A new science called neuroplasticity is overthrowing the old notion that the human brain is immutable. Psychoanalyst Doidge traveled the country to meet both the brilliant scientists championing neuroplasticity and the people whose lives they've transformed--people whose mental limitations or brain damage were seen as unalterable. We see a woman born with half a brain that rewired itself to work as a whole, blind people who learn to see, learning...

"Earle Dickson and his new bride Josephine begin their lives together. The end. (Not really. There's more.) Josephine has a proclivity for injuring herself. Earle attaches cotton to long strips of adhesive tape, telling Josephine to cut off a length when she needs one. Since Earle works as a cotton buyer at Johnson & Johnson, he shares his idea. They're a big hit. The end. (Again, not really!) After a few false starts (much like the hilarious "the...

"When Sarah Vallance is thrown from a horse and suffers a jarring blow to the head, she believes she's walked away unscathed. The next morning, things take a sharp turn as she's led from work to the emergency room. By the end of the week, a neurologist delivers a devastating prognosis: Sarah suffered a traumatic brain injury that has caused her IQ to plummet, with no hope of recovery. Her brain has irrevocably changed. Afraid of judgment and deemed...