The brain, as you know, is the command center of our body, and we have learned that its absence is simply incompatible with life, because even the lack of large portions of it can have a number of serious consequences. This is why the case we are going to tell below is so surprising and has been completely perplexing doctors and specialists.

He is a Frenchman - married, father of two and a civil servant in the city where he lives - who, while going to the doctor to complain of a slight weakness in his left leg, underwent a series of tests and found that about 90% of your brain did not exist! The case was published in 2007 in a scientific journal, and at the time the man without brains was 44 years old.

But how?

The doctors explained that the brain's disappearance was probably the result of very peculiar circumstances. As a young baby, the patient was diagnosed with a condition known as hydrocephalus - which is characterized by fluid accumulation inside the cranial cavity - and had a valve to drain excess fluid from his skull.

French patient radiograph

At 14, his doctors judged that the patient no longer suffered from the problem and removed the device. The current team believes that since then, man has continued to accumulate fluids in his skull, and over 30 years this material has been eroding his brain - until only 10% of the organ remained.

What amazes doctors most is the fact that the patient has been able to spend all this time without being suspicious of what is happening and has led an absolutely normal life despite the absence of almost every brain - being able to speak, walk, form memories., control your vital functions, troubleshoot and formulate thoughts!

However, according to the experts, what is most striking about the case is that it not only leads science to question what is necessary for a person to survive, but also challenges the very conception of consciousness.

Consciousness without brain

Experts believed that consciousness could be associated with several brain areas, such as the visual cortex and the cloister - a thin layer of neurons that protrudes through noble regions of the brain. But the case of the French man contradicts this theory, since, according to her, because he does not have 90% of the organ (and therefore only 10% of the neurons he should), he could not be aware.

About 90% of brain missing

The patient's case strongly suggests that only specific regions are unlikely to be responsible for consciousness. Instead, instead of being born with it, experts believe that the brain adapts and learns to be "conscious" constantly. Thus, the localization of this quality can be flexible and assimilated by several brain areas.

Moreover, the intriguing case of the Frenchman suggests that the adult brain may be far more adaptable than previously thought - and capable of assuming different roles when the organ is severely damaged. According to the experts, the patient's intriguing condition suggests that, for awareness, it is sufficient that we have already stored the necessary information.

Random image showing skull "filled" by brain

Moreover, experts suggest that everything seems to indicate that the brain remains continually - and unconsciously - learning and rewriting its own activity, and it is this hard work of the organ that forms the basis of consciousness. In the case of the French man, although he had only a small portion of his brain, the remaining neurons allowed him to remain functional.