Of Hearts and Minds

The heart is the most symbolic organ of the human body. Across history, it has been seen as the source of emotions and the center of human existence. However, by the seventeenth century, scientific understanding overturned historical ideas, and the heart was recognized merely as a mechanical pump. More recently, Professor David Paterson from the University of Oxford has been doing extensive research that challenges this view. He has discovered that the heart has millions of specialized neurons just like those that are in the brain. Neurons are the cells that give humans the ability to think. So what does their presence in the heart mean?

(Source: DCMP)