Science magazine. Traditionally, the brain is viewed as hard-wired, incapable of change once development has ended and only possessing a limited ability to recover aftertrauma. Unlike skin, blood and other parts of the human body, where old cells die and are replaced, the adult human brain is usually presumed to be unable to renew itself. Yet recent discoveries have overturned this belief and confirm that the brain is in fact "plastic".
Peter Evans explores how recent research into this brain plasticity may one day be turned into therapy for diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Producer Paul Arnold. EMAIL: Scirad@bbc.co.uk