2018

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Preface

Part I The Brain .........

Brain Etymology

Brain activity .

Brain Waves

The Brain as a Super Computer ..

Strange Loop .

Part II Storm ......

Storm Etymology ..

Storm Weather ..

Geomagnetic Storm .

Emotional Storm .

Part III BrainStorm ..

Our inspiration

Inspirational Elevation .

Streets and squares names .

Part IV - For Diggers ..Pre-scientific concepts

History of Brain Research ..

Understanding the Brain Today

Summery.

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The term BrainStorm" is not an existing term, it is based on the concept of brainstorming, which is a process of group thinking or group ideas.

Since this term does not exist and in order to understand what a BrainStorm" is, we will break the term into the parts that make up it, analyze each part separately and then reconnect it to a concept that contains the content and meaning we desire.

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Brain

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After man discovered lost continents, dived the deepest oceans,mastered the skies and even conquered space, the next step isinwards.

Since the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st,the interest in the workings and understanding of the brain, hasbeen on a constant increase.

The human brain is the most complex and mysterious organ inthe body. It enables us to move think, feel and in fact, to live.

Despite the great importance of the brain, most of its functionsare undiscovered and hidden from science and in some cases, itis said that we are more knowledgeable about outer space, thanthe inner space of our brains.

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In various Semitic languages, the term Brain (Moah) is used in several ways, forthe human brain, for the bone marrow, for both stem cells and fat cells.

The word appears once in the Bible: "His breasts are full of milk, and his bonesare moistened with marrow" (Job 21:24) The brain is called Moah because it is asoft tissue that is trapped between the bones.

In biblical Hebrew there is also a similar meaning. A vowel means "fat" or "fatanimal , as in the verse: I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals,with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams" (Psalm 66:15). The letters "מח" connect tofat in other forms as well. For example: "And in this... a feast of wines on thelees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined." (Isaiah 25:6).Brain oils - filled with bone marrow. And perhaps the verb, melted (in the senseof melting, softened) is connected to these root letters.

Hence, the ancients did not distinguish between the fatty tissue of the bonesand the tissue of the stem cells, and between both of them and the brain tissuein the skull. For them, the "brain" described any type of soft tissue trapped insidean object, whether it is made up of fat cells, stem cells or other suitable cells.

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- Brain–מֹוַח Etymology

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To date, we do not understand exactly how the brain works, although weknow what parts of it are responsible for certain actions and howmolecular processes occur in its nerve cells.

Science today can say, with reservations due to recent years studies, thatthe human brain is composed of two central, contradictory, andcomplementary parts: The left side of the brain is responsible forcontrolling the right side of the body. It also performs tasks that have to dowith logic, such as in science and mathematics. On the other hand, theright hemisphere coordinates the left side of the body, and performs tasksthat have do with creativity and the arts.

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Brain activity

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The brain is basically an organ for routing and processing information. It receives sensory information (input) about stimuli in the environment and the state of the body's systems, and produces commands (output) that are transferred to the organs of the body and regulate their activity.

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The information in the brain and nervoussystem is transmitted primarily throughcommunication between cells called nervecells or neurons, which have dendrites,branches that come out of the body of thecell. The processing and transmission ofinformation in the brain is based on theinterconnection between the neurons, whichmeet with each other at points calledsynapses.

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Within the nerve cell, the informationpasses in the form of a nerve impulse. Thenerve impulse is an electrical signal thatmoves from the cell body along a fibercalled an axon. Between nerve cells,information is passed through the synapsein the form of chemical signals by releasingmolecules that act as neurotransmitters.The nerve conductor binds to the receptorson the cell on the other side of the synapse.It causes a change in the electrical voltageof that cell, thus affecting the pattern ofneural impulses that will be generated in itand passing on in the neural conductionchain.

