The role of glial cells - or cells that "glue" the neurons together - has traditionally been that of a house keeper, cooking up and serving food, cleaning up waste products, and holding everything in place. In recent years the role of glial cells has been expanded somewhat, which leads us to Einstein's brain:
In 1985 scientists at the University of California in Berkeley published anatomical studies of slivers of Einstein's brain after counting the different cells in the organ. They found the only difference between his brain and those of dead doctors was a greater ratio of glial cells to neurons."We know from animal studies that as you go from invertebrates to other animals and primates, as intelligence increases, so does the ratio of glial cells to neurons," said Professor Volterra, whose study appears in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
So what are the glial cells doing?
The scientists said the cells provide energy for neural circuits and help build connections, leading to a more complex brain structure.
Read the Guardian article here.
Ohh... yeah... this really is Einstein's brain.
Comments
Sorry, but I don't believe that Einstein's brain was structured differently. Sounds like a scientific urban legend. Proof please, and it better be very convincing.
Posted by: Jon | February 21, 2007 7:27 PM
Einstein's brain did apparently have some abnormalities, which were reported in a 1985 study:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=3979509&dopt=Citation
The relative importance of those differences are discussed in this paper:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=1584096&dopt=Citation
There are quite a few papers that talk about Einstein's brain but from my initial glance at it, it seems like they all make some reference to that 1985 paper.
The finding is not an urban legend, but the importance of the finding may be.
Posted by: Brian | February 21, 2007 8:46 PM
We do not know precisely how any brain functions not to speak of Einstein's brain. So the discussion is superfluous. Only recording of the findings is important that may be used later. If Quantum physics is involved in brain function the glial cells may be important as the Matrix.
Posted by: jajnavalkya | February 22, 2007 6:35 AM
It seems to me that a big problem in making any inferences about Einstein's brain is that it was stored in formalin in a Bell jar in Wichita, Kansas for many years before any anatomical studies were perfomred on it.
Posted by: Gary Greenberg | February 22, 2007 8:45 AM
Thanks for the link. I'm surprised and impressed that there is at least some evidence, but I'd still like more. Wikipedia mentions criticisms of the study (but doesn't reference them and I don't have access to scholarly articles). Scientists have been preserving brains of geniuses for many years; has anyone else looked for structural differences?
Posted by: Jon | February 22, 2007 8:54 AM
Well, now I know why so many high school "gifted" kids couldn't do more than regurjutate.
Posted by: z79 | May 25, 2007 10:09 PM