When a 44-year-old man from France began experiencing weakness in his leg, he went to the hospital. After performing a series of tests, doctors told him he was missing most of his brain. The unidentified man’s skull was full of liquid, with just a thin layer of brain tissue. The condition is known as hydrocephalus. The amazing part of the story is that the man was living a normal life. He was married, had children, held down a job, and did the everyday things that most people do. IQ testing revealed that he had an IQ of 84, slightly below the normal range. As cognitive psychologist Axel Cleeremans put it, “This person is not bright, but perfectly, socially apt.” According to Cleeremans, the man is a lesson that adaptability is probably more pervasive that we thought. “It’s truly incredible that the brain can continue to function — more or less within the normal range — with many fewer neurons than are found in a typical brain,” said Cleeremans.