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12Different input types, which come from theenvironment through receptors of the sensory systems,are converted into neural impulses before they enter thebrain, thus allowing sensory information to berepresented by neuronal networks. The transmission ofoutgoing messages, sent from the brain to targetorgans, is carried out through a synapse between aneuron and a target cell. The nerve conductor thatcrosses the synapse causes a change in the biologicalfunctioning of the cells, thus affecting the activity ofthe target organ.

In addition to nerve cells, the brain contains varioustypes of glial cells that provide protection and supportto nerve cells, and sometimes also play roles in theregulation of neural conduction processes.

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13 Brain regions and their activity

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In the neurological field, our brain activity is expressed in electric impulsesthat pass through the brain, at different rhythms, and form several typesof brain waves. The electrical current in the brain vibrates at differentspeeds during the day, depending on our activity. It knows how to speedup and slow down the electric impulses according to the situation, and itworks on frequencies of waves called brain waves.

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Brain Waves

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Gamma wavesExtremely high concentration and sharpness. In this state of mind, the brain works sharply,the awareness level increases, high concentration, complex thinking, and problem solvingcan be achieved.

Beta wavesAwakening, our senses awake, thoughts rising in consciousness so that we can remembersome of them, we perform conscious actions in wakefulness.

Alpha WavesShortly before falling asleep or immediately after waking up. A state of relaxation in whichthe two parts of the brain communicate best, our intelligence is sharp, the body's immunesystem comes into play, and the brain is open to extract ideas and contents buried in thesubconscious.

Theta wavesIn this frequency, we will often lose consciousness and not generate thoughts but becomemore receptive to receiving messages from our subconscious and physical intelligence.

Delta wavesDeep sleep. We do not know for certain what is happening in this state, it is a state of totalunconsciousness. The subconscious remains active and continues to operate the systems ofthe body and the mechanism of dreaming, but the conscious mind rests and often doesnot remember what happened during sleep.

1 second

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16 The Brain as a Super ComputerOperates on electric pulses andproduces electricity at 10-20 watts.

Capable of storing over 100 millionmegabytes of information, the vastmajority is stored in thesubconscious.

The database sits within the conscious andunconscious mind, and is automatically pulledaway, in response to impressions and events in ourlives.

The brain receives a message from the senses or thenervous system, processes the information andtranslates it into a thought or emotion thatactivates the nervous system.

Unlike a computer, we can notthink more than one thought orfocus on more than one thingat a given moment.

Unlike a computer, the brainknows how to create creativethinking, emotion, and self-awareness.

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Unlike other organs in our body, brain research is relativelyyoung. In fact, the insight that the mind is in charge of our

awareness is also portrayed as new. Our ancient sources of information,including the various religious texts, did not really connect the brain to thedifferent sensations, if they even bothered to mention its existence. thereason for that? It seems that the brain fools us and does not really give usthe feeling that it is the organ responsible for feelings.

There are two insights that contradict one another. One determines thatthe wondrous complexity of our brains must exist to support intelligencesuch as ours, and certainly our awareness and feelings. The otherdetermines the limitations of our brains, for which the world is too complexfor itself and for its possible interpretations of the real reality. The samebrain is both, very complex and very limited.

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Strange Loop

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If we now combine these two insights into one common insight, we willcome to the simple formulation that our brain is too complex for our brain.The brain (in the sense of its structure and behavior in reality) is toocomplex for our brain (in the sense of our perception, thinking, andconsciousness). The entity that is 'our thinking brain' is apparently unableto perceive and internalize parts of the entity that is 'our complex brain inreality', even if these two entities are derived from each other.

The brain that investigates itself in light of its limitations can be consideredas an example of a 'strange loop' - an expression coined by DouglasHofstadter in his book Gödel, Escher, Bach . The paradox is usually foundin the existence of brain limitations the use in two contradictorydirections at the same time. It is expressed in the following typical examplesentence: 'We must conclude that there is something beyond ourunderstanding and scientific evidence - call it whatever you want.

