Phineas Gage, Neurology's Most Interesting Case, Gets His Head Re-Examined With a New Neural Map
Scientists are getting another chance to get inside Phineas Gage's head. The 25-year-old Gage was a railroad supervisor back in 1848, using a 13-pound, 3-foot-7 iron rod to pack blasting powder into a rock just moments before becoming history's most interesting neuroscience case. Gage somehow triggered an explosion that drove the rod straight through his left cheek and out the top of his head, taking a chunk of his left frontal lobe with it. Yet somehow Gage survived, though not really as Phineas Gage. The previously likeable young man underwent severe personality changes, becoming irritable and profane, far from the person he once was. Scientists studied his case for the dozen years he survived after the accident, and have been fascinated with Gage's brain ever since--up to an amazing reconstruction just completed. Related ArticlesGrowing Schizophrenic Brain Cells In A Dish Helps Neuroscientists Study Mental Illness Up CloseNeuroscientists Engineer Mice That Make Better...