WEBVTT
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oh, hello I do.
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I do recall a recent episode where I went first and then you said I fucked it up, you couldn't even get the intro right.
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But hey, so I don't get yelled at again.
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We're the History Buffoons.
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I am Bradley and that is Kate.
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Oh, hello, oh, hey there.
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There it is, oh, hey there, good Lord.
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I mean right out of the gate.
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That was, that was epic I'm making a lot of chord noises you're doing something.
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Good lord, can you stop fucking with it to stop making the noises.
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I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry oh, my word, jesus, mother, something or other.
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Oh hey there, oh hey there.
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This is all staying in, just so you're aware I'm kate yeah, I went over that oh okay, that's bradley yes, I am, and we are the history buffoons and this is an origin of weird story and I am not the topic, if you can believe it I can't because I thought we were going to talk about you and how fucking weird you are right now jesus christ.
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That was epic.
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That was epic I'm just gonna have some more of my coffee so, anyways, this is the origin of weird.
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I'm gonna just fill time until she's ready oh my goodness okay so it feels like I haven't done this in a minute.
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Oh probably because we haven't we haven't.
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Well, I mean, we only do the origins every other week as a little side quest for our main buffoonery.
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A side quest.
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I love it so.
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So we're going to talk about the brain, the brain, the brain.
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Did you?
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Oh, I just hit my.
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That was weird and it echoed in my head.
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Did you ever watch Pinky and the Brain?
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Pinky, and the Brain Brain, brain, brain, brain, brain, brain, yeah.
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I used to love that when I was younger.
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Yeah, I mean a lot younger.
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I'm fucking old, yeah, I know, I know.
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You tell me every time I see you.
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So, she doesn't go.
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Hey, Brad, how are you?
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She goes, You're old.
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Okay.
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So what are we talking about today?
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We're going to talk about the brain.
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We all know who Albert Einstein is Trying to play.
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Oh shit, that's not my topic.
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No, it's the brain.
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He was a genius right, he was.
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yes, he was what you would call a smart man.
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And you'd probably assume that his brain was also something extraordinary I'm going to go with.
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Not, it actually turns out it was extraordinary, but in a different way.
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Was it enlarged?
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No, I will tell you.
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Was it small?
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Was there a hamster running on a wheel?
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Jesus Einstein was actually pretty clear about what he wanted when he passed away.
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He passed away at the Princeton Hospital on April 18th 1955.
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Okay, he had an abdominal aortic aneurysm oh shit and like internal bleeding, but he was pretty clear after he died that he did not want to be idolized in any kind of way.
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Well, apparently he didn't get his wish in any kind of way.
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Well, apparently he didn't get his wish.
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So, author of the book Postcards from the Brain Museum by Brian Burrell, he points out that Einstein's instructions were to cremate him and scatter his ashes privately, to avoid any kind of brain worship, so to speak.
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Was that like a common practice in 1955?
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No, that's just what einstein wanted.
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He didn't want people like gushing over his, like his ashes.
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Essentially, he wanted everything to be done privately okay, okay because he already knew that he was kind of a big deal because of how smart he was right, and he didn't want to want to be sensationalized.
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Yeah, he was a modest fellow.
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Yes, exactly.
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But, the oncologist, nope, the pathologist on call.
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Oh, there it is.
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I see how you can fuck that up.
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The pathologist on call was made aware of Einstein's passing, so he was the one that would do the autopsy.
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Okay.
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And he did something that would probably get his medical license evoked today did he take the brain?
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He took it the fucking brain I feel like that's really unethical so his name was thomas stoltz.
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Harvey was born in october 10th 1912 was his middle name Stoltz, or was he a Stoltz-Harvey?
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Stoltz-Harvey, there's no dash.
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So was it Stoltz's middle name.
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He was called.
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Dr Harvey.
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Oh, that's an interesting middle name yeah.
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So born October 10th 1912.
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He died April 5th 2007.
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Okay, oh, wow.
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So Harvey studied at Yale University as an undergraduate and then later as a medical student, and then he was the chief pathologist.
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On call on the night of Einstein's autopsy Okay, wow.
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So, very briefly, we're going to talk about how to do a brain autopsy, because it's kind of fascinating, right, and I pared it down quite a bit so this wouldn't be a long episode.
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Oh, and that's good, because I probably wouldn't understand it well, I'm going to tell you, I'm going to dumb it down for you you're going to teach me, you're going to learn me some things.
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I am going to learn you some things.
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So the brain which is in the skull of the head, since when?
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So, during an autopsy, you have to be wearing some PPE, some personal protective equipment, right?
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Yes?