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19The word must' in these sentence is misleading. The same brain that isclaimed here is limited (because there are 'things beyond ourunderstanding'), becomes' in the same breath 'especially smart, andknows from this disability (and perhaps despite this limitation?) Theexistence of something ...'

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Understanding is part of 'awareness' andthe ability to understand awareness isderived from it. As in the principle knownfrom quantum theory, according towhich the viewer is part of theexperiment and the observation itselfchanges the result, so the study of thebrain and awareness is linked to theviewer side and the observed side at thesame time, and the results we can reachabout our abilities, necessarily influencedby our ability to reach them.

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STORM

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The word 'storm' and its synonyms are found in the Bible. They also refer to the"strong winds" and the wrath of God, for example: "Behold, the storm of the Lord!Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked."(Jeremiah 23:19). The noisy and terrifying weather metaphorically describes anger, asis evident from the expressions agitation ( Soul Storm in Hebrew). As we know, theword 'spirit ( Ruah in Hebrew) itself is also used as a synonym for 'soul', among otherthings - the expression for 'mood'. Not only that: Sometimes the stormy weather isdescribed in the Bible as a result of the wrath of God, for example: " Thou shalt bevisited of the Lord of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, withstorm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire." (Isaiah 29: 6). Also, sometimesthe word 'storm' describes the occurrence of supernatural phenomena whose natureis not clear enough: for example, in the story of the rise of Elijah the Prophet "by awhirlwind into heaven" (II Kings 2:11). The word 'storm' exists in many metaphoricaluses. The transition from the weather to the realm of emotions caused oneunexpected result. The term storm eye indicates in meteorology the quiet area in thecenter of the storm, where the air pressure is lowest; But the general use of 'the eye ofthe storm' means 'the center of attention, at the center of the stormy affairs.' Incontrast to a meteorological storm, there isn't a quiet zone in a metaphorical storm,and apparently this is why the ambiguity of this combination is created.

21 EtymologyStorm–ְסָעָרה -

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A meteorological phenomenon that brings about extreme change in climaticconditions as it occurs. The storm usually involves strong winds andprecipitation. Israel is known for sandstorms in the desert, snowstorms in thehigh mountain peaks and rainstorms in the midst of winter. Round the worldthere are devastating storms, such as the tornado and the hurricane.

Storms are created when a low pressure center develops in a comprehensivehigh pressure system. Such a combination of opposing forces can lead to theformation of storm clouds, such as cumulonimbus. Local low pressure zonescan be created due to hot air from the ground leading to the creation of sandor water vortices.

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Storm - Weather

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A temporary disturbance in the Earth's magnetosphere caused by twodifferent causes:

1. Massive emission of solar wind particles from the sun's glare due to solareruption. A shock wave of these particles strikes the planet'smagnetosphere about 24 to 36 hours after the event in the sun.

2. Periodic magnetic fusion between the sun's magnetic field and the Earth'smagnetic field, causing the particles of the solar wind to penetrate directlyinto the magnetosphere.

In both cases, the many particles of the solar wind affect the magnetic field ofthe magnetosphere, the electrical currents in the ionosphere, and themagnetic field in many locations on Earth. Magnetic storms cause thephenomenon of polar radiance and in extreme cases interference withsatellites, radio broadcasts, high voltage lines and more.

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Geomagnetic Storm

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Emotional Strom is a mental-physical state that hassubjective and objective manifestations. Emotion maybe expressed in varying degrees of a pleasant orunpleasant physical arousal, in certain patterns ofthought, and in behavior. Emotion is linked to the moodof the person who feels it and to his personality. Somesituations can trigger a number of emotions in differentdegrees and a person can also feel opposing emotions.An emotional experience can be very intense. Whenintense feelings arise in us, we can experience unusualphysical phenomena. Emotional flooding can happen asa result of any emotion. Feelings that are consideredpositive and also feelings that are considered negative.The intensity of the feeling is what counts. Emotionalflooding often involves a wide variety of mixed emotionswhich is rapidly changing.

