At this time of year, people are fond of telling scary tales - generally involving ghosts, ghouls, and other frightening creatures. Neuroscientists have their own horror stories, however - more niche, perhaps, but no less terrifying. Picture the scene: a group of PhD students are gathered around a flickering MRI console. The elder of the group (a fourth year) holds a torch pointing up at her face as she begins...
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Many years ago, there was a student in the lab. No one even remembers his name - except the Professor, and he's sworn never to speak of him. Because you see, this student spent three years scanning volunteers with DTI
for a study of white matter integrity . He found some good results, and he'd almost finished writing his thesis. He even got a paper accepted by Nature Neuroscience. Until one cold autumn night, when the student was working ...