Become Comfortable With "Weird and Bizarre"

"The wise man is he that knows what he does not know." – Anonymous

Being a doctor is a commitment to lifelong learning. Until you decide to lay down your license to practice, you will always have something new to learn—some new guideline, some new drug, some new treatment protocol that you need to familiarize yourself with. It never ends. But if there is anything that one could call the apex of learning in medicine, it is the realization that no matter how much we know, no matter the number of research studies and experiments we conduct, there is still a vast world of knowledge and understanding of medicine and the human body that remains unexplored.

From stories of people who had three kidneys to individuals who developed an allergy to air, there are countless bizarre medical occurrences that seem to defy the understanding of the medical community.

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The Legend of Phineas Gage

At the age of 25, Phineas Gage had an accident that changed his life completely. He was a railroad construction worker in the mid-1800s. One day, while working in Vermont, he was using a long metal rod to pack explosives into a rock. Unfortunately, the rod caused a spark that ignited the gunpowder, triggering an explosion.

The explosion sent the rod—approximately 1 meter long—through his skull. The rod entered below his left cheekbone and came out through the top of his skull. Incredibly, he survived the accident and was even able to walk and talk immediately after.

Many would call it a miracle, except that this "miracle" left him with severe side effects. Before the accident, Gage was known to be hardworking, responsible, and polite. But after sustaining the injury, everyone around him noted a sudden change in his personality. He became impulsive and short-tempered. He could not stick to plans, control his emotions, or behave in socially appropriate ways. He used profane language excessively and became indifferent to other people’s feelings.

Eventually, he left railroad work and became a stagecoach driver in Chile, where he spent several years. Over time, his condition gradually improved, suggesting that his brain was able to adapt and recover with time.

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The Floodgates Open

Phineas Gage’s injury opened the floodgates to a whole new world of understanding. His case provided the first real evidence that different parts of the brain control different aspects of personality and behavior. Before Gage, the idea that damage to a specific area of the brain could alter someone's personality was not well understood.

His case pioneered the study of the prefrontal cortex, the region of the brain associated with decision-making, impulse control, and social behavior. More than that, it also provided insight into neuroplasticity—the brain’s ability to heal, adapt, and reorganize itself after injury.

Phineas Gage’s story propelled medicine and neuroscience into a new era of understanding the brain, and to this day, his case remains one of the strangest and most significant occurrences in medical history.

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HeLa Cells: The Immortal Cells of Henrietta Lacks

In the 1950s, an African American woman named Henrietta Lacks was suffering from a deadly form of cancer. Doctors were struggling to find a way to help her, so they took a sample of her cancer cells for study. To their amazement, they discovered something extraordinary—the cells were able to survive and reproduce indefinitely outside the body.

These cells, later named HeLa cells (after Henrietta Lacks), became one of the most important breakthroughs in medical history. HeLa cells have been essential in:

• The development of the polio vaccine
• Cancer research, helping scientists understand tumor growth and drug responses
• Genetic studies, allowing advancements in gene mapping and cloning
• Space research, where HeLa cells were sent into orbit to study the effects of zero gravity on human cells

Despite the ground-breaking discoveries made possible by HeLa cells, Henrietta Lacks herself never gave consent for her cells to be used in research. Her case raised major ethical concerns about patient rights, medical consent, and the exploitation of marginalized communities.

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What Lies Ahead?

The more one thinks about Phineas Gage, Henrietta Lacks, and other strange occurrences in medical history, the more one is convinced that there is so much we still do not know. Science and medicine continue to evolve, but there remains an ocean of undiscovered knowledge about the human body and its capabilities.

These bizarre cases serve as a humbling reminder—that even with all the medical advancements we have made, we are still only scratching the surface of what is possible. To assume otherwise would be foolish.

For every medical mystery we solve, another one emerges, waiting to challenge our understanding and push the boundaries of human knowledge. And so, the pursuit of learning in medicine never truly ends and we must learn to embrace the weird and bizarre as a window into more learning.