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And using a scalpel, you're going to make a coronal incision which is from ear to ear, okay, so top of one ear to the top of the other.
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Up and around Yep, so you have a anterior and a posterior section.
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Right, okay, have a anterior and a posterior section.
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Right.
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Okay, and then you're going to cut along the occipital, which is the back of the head.
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I love the occipital.
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And again that's going to expose like the back of the skull.
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Like near your spine.
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Basically yes, Right, so you're going to retract the scalp, the anterior and the posterior, and using an autopsy saw and skull breaker, you remove the skull cap.
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Okay, that's just kind of like right on top there.
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Have you ever seen oh, it's a hannibal lecter movie with ray leota?
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yeah, no, I've seen that which one is that?
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that is is it just hannibal?
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I think it's just called.
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Hannibal.
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It might be just the Hannibal one.
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Yeah, ray Liotta's character.
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Because they're sitting at the dining room table and he's he's got a brain exposed.
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Sure does.
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But that cap is missing.
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Sure is, the skull cap is missing Okay.
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I like't know I always fuck her name up for some reason.
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So when you're removing the skull cap, you have to avoid damage to the cortex, which is where higher level functioning happens, like thinking and memory and language.
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I don't think I have that.
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I was just going to say I don't think I have that either.
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Yeah, and then you're going to see the dura and it's called dura matter.
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Okay, but it's essentially part of your meninges, oh meninges but it is tissue located right underneath the bone.
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Okay.
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Okay, that dura is cut with curved scissors.
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For everyone at home.
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she's using her fingers in a cutting motion Cutting motion and then the spinal cord is cut through the foramen magna.
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Foramen means hole, or like gap or whatever Large gap.
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Foramen, large hole essentially oh, okay, so it's a hole in the skull where your spinal cord goes through.
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Okay.
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So the spinal cord is cut.
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Right.
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And then the cranial nerves and the vessels are severed.
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Wow, okay, the brain pops out, pops out and it's placed in a buffered saline solution which is like a ph balanced saline solution.
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Okay, or four percent paraformaldehyde or so it's one or the other.
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Yep, and then how do you know which one to use?
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Like what are?
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you feeling that day, or I mean what's I'm not sure if there is a way to determine which one to use or if they're both acceptable or what's on hand, maybe, yeah but the skull is then blotted um of like moisture if you will moisture, the cap is replaced and then the skull is sutured together.
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Okay, okay.
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The removed brain is then weighted, photographed, and then hemi sac, so, like sliced down the middle, it's weighted.
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Yeah, they weigh it.
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There it is.
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Yeah, weighted, weighed Fuck.
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You got there.
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I appreciate that.
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I saw the hamster wheel turning in your brain there.
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They weighed.
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They weighted.
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Wow.
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Anyways, like I said, said my cortex is not not there it's.
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It's definitely absent and then so it's photographed and then hemisected, so it's like sliced down the middle, okay, okay, and then the brainstem and the cerebellum are then separated.
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Okay, so that is a brain biopsy.
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That's how you take, or, uh, autopsy, you'd like take it out?
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Okay, that's wild.
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So, following the autopsy, einstein's brain weighed 1,230 grams, which is pretty normal.
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That is a normal range in the normal range for a human, a regular human, and this is when Dr Harvey decided to steal his fucking brain.
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I know you're going to get into it for a minute.
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He has such faith.
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You're right, it's very misguided faith.
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I don't know why I thought you would going to get into it for a minute.
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He has such faith.
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You're right, it's very misguided faith.
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I don't know why.
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I thought you would actually do that.
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That's my bad.
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What is it?
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What did he expect to do with this brain?
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Study it.
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I get that, but in that moment he's like I'm going to take this.
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Is it going to be like a souvenir he's going to put up on his mantle, or is he like literally just going to study it?
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But like, I'm sure I'm not a smart man, however, it's like I'd just be like what am I going to do with this?
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So his reasoning was to study it, but he also was in a position that he thought this brain cannot go to waste, like it can't just be.
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But it did, he died.
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But you know what I mean, am I wrong?
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No, but he I know what you're trying to say.
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He wanted to study it and he wanted to make sure that it was preserved in some way, because it was kind of a big deal.
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Because he was a big deal?
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Because he was a fucking genius.
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Yeah, so Because he was a big deal, because he was a fucking genius, yeah.
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So what was his IQ?
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Do you remember?
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Did you come across it at all in anything?
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Because I know it was super fucking high.
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I did not research his IQ because then I would have to research what the range is, and I didn't want to get into all that.
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I was just curious, if you happen to know.
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I know that was not a part of your research, but just in case you saw it.
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I was just curious, that's all so he took the brain without permission, permission yeah permission from einstein, aka.
