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University of Southern California Should Probably Stop Doing Brain Science

posted by cmn32480 on Sunday April 05 2015, @06:27AM   Printer-friendly
from the DOH! dept.

SubiculumHammer writes:

Scientific American (SA) points out that although there are medical illustrators on staff at the University of Southern California it is highly likely that they were not consulted before putting out the cited press release about a $50 million dollar donation. The brain is shown back to front!

Additional images of the brain are available from Google.

Update: 04/05 18:27 GMT by mrcoolbp : User wantkitteh points out that the inaccurate image has been pulled from the USC links (though it's showing in the SA article at the time of this update)

 
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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by sjames on Sunday April 05 2015, @07:15AM

    by sjames (2882) on Sunday April 05 2015, @07:15AM (#166578) Journal

    Look at the Scientific American link and you will see the problem. It's not that they turned the image around from the traditional view, it's that they show the brain backwards in the outline of a human head, such that the frontal lobe is at the back of the skull. That is unquestionably wrong (though I'll admit, it could be a congressman).

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 05 2015, @07:30AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 05 2015, @07:30AM (#166579)

    Wasn't there an episode of The Outer Limits about a congressman who didn't know he was an alien until he hit his head in an accident and a brain scan revealed extra lobes?

    • (Score: 4, Funny) by hemocyanin on Sunday April 05 2015, @08:13AM

      by hemocyanin (186) on Sunday April 05 2015, @08:13AM (#166588) Journal

      Fiction requires a willing suspension of disbelief and if it can't get that concession, it's lousy fiction. That episode you mention sounds like it would suck. Now, if the brain scan showed large empty cavities, perhaps full of hot gas, that's something I could believe.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 05 2015, @09:55AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 05 2015, @09:55AM (#166606)

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthright_(The_Outer_Limits) [wikipedia.org]

        It was told from the point of view of a senator in existential crisis. He wasn't quite the everyman character you might prefer to see, but placing an ordinary everyman so deeply into an alien conspiracy might ruin the suspension of disbelief.

        Funny you should mention gas, since the aliens were poisoning the atmosphere.

    • (Score: 2) by captain normal on Monday April 06 2015, @02:21AM

      by captain normal (2205) on Monday April 06 2015, @02:21AM (#166826)

      The grant is to study brain injury. Any thing that would cause the brain to spin 180 degrees is obviously a traumatic injury.

      --
      Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--

  • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Sunday April 05 2015, @10:53AM

    by FatPhil (863) <reversethis-{if.fdsa} {ta} {tnelyos-cp}> on Sunday April 05 2015, @10:53AM (#166620) Homepage
    What image? The only image I see is in the press release, http://news.usc.edu/files/2015/03/Feature_Stevens_21-824x549.jpg , and that shows no outline of the human head?
    --
    Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves

    • (Score: 4, Informative) by FatPhil on Sunday April 05 2015, @10:55AM

      by FatPhil (863) <reversethis-{if.fdsa} {ta} {tnelyos-cp}> on Sunday April 05 2015, @10:55AM (#166621) Homepage
      After a bit of clicky-clicky, http://ami.org/press/press-releases/2015/342-forward-thinking-hiring-medical-illustrator has this: http://ami.org/images/stories/news/ForwardThinkingBrainImage.jpg
      --
      Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves

    • (Score: 2) by sjames on Sunday April 05 2015, @11:01AM

      by sjames (2882) on Sunday April 05 2015, @11:01AM (#166625) Journal

      This [twimg.com]. As shown in the Scientific American link (scroll down).

      • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Sunday April 05 2015, @11:17AM

        by FatPhil (863) <reversethis-{if.fdsa} {ta} {tnelyos-cp}> on Sunday April 05 2015, @11:17AM (#166631) Homepage
        SA not showing me the same page that they're showing you: http://fatphil.org/tmp/nobrain.png
        --
        Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves

        • (Score: 2) by sjames on Sunday April 05 2015, @05:15PM

          by sjames (2882) on Sunday April 05 2015, @05:15PM (#166698) Journal

          That explains the confusion. Perhaps SA thinks it's still the 1st?!?

      • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday April 05 2015, @01:24PM

        by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday April 05 2015, @01:24PM (#166650) Journal

        Ahhhhhh - I didn't see that image. Yeah - backward. As suggested above though, it could well be a congress critter.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 05 2015, @11:19PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 05 2015, @11:19PM (#166792)

        LOL