Diary: Among the Neurons
Gavin Francis, 24 January 2013
I was 19 years old when I first held a human brain. It was heavier than I had anticipated; grey, firm and laboratory-cold. Its surface was slippery and smooth, like an algae-covered stone pulled from a riverbed. I had a terror of dropping it and seeing its tight contours burst open on the tiled floor.
It was the start of my second year at medical school. The first year had been a helter-skelter...