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Emotional Storm

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So what is BrainStorm ?

28In the past, philosophers assumed that there isa region in the brain that is the consciousregion. One can think of this region as a smallperson looking at and aware of the rest of themind. They called this area Homunculus. Butnow that the study of the mind andconsciousness has progressed significantlybecause of the scientific method, we knowthat there is no Homunculus. There is nospecific region responsible for consciousperception. The brain is not a single unit but anetwork in which each part is responsible for adifferent function. From studies we know thatwhenever the brain is aware of this, there isextensive activity not in a certain part of thenetwork but throughout the network. Humanconsciousness appears to be a trait created bythe entire brain network.

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Homunculus by Nicolaas Hartsoeker 1695

29Today, for example, it is already known that the brain network is a "small-world network , a network in which the information quickly arrives from oneside to the other side of the network with many shortcuts. It is also known thatthe cerebral network has special vertices called hubs. These are vertices thathave many connections and it turns out that all these centers are tightlyconnected to each other, causing information to flow quickly across the brainnetwork. Using the network, we analyze the various parts of the system andtry to show how the tangled connections on the network create new featuresthat are not the few vertices that make up the network. The idea is that suchglobal features can result from the activity of the entire network.Consciousness seems to be a global feature, it unites a lot of brain informationinto one experience, so the leading theories now assume that consciousness isnot in one neuron or in one region, but rather from the activity of the wholebrain network.

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30Now we can understand the connection between the theme, Midburn and thecommunity. we actually function just like a brain, in a network that creates ourconsciousness throughout the year and then we gather in the desert.

In the desert, our storm is created, hot air rising from the ground producing apillar of energy toward the sky, around this pillar winds are swirling, winds ofvision, of thought, of change, winds composed by the brain of each of us, thestorm occurs in our temporary city, Brains that create a commonconsciousness that stems from the connection between brains, theinteraction, the collective intelligence and consciousness. That is where ourstorm is .

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Somewhere down South

Desert.

Eyes shining and engulfing millions of colorful pixels,

Ears wide open, catching snatches of sound, fractions of notes, layers of voices,

Nose absorbing particles of aroma, spinning sparks, traces of memories,

Skin covered in dust, bristling with the caress of the wind,

Tongue inspecting liquids, bites, smoke, and love.

Rivers of wonder and understanding,

all flow to one location, a protected and concealed place.

A place we call the brain, raging in a whirlpool of knowledge,

It`s an incessant storm.

Brain after brain, after brain.

Thousands of brains all exhilarated and developing together.

Midburn 2018 - BrainStorm

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Our BrainStorm is taking place in a city that has risen from the dust

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Our inspiration

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A BrainStorm is where our radical thoughts are created, our consciousnessconsolidates, our brain mixes reality and imagination, night and day, inner andouter worlds, emotions and logic, passions and fears. The brain allows us to touchour inner world and gives us the opportunity to communicate it with others.When a mass of stormy brains gather together, the boundaries of imaginationare breached. We are able to create, to communicate in the same frequency.Let s feed the storm and fulfill our common vision.

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Let s play with our brain36

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Mother and son?

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Confuse the brain42

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Also known as Adelson's checker shadow illusion (published by Edward H. Adelson) depicts something hard to believe. Square marked B looks considerably lighter than square A, due to the "shadow" being cast upon it. However, color on both squares is precisely the same shade of grey. If you don't believe, use any eyedropper tool or print/cut the squares to verify that both square A and square B are precisely the same.

Adelson's Checker-Shadow Illusion (1995)

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BluePinkGrayYellow

GreenRedBlackWhite

YellowPurpleOrangeBrown

Try to say the color of the words, instead of reading them. You'll find itsurprisingly difficult. The right half of the brain tries to say the colors and theleft half tries to say the words.

