

justified.

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Injuries that can change your life forever

Traumatic brain injuries, just like the title suggests, are injuries that change your life forever! Traumatic brain injuries happen when to much force is applied to the skull; this causes your brain to get damaged. The frontal and temporal lobes are the parts of the brain that suffer the most damage.  The types of injuries you can get are contusion, axonal injury or bleeding inside the brain. When your brain gets injured it may cause many problems in many different areas like in speaking, thinking and managing behavior or emotions.  So many vital abilities are lost. Many of these injuries are caused by fights, accidents (mostly automobilist) and falls.

It is hard to believe that a fight or even an accidental fall can re-write your story. This is when the saying “you don’t know what you have until it’s gone” truly has a meaning.  You don’t truly value what you have such as the ability to talk or even walk, because you take these things for granted but your life can change in a split second. I believe that traumatic brain injuries are to be taken seriously and it is sad and infuriating when you see people making fun of the victims.

After watching this video you truly reflect on your life and all the privileges you’ve been given and know that you have to be grateful!

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Mind-reading.....wait WHAT??

When we were younger and used to watch cartoons, these characters could do impossible things such as read minds! Something way out of the ordinary, something which we believed was just science friction, but now it’s a fact. Luckily for us, the new generation, there are so many advances that make our life easier due to the fact that we live during the “ technology era” if so to speak.

I find the MIRs extremely interesting! The fact that they can get into someone’s brain and actually read or know what they are thinking is beyond extraordinary! The way these machines work is incredible, and even though they might just read object you are thinking of, I believe that that is a great starts and not to far in the future, they will be able to read even more than that.

As I watched the video I learned that these machines can help in marketing, something which I personally believe is pretty smart. They get into teenage or any human brain to see what attracts their attention, so they can sell more of their product, this is called Neural Marketing.

 Will there be more developed machines in the future, like cell phones, small and practical that will be able to read every single thought we have rather than just objects that we are thinking of…only time can tell.

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