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What Brain Surgery Reveals about How the Brain Works.

Neurophysiologist William Calvin. He assisted in neurosurgery on a patient named Neil. Neil was to have a portion of his temporal lobe removed to cure his severe epilepsy. But the neurosurgeon, George Ojemann, had to know where to cut. A mistake could cost Neil part of his normal brain function. So, while Neil was awake on the operating table, Dr. Ojemann, probed and stimulated Neil's exposed brain, the whole time carrying on a conversation with the patient. The purpose was to create a detailed roadmap of Neil's brain functioning. Calvin and co-author George Ojemann wrote about this surgical journey in their new book "Conversations with Neil's Brain: the Neural Nature of Thought and Language" (Addison-Wesley).

15:08
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Other segments from the episode on May 10, 1994

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, May 10, 1994: Interview with John Dominic Crossan; Interview with William Calvin; Review of The Hollywood String Quartet's album "The Hollywood String Quartet."
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22:32

Looking at Jesus Historically.

Professor John Dominic Crossan. A native of Ireland, ordained as a priest in the U.S. (he left the Priesthood in 1969), Crossman now teaches biblical studies at DePaul University. Crossan is a founding member of the Jesus Seminar, a group of scholars who meet to determine the authenticity of Jesus' sayings in the Gospels. Crossman's new work is "Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography" (HarperCollins) which seeks to place Jesus in the context of his Jewish, Mediterranean and peasant roots; to see him as a Socratic philosopher and radical egalitarian.

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When Cash was 18, her father (you know him as Johnny) presented her with a gift: a list of 100 essential country songs to help the budding singer-songwriter connect with and better understand the music that came before her. After holding on to it for the past few decades, Roseanne Cash decided to turn that gift into The List, her new album.

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27:35

A Writer Reports on His Own Brain Surgery

Steve Fishman was reporting in Nicaragua when a blood vessel burst in his brain. During his treatment, he researched his condition and its treatment, and interviewed the surgeons who operated on him. The blood vessel was repaired, but Fishman developed epilepsy as a result of the surgery. His book about the experience is called A Bomb in the Brain.

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Daughter of Warhol star looks back on a bohemian childhood in the Chelsea Hotel

Alexandra Auder's mother, Viva, was one of Andy Warhol's muses. Growing up in Warhol's orbit meant Auder's childhood was an unusual one. For several years, Viva, Auder and Auder's younger half-sister, Gaby Hoffmann, lived in the Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan. It was was famous for having been home to Leonard Cohen, Dylan Thomas, Virgil Thomson, and Bob Dylan, among others.

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This fake 'Jury Duty' really put James Marsden's improv chops on trial

In the series Jury Duty, a solar contractor named Ronald Gladden has agreed to participate in what he believes is a documentary about the experience of being a juror--but what Ronald doesn't know is that the whole thing is fake.

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