Bathtub Full of Human Brains

"I've heard of brainwashing, but this is ridiculous!"

Enlarge

Brain expert says:
Just to answer a few questions that I've seen a few times:

1) Those are definitely human brains.

2) Those are definitely preserved human brains, probably with formalin. Fresh brains have the consistency of Jell-O they're wobbly and soft and more pink than those brains. As you can see in the picture, those brains are pretty firm and more grayish.

3) You can see some horizontal cuts in the lateral surface of some of the brains -- that's from the bone saw that opens up the skull.

4) The half-brains are intentional -- the two hemispheres of the brain are connected by a thick band of neurons (the corpus callosum) that someone cut through. Neuroanatomy classes like to have half-brains so that you can see all the midline structures of the brain.

My guess is that these are either brains that are going to neuroanatomy classes, or brains that have been removed from cadavers bound for gross anatomy classes.

.