But now we know why.

Anthony here from D News.

And we are constantly hearing about Einstein's brain.

It was removed about eight hours after his death,

and we've just been poking at it ever since,

looking for the differences that made it such a brilliant mind.

And a study recently published in the journal, Brain

thinks that they've found the answer.

And it's in the corpus callosum, the body's largest bundle

of neuronal fibers that sits underneath

your cerebral cortex.

Among its functions is making sure

that both halves of the brain can

communicate with each other.

Now, we've talked about the left brain, right brain myth

and lateralization before.

Spark Notes version-- there's no such thing

as a left or right brain person.

You are a beautiful, unique snowflake

that can do anything you want, thanks to practice and neural

plasticity.

However, the things you do are controlled

by different parts of the brain.

And if those parts are on different sides

and need to work together, they've

got to go through the corpus callosum to do it.

Einstein's corpus callosum had extremely thick connections

between the halves of three very interesting brain

regions-- his prefrontal cortex, which

controls abstract thinking and decision-making,

his parietal lobe, which is all about sense and motor function,

and his visual cortex, for seeing.

The thicker connections could be responsible for lower

lateralization of brain activity and at least partially

explain why he was so brilliant, which is interesting,

because lower lateralization in the brain

has also been linked to schizophrenia and psychopathy.

So how do you get brain like Einstein's?

Last week, I talked a little bit about neural plasticity

and how the more you use a part of your brain,

the stronger it gets and the thicker its connections become.

So in theory, to think like Einstein,

you've got to do activities that will

keep your corpus callosum active and use

both hemispheres of your brain at once.

Multiple studies have shown that musicians

tend to use their whole brain more.

Einstein himself was a violinist.

So maybe taking up an instrument or music lessons could help.

Handedness is connected to lateralization.

So by being left-handed, I'm using

the right part of my motor cortex.

A 2004 study in Nature showed that juggling

could help me strengthen up my whole brain activity

by requiring me to use both hands.

Just using your non-dominant hand

throughout the day for things like brushing your teeth

could potentially do the same thing.

Logic and math puzzles are good, because number estimates

and comparison use both halves of your parietal lobe.

And if you're terrible at them, like me,

it means you also get to work out your amygdala, yor

ventral medial prefrontal cortex, and your limbic system

by flying into a rage.

Just remember to flip the desk over

with your non-dominant hand.

I have some issues.

Anyway, an unanswered question here

is whether Einstein was born with a more developed

corpus callosum to begin with, which

would have given this sort of thinking a head start.

I also cannot tell you with a straight face that brushing

your teeth with the wrong hand or playing the ukelele is going

to turn you into the next great thinker.

But making conscious decisions to learn, adapt,

and be creative every day can't hurt.

What do you think?

Was Einstein born better, or did he make himself that way?

Let me know down below, and subscribe for more D News.