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There is no spiral on the following picture. It's just nicely put squares that our eyes incorrectly understand as spiral. Look closer.

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Tabletops on the following visual illusion are identical in shape and size! I haven't believed that either, until I measured it myself.

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Challenge the brain47

48 What is it?

Grains of sands magnified 300 times

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Mustache hair magnified 500 times by an electron microscope

What is it?

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Human eye

What is it?

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Table salt magnified 150 times by an electron microscope

What is it?

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A shell of a garden snail magnified by an electronic microscope

What is it?

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Chalk magnified 6500 times by an electron microscope

What is it?

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Banana magnified by an electron microscope

What is it?

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Tear drops magnified by an electron microscope

What is it?

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Electrify the brain56

57Slice of Grass

58A louse clings to a hair

59A crack in iron

60Ant s face

61Home dust

62Hydrothermal worm

63The eyes of a mosquito

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Connect Brain to Brain

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Storm the Thoughts

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Inspirational Elevation

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69• The greatest moments of inspiration in our lives tend to be momentary andusually last a minute or two.

• The desire is to return to these moments, to try to reconstruct them, tobreak them down into the components that created them, to understandwhich variables had to be organized and in what form to produceinspiration.

• We create an idea in our thoughts and it affects our thoughts so its a loopcreating feedback.

• We live in a reality that we create, and therefore this loop is maintained allthe time.

• If so, we need to create points / moments / flashes that will create a peak inthe feedback, just like the sound that creates a microphone in front of aspeaker. Moments that will cause an inspirational elevation by one who ispresent in the same space and time.

• This is done by creative choices, language, sound, light, smell and touch.

• A combination of all these will create inspirational moments and throughthem the assimilation of the message or idea.

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Streets and squares of our temporary city

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The names of the streets are named after different parts of the brain. Eachpart plays a critical role in the function of the brain and the livingorganism that carries it.

The squares are named after functional areas of the brain and theirposition on the city map is similar to their location in the human brain.Each square therefore derives its character according to the nature of thearea in the brain.

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Amygdala st.One of two almond-shaped groups of nuclei located deep andmedially within the temporal lobes of the brain. Shown in researchto perform a primary role in the processing of memory, decision-making, and emotional responses.Brainstem st.The posterior part of the brain, adjoining and structurallycontinuous with the spinal cord. provides the main motor andsensory innervation to the face and neck via the cranial nerves.Cerebellum st.A major feature of the hindbrain of all vertebrates. plays animportant role in motor control, and it may also be involved insome cognitive functions such as attention and language as wellas in regulating fear and pleasure responses.Dendrite st.Branched protoplasmic extensions of a nerve cell that propagatethe electrochemical stimulation received from other neural cellsto the cell body, or soma, of the neuron from which the dendritesproject.Hypothalamus st.Portion of the brain that contains a number of small nuclei with avariety of functions. One of the most important functions of thehypothalamus is to link the nervous system to the endocrinesystem via the pituitary gland.Ventricles st.A set of four interconnected cavities (ventricles) in the brain,where the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is produced. Within eachventricle is a region of choroid plexus, a network of ependymalcells involved in the production of CSF.

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BrainStorm

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Part IVFor Diggers

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Pre-scientific concepts of the brain

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76The mention of the word "brain" already exists thousands of years ago inhieroglyphs. However, for many years since the beginning of human history, theimportance of the brain as the organ responsible for the consciousness, thinkingand the biological center of human experience was unknown. By removing thebrain from the body in post-mortem surgery, a gray gel is revealed, so it is notsurprising that the ancients did not recognize its importance. This was also due tothe fact that the brain is not particularly sensitive to pain and a slight injury isnontraumatic.

It seems that the ancient Egyptians did not attribute much importance to thebrain. In Egyptian embalming the brain was removed through the nostrils,removed from the dead and thrown out, unlike organs such as the heart,stomach, liver and lungs, which the pharaohs kept next to the dead so that theycould be used again after the resurrection. It can be concluded that the brain wasan unnecessary organ in their opinion. However, a papyrus from 1,700 BC showsthat even then there have been cases in which a head injury changed behavior.

