1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey, 2 00:00:06,559 --> 00:00:10,240 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Vogel bomb here. Oh. We think of 3 00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:13,440 Speaker 1: fingerprints as being something each of us carries around on 4 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:17,120 Speaker 1: the terminal knuckle of our fingers, unchanging and unique from 5 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:20,959 Speaker 1: everybody else's. That might be true for our digits, but 6 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:25,319 Speaker 1: new research suggests that our brains have fingerprints too, and 7 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:30,720 Speaker 1: that we can find them pretty quickly. Using an MRI machine, 8 00:00:30,920 --> 00:00:33,720 Speaker 1: neuroscientists can create what amounts to a map of your 9 00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:37,960 Speaker 1: brain called a functional brain connect home. The human brain 10 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:40,920 Speaker 1: is a little like a country, with different regions in it. 11 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:44,440 Speaker 1: One region for short term memory, another for hearing, another 12 00:00:44,479 --> 00:00:48,040 Speaker 1: for hand movement. The first map of the brain was 13 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:50,720 Speaker 1: published in nineteen o nine by a German physician who 14 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:54,560 Speaker 1: defined fifty two distinct areas of the brain. These days, 15 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:58,320 Speaker 1: these brain regions are called cortical areas and researchers who 16 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:02,560 Speaker 1: identified of them, and they're connected by these little neural 17 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:06,080 Speaker 1: fibers that act as highways. A connect dome is based 18 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:08,280 Speaker 1: on the activity that a person is doing and what 19 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:13,160 Speaker 1: parts of the brain this activity needs to use. In 20 00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:17,639 Speaker 1: a Yale University study found that no two brain connect 21 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:20,920 Speaker 1: domes are the same that when given MRI I images 22 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:23,399 Speaker 1: taken of the same several brains over the course of 23 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:26,759 Speaker 1: a few days, the connectivity fingerprint of each brain could 24 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:29,600 Speaker 1: help scientists match up the brain with a study participant 25 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:34,840 Speaker 1: with around accuracy. Then, in a study that appeared in 26 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:39,560 Speaker 1: the journal Science Advances in October, the scientists examined how 27 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:42,440 Speaker 1: long it actually took to capture a snapshot of a 28 00:01:42,440 --> 00:01:46,920 Speaker 1: person's brain fingerprint. In the past, MRI images were captured 29 00:01:46,959 --> 00:01:49,760 Speaker 1: over the course of several minutes, but the research team 30 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:51,960 Speaker 1: wondered if they could be taken in a shorter time. 31 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:57,800 Speaker 1: In a press release, researcher and Rico Amico said, until now, 32 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:01,320 Speaker 1: neuroscientists have identified brain finger prints using two m r 33 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:04,920 Speaker 1: I scans taken over a fairly long period. But do 34 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:08,520 Speaker 1: the fingerprints actually appear after just five seconds, for example, 35 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:11,840 Speaker 1: or do they need longer? And what a fingerprints of 36 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:15,440 Speaker 1: different brain areas appeared at different moments in time. Nobody 37 00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:18,680 Speaker 1: knew the answer, so we tested different time scales to 38 00:02:18,880 --> 00:02:23,360 Speaker 1: see what would happen. Amiko and his colleagues found that 39 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:26,320 Speaker 1: five seconds didn't cut it, but one minute and forty 40 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:30,000 Speaker 1: seconds was long enough to capture a brain fingerprint and 41 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:34,000 Speaker 1: further that an individual's unique brain map began appearing first 42 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:37,240 Speaker 1: in sensory areas of the brain, like those related to 43 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:41,959 Speaker 1: eye movement and visual perception and attention. Brain fingerprints and 44 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:45,399 Speaker 1: regions related to more complex functions like the frontal cortex 45 00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:50,560 Speaker 1: developed over longer periods of time. The research team plans 46 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:53,799 Speaker 1: to compare the brain fingerprints of patients with Alzheimer's to 47 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:58,480 Speaker 1: those of healthy people, Amiko explained in the press release. 48 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:01,799 Speaker 1: Based on my initial findings, it seems that the features 49 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:05,320 Speaker 1: that make a brain fingerprint unique steadily disappear. As the 50 00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:08,959 Speaker 1: disease progresses. It gets harder to identify people based on 51 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:12,480 Speaker 1: their connectomes. It's as if a person with Alzheimer's loses 52 00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:17,440 Speaker 1: his or her brain identity. Knowing this could mean earlier 53 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:21,480 Speaker 1: detection of neurological conditions like autism, stroke, or dementia that 54 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:29,799 Speaker 1: might cause a brain fingerprint to disappear. Today's episode is 55 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:32,800 Speaker 1: based on the article our brains have fingerprints and we 56 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: can find them fast on how stuff works dot Com, 57 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:37,880 Speaker 1: written by Jesslin Shields. Brain Stuff is production of by 58 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:40,119 Speaker 1: Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot Com, 59 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:43,120 Speaker 1: and it's produced by Tyler Klang four more podcasts from 60 00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:46,160 Speaker 1: my heart Radio. Visit the i heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, 61 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:48,040 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.