The irresistible question for Carnegie Mellon University brain researcher Marcel Just is: How do we get a human mind and a human being out of a brain?
"The competing one, of course, is genetic control of humanity, but this one, getting mind out of brain -- some call it the embodiment of thought -- it's a wonderful challenge."
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Marcel Just: "This is really the frontier in science." (Lake Fong, Post-Gazette) |
From that reference point, Just spins all sorts of research, including the dual task performance study that grabbed the world's attention this year. After monitoring brain activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging, Just and colleagues concluded that people can't effectively drive a vehicle and talk on a cell phone, or with a passenger, at the same time.
The brain, it seems, has its limits.
The findings interested many, including Bob and Jeff, radio hosts in Sydney, Australia; legislators and police nationwide; great numbers of science writers; the Discovery Channel, which aired a 15-minute special; CBS News anchor Dan Rather, whose report worked its way into Just's presentations; and the legislator who authored New York's new "hands free" cell phone law.
"I've never done this many interviews in my life," Just said.
Among the many serious topics tackled at CMU's Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging, where Just serves as director, include what happens in old age, education processes, neurological disease and mental illness, such as the underpinnings of autism.
Just's compelling desire to unlock the secrets of the brain evolved from a childhood love of math, which he found elegant and beautiful, but divorced from issues he cared about.
"People are ultimately the most interesting things to come to understand," he said.
Just has passed his love of science to sons Allan, 18, a freshman in environmental sciences at Brown University, and Adam, 23, a computer science graduate who works for Ericsson in San Diego.
Outside the lab, his interests are varied. Inspired by the guitar Adam left behind in their Squirrel Hill home, Just has begun to teach himself to play while fantasizing that he is Kris Kristofferson. Just is an avid cyclist and a regular on the "spectacularly beautiful" Youghiogheny River Trail, where he thinks contemplatively and communes with nature.
In April, Just, 54, will co-direct the Brain Imaging Institute, a joint effort of CMU and the University of Pittsburgh, funded with $3 million from the National Science Foundation.
"This is really the frontier in science," Just said. "It's glorious, it's inspiring, and I feel tremendously privileged to earn my living this way."