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77In the Bible, the word brain is mentioned once (Job 21:24), but in the sense of bonemarrow, in the rest of the Bible emotions and thoughts are attributed to theheart. In Chazal writings we find several references to the subject: In the Midrashwe find a dispute between Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua, whether the place ofwisdom is in the head or heart, and the opinion of the midrash tends to place it inthe heart.

The oldest brain to have been discovered was in Armenia in the Areni-1 cavecomplex. The brain, estimated to be over 5,000 years old, was found in the skull ofa 12 to 14-year-old girl. Although the brains were shriveled, they were wellpreserved due to the climate found inside the cave.

Early philosophers were divided as to whether the seat of the soul lies in the brainor heart. Aristotle favored the heart, and thought that the function of the brainwas merely to cool the blood. Democritus, the inventor of the atomic theory ofmatter, argued for a three-part soul, with intellect in the head, emotion in theheart, and lust near the liver.

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78The change in these concepts came from observing the gladiator wars in ancientRome. A number of researchers and doctors have begun to see a link between thegladiator's brain injury and changes in their behavior. There was also a linkbetween spinal cord injury and numbness or paralysis. The Roman physician Galenalso argued for the importance of the brain, and theorized in some depth abouthow it might work. Galen traced out the anatomical relationships among brain,nerves, and muscles, demonstrating that all muscles in the body are connected tothe brain through a branching network of nerves.

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He postulated that nerves activate musclesmechanically by carrying a mysterious substance hecalled pneumata psychikon, usually translated as"animal spirits . Galen's ideas were widely known duringthe Middle Ages, but not much further progress cameuntil the Renaissance, when detailed anatomical studyresumed, combined with the theoretical speculations ofRené Descartes and those who followed him.

79Renée Descartes (1600) was the first to speak about the unique importance of thebrain. Observing hydraulic sculptures led him to the conclusion that the humanbody works by an "internal hydraulic system" in which fluids are transferred andaffect the sensations and behaviors of the living body. The brain, according toDescartes, is the regulator of this system. Descartes also created a dichotomybetween the non-physical brain and the physical brain. Their connection, hethought, was the pineal gland. In 1808 the theory of phrenology was developed.According to this theory, different personality components are located in differentspecific brain regions. It was also believed that human nature can be measured

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according to the bumps in the skull. This theory wasn tadopted, but a century later, and constituted a basis,ostensibly scientific, for various racial doctrines. The underlyingidea that there is a connection between specific areas of thebrain and certain activities is accepted to this day, but in adifferent variation. According to modern knowledge, there isno specific location for a specific personality trait, but eachpsychological characteristic has a network of areas of thebrain that realize it. Also, between the brain and skull there isno direct contact at all, so nothing can be said about thebrain based on the size or shape of the skull.

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The History of Brain Research

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Modern neurosurgery began to develop only inthe 19th century, but archaeologists have foundevidence that in prehistoric times people usedto perform brain surgeries of a certain typecalled "skull perforation". This techniqueincluded piercing a hole in the skull, andNeolithic wall paintings suggest that it wasused to cure epileptic seizures and mentalillnesses, or to allow "evil spirits" to emerge fromthe body.

Some patients being treated with this techniquesurvived after surgery. Archaeologists have theskull of a young girl from around 3,500 BCwhose skull pierced with flint tools. At the edgeof the hole in the skull was the accumulation ofnewer bone tissue - indicating that the patientsurvived after the procedure.

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Prehistoric brain surgery

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Phineas Gage (1860-1823) was a 25-year-old railroadworker and in 1848 an iron rod was stuck in his head.He went into shock and his arms and legs fluttered,but to the surprise of those around, the accident wasnot fatal. A few minutes later he was able to walkand talk - even before he received medicaltreatment, but his friends were surprised to discoverthat his character had changed beyond recognition."Gage is no longer Gage , they said.

