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  • Look, we've always known that Einstein was better than us.

  • But now we know why.

  • Anthony here from D News.

  • And we are constantly hearing about Einstein's brain.

  • It was removed about eight hours after his death,

  • and we've just been poking at it ever since,

  • looking for the differences that made it such a brilliant mind.

  • And a study recently published in the journal, Brain

  • thinks that they've found the answer.

  • And it's in the corpus callosum, the body's largest bundle

  • of neuronal fibers that sits underneath

  • your cerebral cortex.

  • Among its functions is making sure

  • that both halves of the brain can

  • communicate with each other.

  • Now, we've talked about the left brain, right brain myth

  • and lateralization before.

  • Spark Notes version-- there's no such thing

  • as a left or right brain person.

  • You are a beautiful, unique snowflake

  • that can do anything you want, thanks to practice and neural

  • plasticity.

  • However, the things you do are controlled

  • by different parts of the brain.

  • And if those parts are on different sides

  • and need to work together, they've

  • got to go through the corpus callosum to do it.

  • Einstein's corpus callosum had extremely thick connections

  • between the halves of three very interesting brain

  • regions-- his prefrontal cortex, which

  • controls abstract thinking and decision-making,

  • his parietal lobe, which is all about sense and motor function,

  • and his visual cortex, for seeing.

  • The thicker connections could be responsible for lower

  • lateralization of brain activity and at least partially

  • explain why he was so brilliant, which is interesting,

  • because lower lateralization in the brain

  • has also been linked to schizophrenia and psychopathy.

  • So how do you get brain like Einstein's?

  • Last week, I talked a little bit about neural plasticity

  • and how the more you use a part of your brain,

  • the stronger it gets and the thicker its connections become.

  • So in theory, to think like Einstein,

  • you've got to do activities that will

  • keep your corpus callosum active and use

  • both hemispheres of your brain at once.

  • Multiple studies have shown that musicians

  • tend to use their whole brain more.

  • Einstein himself was a violinist.

  • So maybe taking up an instrument or music lessons could help.

  • Handedness is connected to lateralization.

  • So by being left-handed, I'm using

  • the right part of my motor cortex.

  • A 2004 study in Nature showed that juggling

  • could help me strengthen up my whole brain activity

  • by requiring me to use both hands.

  • Just using your non-dominant hand

  • throughout the day for things like brushing your teeth

  • could potentially do the same thing.

  • Logic and math puzzles are good, because number estimates

  • and comparison use both halves of your parietal lobe.

  • And if you're terrible at them, like me,

  • it means you also get to work out your amygdala, yor

  • ventral medial prefrontal cortex, and your limbic system

  • by flying into a rage.

  • Just remember to flip the desk over

  • with your non-dominant hand.

  • I have some issues.

  • Anyway, an unanswered question here

  • is whether Einstein was born with a more developed

  • corpus callosum to begin with, which

  • would have given this sort of thinking a head start.

  • I also cannot tell you with a straight face that brushing

  • your teeth with the wrong hand or playing the ukelele is going

  • to turn you into the next great thinker.

  • But making conscious decisions to learn, adapt,

  • and be creative every day can't hurt.

  • What do you think?

  • Was Einstein born better, or did he make himself that way?

  • Let me know down below, and subscribe for more D News.

Look, we've always known that Einstein was better than us.

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