The Making of a Genius

Most people assume that geniuses are born not made. But Marion Diamond, a neuroanatomist at the university of berkley in California devoted her career to creating geniuses in the laboratory.

In one famous experiment, Diamond placed rats in a super stimulating environment, complete with swings, ladders, treadmills, and toys of all kinds. Other rats were confined to bare cages. Those rats that lived in the high stimulus environment not only lived to the surprising age of three (the rat equivalant of 90 in a human), but their brains increased in size, sprouting forests of new connections between nerve cells in the form of dendrites and axons-spindly, branch like structures that transmit electrical signals from one nerve cell to another. The rats who lived in bare cages stagnated and died younger. Their brains had fewer cellular connections.

As long ago as 1911, Santiago Ramon y Cajal, the father of neuroanatomy, had found the number of interconnections between neurons was the real measure of genius, far more crucial in determining brain power than the sheer number of neurons. Diamond's experiment showed that at least in rats the physical mechanism of genius could be created through mental exercise.

Did the principle apply to people? The neuroanatomist wanted to find out. She obtained sections of Einstein's brain and examined them. As she expected, Diamond found an increased number of glial cells in Einstein's left parietal lobe, a kind of neurological switching station that Diamond described as an "association area for other association areas in the brain". Glial cells act a a glue holding the other nerve cells together and also help transfer electrochemical signals between neurons. Diamond expected them, because she has also found high concentrations of glial cells in the brains of her enriched rats. Their presence in Einstein's brain suggested that a smaller enrichment process was at work.

Unlike neurons, which do not reproduce after birth, glial cells, axons, and dendrites can increase in number throughout life, depending on how you use your brain. The neuroanatomists work clearly suggested that the more we learn, than the more these connections are created. Likewise, when we cease learning and our minds stagnate, these connections shrivel and dwindle away.

The implications for all educators is very clear. If Einstein's brain worked anything like the brains of Diamond's rats, it may be possible to create new Einstein's by providing sufficiently stimulating mental exercise.