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This is part of my will yeah, he didn't get his permission slip signed yeah and he took it without einstein's family's permission I mean obviously einstein at that point not needed, but his family.
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That's kind of fucked up.
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I mean to do that.
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So so do you have to like smuggle it out in his like lunchbox or well, it wasn't a secret, so einstein's family demanded that the brain be returned sure and dr harvey struck a secret deal with hit with einstein's estate by essentially vowing to safeguard it from publicity and souvenir hunters.
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And he actually has a phone call with Einstein's son, Hans Albert.
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Hans Albert.
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And he was really pushing for the idea that keeping the brain would be like a huge scientific opportunity.
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And he's talking about analyzing it, looking for physical differences that might explain Einstein's genius, right.
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So Hans Albert was concerned about the whole thing kind of blowing up in the media, right.
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But Dr Harvey made a pretty strong promise trying to reassure him I'll take good care of it no exploitation, no sensationalism.
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And he swore that he would be the brain's responsible caretaker, only using it for research and published findings in scientific journals.
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So even though Hans Albert was pretty upset about the unauthorized removal of brain, Hans.
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Albert agreedans.
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Albert agreed to let him study him that's wild okay.
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So it's kind of like retroactively agreed upon yeah he, he already went through with the fuck.
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Yeah, the theft.
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Yeah, that's what it is.
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And then, like it's what's the saying, like, uh, I'm gonna butcher this um Ask for permission.
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Ask forgiveness.
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Yeah.
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Or whatever.
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You know what I'm talking about.
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Yeah, like ask for forgiveness before asking for permission or something like that, something or other, yeah.
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I know we're butchering it and that's whatever, but it's basically that.
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He's like fuck this, I'm going to take it, and then I'll just ask forgiveness later kind of.
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Thing.
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So Dr Harvey lost his job.
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Well, kind of thing.
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So, dr harvey.
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Harvey lost his job.
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Well rightly so, absolutely rightly so.
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I mean he did the wrong thing.
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He took the brain from princeton hospital to the university of pennsylvania, okay, where he carved it into multiple pieces.
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Okay, some, some say 170 pieces, some say 240, so like I don't know if he started with 170 and then broke those down right or what so I saw the two numbers is there a significance to either one?
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not really just that, it was a lot of pieces yeah, so he had like brain steaks, like he sliced them up like lunch meat or something he did, and he actually actually like numbered them to where it would be in the brain.
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So, like a puzzle piece, essentially with numbers.
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I would expect nothing less if he's actually going to do this because otherwise you're going to oh man, was this the front or the?
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back.
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Because there's certain parts of your brain, obviously, that do different things.
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So, if you start fucking that up, you're studying the wrong thing.
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So this whole process of him cutting up the brain took three months.
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I mean, it's not just like grabbing a steak knife, apparently I would have just put it in the bread slicer at the local piggly wiggly.
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True, yeah, yeah, yeah, it would have done this job.
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You can even pick different slice sizes so he put these pieces into jars and then stole and then stored them in his basement was a cool dry place that's where he kept it was just it was really fucking weird his wife was furious.
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She threatened to dispose of the brain herself.
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But karma had another plan on her new oh instead of becoming his ticket to scholarly fame it was his downfall it was his downfall.
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Yeah.
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So the?
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So he lost his Princeton job over it.
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Yeah, he lost his medical license due to other factors.
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What do you have any of those?
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So he was supposed to attend some type of like three day competency test and he didn't go or he failed at one of the two, oh, and he lost his license free because of it.
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He had three failed marriages, oh shit.
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And he spent 40 years like drifting from place to place like he had no like substantial, like root, I guess.
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I guess.
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Yeah, yeah, um, he would hide einstein's brain in basements, in cinder boxes, next to beer cases, and he struggled to make ends meet while also trying to study the brain at the same time so if he's basically fucking cutting all of his ties to any institution, that will have him, because he's a fucking idiot apparently and he's probably not an idiot no, he's just acting.
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He went to yale yale I said yale, not yell I said yale too, that's the funny part, um, but like not just that derailed me with my thought process there, but I don't know, he's a smart man.
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He clearly is a smart man because he was in a position of where he was to even have his hands on this brain.
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But then it's like, where are you going to study?
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You're not going to study it In your fucking basement, next to some beer boxes.
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I just I mean, what kind of beer was it?
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That wasn't part of my research.
00:16:52.144 --> 00:16:54.731
There it is Bringing it back.
00:16:54.731 --> 00:16:57.349
Everybody also knew that he had the brain.
00:16:57.349 --> 00:17:00.149
He told his family, he told his friends.