The limits of what we know about neuroplasticity continue to be astounding.  First recognized in the 1960s but rejected by neuroscientists until the 1990s, the concept that the brain created new neurons and could recover from injury has only been mainstream for the past 25 years or so. Since then, what we are learning about the miracles of the brain continue to grow and evolve.

For example, a St. Louis-area boy had a stroke as a newborn that was not discovered until he was a teenager. His brain compensated for the dead tissue on the cortex of his brain to the point that, with the exception of some motor movement, the severity of his brain injury was hardly noticeable. Brain scans revealed significant loss of functioning brain tissue in the boy that doctors described as on the edge of what is compatible with life, yet he has lived and continues to live a normal life.

You can read about this boy’s amazing story and see copies of his brain scans on the Washington University School of Medicine’s website, here.