All human beings are, in fact, born with dozens of mutations their parents lacked, and a few of those mutations could well be lethal if we didn't have two copies of every gene, so one can pick up the slack if the other malfunctions. Sam Kean bearbeingcopy share on social
America was probably Europe's equal scientifically by the end of World War I and certainly surpassed it after the chaos of World War II. Sam Kean americachaosend Change image and share on social
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.' Sam Kean afterwardbehaviorbrain share on social
Genes work with probabilities; they don't work with certainties. So most things that you're looking at with these genetic tests, it's not like you're condemned to automatically get the disease or the syndrome. There's a lot of factors in play there. Sam Kean automaticallycertaintycondemn share on social
People adored Element 13's color and luster, which reminded them of the sparkle of gold and silver - a brand-new precious metal. In fact, aluminum became more precious than gold and silver in the 19th century because it was harder to obtain. Sam Kean 19thadorealuminum share on social
The more that I looked at DNA, the more I realized it was nature and nurture. It's how genes and your environment work together to produce the person you are. Sam Kean dnaenvironmentgene Change image and share on social
In a vague way, I always knew neurosurgery was different - more delicate, more difficult, more demanding. After all, we say things like, 'I'm no brain surgeon,' for a reason. Sam Kean braindelicatedemand Change image and share on social
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. Sam Kean celldaughterdivide Change image and share on social
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. Sam Kean brainfascinatefigure Change image and share on social
Our evolution could have gone in different directions a lot of times. We could have gone extinct at some points. We might not have gotten our big brains, or Neanderthals might have made it while we did not. Sam Kean bigbraindirection share on social
