Right and Left Sides of the Brain Show Albert Einstein's Brilliance

A recent study shows how both the left and right hemispheres of the brain's connection influenced Albert Einstein's brilliance.

"This study, more than any other to date, really gets at the 'inside' of Einstein's brain," lead study author and anthropologist Dean Falk notes, via a press release. "It provides new information that helps make sense of what is known about the surface of Einstein's brain."

According to researchers at Florida State University's, they developed a new technique in order to conduct a study which is the first to detail Einstein's corpus callosum, the brain's largest bundle of fibers that connect two cerebral hemispheres which work to facilitate interhemispheric communications.

"This technique should be of interest to other researchers who study the brain's all-important internal connectivity," Falk said, via the release. 

The study notes the following, via the release: "Men's technique measures and color-codes the varying thicknesses of subdivisions of the corpus callosum along its length, where nerves cross from one side of the brain to the other. These thicknesses indicate the number of nerves that cross and therefore how "connected" the two sides of the brain are in particular regions, which facilitate different functions depending on where the fibers cross along the length. For example, movement of the hands is represented toward the front and mental arithmetic along the back.

"In particular, this new technique permitted registration and comparison of Einstein's measurements with those of two samples - one of 15 elderly men and one of 52 men Einstein's age in 1905. During his so-called "miracle year" at 26 years old, Einstein published four articles that contributed substantially to the foundation of modern physics and changed the world's views about space, time, mass and energy."

Their findings show that Einstein had more extensive connections between the areas of his brain compared to both the younger and older control groups.

More information regarding the study can be found via the journal Brain.