When a 44-year-old man from France began experiencing weakness in his leg, he went to the hospital. That’s when doctors told him that he was missing most of his brain. The man’s skull was full of liquid, with just a thin layer of brain tissue left. The condition is known as hydrocephalus. He was living a normal life, had a family, held down a job, and his IQ tested at slightly below the normal range. While he wasn’t bright, he was socially apt and perfectly capable of living a normal life. Axel Cleeremans, a cognitive psychologist, explained that one of the lessons from the man’s case is that the brain can continue to function within the normal range, even with many fewer neurons than in a typical brain. He describe the case as “clearly a medical miracle.”
