Unbelievable: Man with only 10% of the brain has normal life

The brain, as you know, is the command center of our body, and we learn that his absence is something simply incompatible with life, because even the lack of large portions of this organ can bring a series of serious consequences. That is why the case we count following is so amazing and has left doctors and completely baffled experts.

This is a French - married, father of two children and a civil servant in the city where he lives - that, go to the doctor to complain of a slight weakness in his left leg, made a series of tests and found that about 90% of your brain does not exist! The case was published in 2007 in a scientific journal and at the time, man "no brains" was 44 years old.

Doctors explained that the disappearance of the brain probably was the result of very peculiar circumstances. When I was a little baby, the patient was diagnosed with a condition known as hydrocephalus - which is characterized by the accumulation of fluid within the cranial cavity - and had a valve to drain excess fluid from his skull.

Radiography of the French patient

At 14 years old, her doctors thought that the patient did not suffer more with the problem and removed the device. The current team believes that, since then, the man kept accumulating fluid in his skull and, over 30 years, this material has been eating away at your brain - until was left only 10% of the body.

What most astonishes doctors is the fact that the patient has been able to spend all this time without suspecting what was going on and it took an absolutely normal life despite the absence of almost all the brain - being able to talk, walk, form memories , control their vital functions, solve problems and formulate thoughts!

However, according to experts, the most impressive in the case is that it not only leads to science to question what is needed for a person to survive, but also challenges the very concept of consciousness.
Consciousness without brain

Experts believe that consciousness could be associated with various brain areas, such as the visual cortex and cloister - a thin layer of neurons that protrudes through noble brain regions. But the case of the French man contradicts this theory, since, according to it, not to have 90% of the body (and therefore have only 10% of neurons that should), he could not be aware.

Absence of about 90% of the brain

The case of the patient strongly suggests that it is unlikely that only specific regions are responsible for consciousness. Instead, the place we were born with it, experts believe the brain adapts and learns to "be aware" constantly. Thus, the location of this quality can be flexible and assimilated by several different brain areas.

Moreover, the intriguing case of French suggests that the adult brain can be much more adaptable than previously thought - and can assume different roles when the body suffers severe damage. According to experts, the intriguing condition of the patient suggests that, so there is consciousness, just that we have already stored the necessary information.

random image showing the skull "filled" by the brain

In addition, experts suggest that everything seems to indicate that the brain is continually - and unconsciously - learning and rewriting their own activity, and it is this hard work the body that forms the basis of consciousness. In the case of the French man, though he had only a small portion of his brain, the neurons that remain allowed him to keep working.