The iron rod, which destroyed much of Gage's frontallobe, caused a significant change in his personality.The case was published and greatly influenced thediscussion in the second half of the 19th centuryabout the connection between the brain and themind - and in particular the study of the effect ofdifferent areas of the brain on behavior.

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The accident that started it all

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Spanish explorer Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934) was exposed, at the age of 35, to the workof Italian scientist Camillo Golgi, who developed atechnique for coloring brain tissue with chromaticsilver. During this period, Cajal studied thestructure of the central nervous system, and withGolgi's technique he discovered the nerve cellscolored in black-brown are visible on the

transparent yellow background , as he wroteenthusiastically in his autobiography.

His pioneering studies have proven the "neurontheory , according to it, the nervous systemconsists of separate cells, rather than a network ofcontinuous elements - the basis for modernneuroscience. The discovery earned Cajal andGolgi the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1906.

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Father of neuroscience

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Modern neurosurgery began to develop in thelate 19th century, but the first yearsencountered difficulties and only about 10% ofthe patients survived. The change took placethanks to the American surgeon HarveyCushing (1869-1939), considered by many tobe the father of modern neurosurgery, whodeveloped several techniques in the early 20thcentury that greatly improved patients'chances of survival. His main contribution wasto develop a variety of tiny tools to block bloodvessels in the brain, which made it possible forpatients not to bleed to death during surgery.According to estimates, Cushing managedthroughout his career to remove more than2,000 brain tumors. He had a detailed recordof the operations and was one of the greatestneurosurgery teachers of his time.

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Pioneer of brain surgery

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The discovery of the region of the brainresponsible for our ability to speak isattributed to Paul Broca, a 19th-centuryFrench scientist and physician (1824-1880).Broca discovered that people who suffereddamage to the frontal lobe (now namedafter him) have speech difficulties, but areable to understand written or spokenlanguage. His discovery was achieved in astudy of patients with speech difficultiescaused by brain injury, particularly in post-mortem surgery. It gave a tremendousboost to the localization of brain functions-the theory that certain areas of the brainare responsible for different functions. Thebrains of many of Broca's patients are stillin a museum in Paris.

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Different areas - Different functions

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Understanding the Brain Today

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87One of the biggest secrets for science is the brain, and especially the human brain.And not for nothing, since there is a built-in deficit in the very attempt toinvestigate something through the object of research itself. No, we do not fearthat the brain will not be objective and investigate itself in a flattering way. Thepoint is that our brain may very well be a paradoxical tool - its abilities are sowonderful (and we say so objectively) that it can not grasp them itself.

However, the fact that this is a challenging task did not deter one fromquestioning his own mind. If anything, it only spurred him even further. Still,despite good will, for most of history there has been some significant progress inthe right direction. There were times when we thought we understood the brain,but then a new study or a rare neurological case made us realize that we knewonly a pinch or that we had misunderstood everything. The paradoxes of the brain

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combined with curiosity led to a variety of theories about thebrain, its function, its various parts, and their areas ofresponsibility. One of the common hypotheses is that the righthemisphere is responsible for the emotional and creative sidewhile the left is for logical and analytical functioning.However, with every study that comes out this concept turnsout to be a myth and with it additional concepts.

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To understand how misconceptions or half-truths have developed about the brain,one must look not only at the technology that accompanied scientists, but also onhow to draw their conclusions. Here is a case that teaches us a little about theway we have looked at the brain over the past hundred years: a patient whoarrived at a Paris clinic in 1861, and all he could tell the doctor were a fewinexplicable syllables. The doctor who examined him found that he had no problemunderstanding the language, but something prevented him from speaking morethan the same syllable or two. After the patient died and his brain was operated,

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The functional division of right and left is irrelevant

the doctor discovered damage to his left frontal brain. Heconcluded, therefore, that the affected area wasresponsible for speech and therefore the patient understoodthe language, but was unable to use it. This process wasalso tried in other cases, and scientists at the time drew amap of the brain in which each part had a specific function:each time a patient with a dysfunction arrived, theresearchers concluded that the affected area was the solecontroller of the action.

