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If stem cells divide equally, so both daughter cells look more or less the same, each one becomes another stem cell. If the split is unequal, neurons form prematurely.

From Sam Kean

To be sure, ASPM isn't the gene responsible for building big brains - there's no such single gene. But it's critical to the process, and the primate line has almost certainly benefited from distinct changes in ASPM.

From Sam Kean

I was reading this story about these people who suffered from brain injuries, and then their behavior changed kind of drastically afterward, and I just said to myself, 'There's no way that that can possibly be true.'

From Sam Kean

What I find fascinating is the idea that we all have a physical brain, but we also have this mental part, and we have to figure out how they work together.

From Sam Kean

DNA is a 'thing' - a chemical that sticks to your fingers.

From Sam Kean

We human beings are humane in part because we can look beyond our biology.

From Sam Kean

A long iron rod rocketed straight through the very forefront of Phineas Gage's brain. It's kind of an unusual part of the brain: you can suffer pretty severe injuries to it and often walk away from the injury. It's not a part of the brain that's necessarily vital for your biological self. But it is very important for personality.

From Sam Kean

I think it's a natural human tendency, when you read something, you tend to read a lot of your prejudices into it. And neuroscience is like a lot of disciplines - it has fashions; things change.

From Sam Kean

We really should be grateful to the people who participate in research and allow certain details to be published about themselves. Because if they didn't, we wouldn't have nearly the understanding of the brain that we do.

From Sam Kean

Without a functioning hippocampus, names, dates, and other information falls straight through the mind like a sieve.

From Sam Kean

Sam Kean

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