A Stroke of Genius

I mentioned Dr Jill Bolte Taylor in my Probe Conference report, because Jeff Moran showed us a clip of her address at the TED Talks. She is a neuroanatomist specializing in neurodisorders like Schizophrenia and bipolar who, in 1996 at the age of thirty-seven, suddenly suffered a massive stroke. Her mental functions deteriorated to nothing over a period of a few hours, eventually leaving her in a profound vegetative state: totally aphasic, paralyzed and amnesiac, like a new-born baby trapped in the body of an adult. But she survived and came through it to tell the tale. It took her eight years to fully recover, but she’s still changed enormously. In a way, she considers herself fortunate! She’s one of the few neurologists who has been able to study brain damage through her own injury, rather than another person’s. Her stroke, as devastating as it was, has given her a whole new insight; not only into her science, but into the nature of consciousness and being itself!

Here's a film of her TED Talks address. It's only 20 minutes long, but she says a lot in such a short time:
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=5993344784355496325&q=jill+bolte+taylor&total=30&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0
(In case you're wondering, that is a real human brain she holds in her hands! She's not kidding us!)

Here a man gives us some very intelligent feedback on Jill Bolte Taylor’s speech in his home movie: http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=6913923761490042207