• Question: Hi callum, Loved doing the live chat with you today- you answered more of my questions than I expected! Why did you choose to do brain cells as a scientist and not something else?

    Asked by busybodyscientist to Callum on 22 Nov 2012.
    • Photo: Callum Johnston

      Callum Johnston answered on 22 Nov 2012:

      Hey busybody, yeh you had lots of great questions so I just wanted to answer them all.

      Well when I was at school I enjoyed biology and psychology the best so I decided neuroscience would be a good thing to study. My university course covered all sorts of things in biomedicine like genetics, pharmacology and physiology but I still found neuroscience the most interesting. I was amazed at how many diseases there are of the brain and the amazing range of symptoms they can cause. Did you know you some people have damage to their brain which leaves them with normal vision but unable to recognise faces. Or that some people have a disorder called Alien Hand syndrome where they believe ones of their hands is not controlled by them! It was these sorts of things that made me want to understand the brain more and how the cells in it can cause some of these disorders.

      Do you think you would like to study the brain too?

Comments

  • Photo: busybodyscientist

    busybodyscientist commented on :

    Wow! I didn’t know that Alien Hand syndrome was an actual disease, I just thought it was people copying Jim Carrey off of that film, Liar Liar. (Have you seen it?). That’s so interesting.
    I think that studying the brain would be really fun as you would learn so many different things. I don’t think I’m good enough at biology to become a neuroscientist, though. Congrats on winning, by the way!!