89We can follow the logic that guided the scientists quite easily, but there is a smallproblem with it - it does not provide safe results. This is a risk that is taken whenconclusions are drawn by induction. This method of obtaining informationoperates from the individual to the general. In other words, if the part does notwork, then it is necessarily the one responsible for the defect. Such an approachmay work when installing very simple mechanical systems. But in complex systemsit can be misleading. If the computer screen does not work, it does not necessarilymean that it is not plugged in, and the problem can arise from a variety ofdifferent sources. And computers we understand.

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Scottish philosopher David Hume saw inductive reasoning aslogical, and philosopher Karl Popper argued that science can notbe promoted by induction. It is difficult to argue with the scientistabout the manner of drawing conclusions from our era of high levelof technological development and the great knowledge that hasaccumulated since then, partly because of their work. Because,after all, they were not completely wrong. The areas responsible forthe various mental functions that appear on the map are probablyrelated to the actions attributed to them. The mistake is that thisis not really an exclusive and absolute relationship.

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For most of the 19th and 20th centuries, the brain activity map was the dominantapproach and the studies were even designed in relation to it, which strengthenedthe perception further. It was only in the last decade of the last century thatscientists began to get a more accurate idea of how the brain worked, whenmagnetic resonance imaging devices, or more commonly known as MRI scanners,entered the market. The device actually reads the brain activity and colors theareas that "light up" when we do one or another actions.

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The MRI appears and changes the image. A little.

The scans began to reveal that in every action,even the most basic one, many different parts ofthe brain work simultaneously, and not just onepart. MRI studies also found that synchronizationbetween the different parts of the brain takesplace through an incredibly wide network of intra-brain communication channels. Which led to therefutation of several additional conclusions.

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If we continue to draw conclusions in an inductive way, it will be clear to us that ifa person can not perform an action, the part responsible for it must be damaged.However, researchers encountered cases where the brain was normal, but thesubject was still unable to perform an action. Using magnetic imaging, theyrealized that the problem was damage to the communication channels thatregulate brain activity between healthy brain regions. A bit like a proper phonethat does not make a dial tone because of a cut cable somewhere in the system.

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On the other hand, there were cases inwhich patients' brains were damaged insome area, but their ability to performoperations related to the area was notaffected or rehabilitated over time. Thescientists realized that the brain could rewireits communication lines, like bypass roadsthat allow the brain to skip a certain areaand keep the synchronization at a high level.

92In the light of past experience, and despite the developed technology, scientists arenow more cautious about their decisions about the brain. Advanced researchattempts to combine both methods - brain mapping using real-time scans alongwith an examination of the decrease in function due to an injury to certain areas.The researchers are trying to get a fuller picture of brain activity and to understandwhich areas are working together to carry out certain tasks. Against the backdropof technological progress and paradigm shift, the perception of the right and leftbrain is now somewhat outdated. Scientists tend to assume that creativity, forexample, stems from a more complex set of connections that can connect manyparts of the brain, rather than one part.

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Scientists are probably closer to the truth than they were inthe previous century or two, but history teaches us that weshould not rush to conclusions. It is logical that anothertechnological device will change or update the information wehave today. In the meantime, we will have to learn to live withthe natural paradoxes of the brain trying to understand itself.And we may have to think of this gap as a fixed state,because if we look at the development of brain research, eachtime we open one door, we seem to discover three more.

We are going to the desert,to the place where ourBrainStorm takes place, thisis where anything can exist.

Our thoughts today are ourreality tomorrow.

There are no limits toimagination and thereforethere are no limits to reality.

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BrainStorm

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