Why Do We Put Holes In Our Head?
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 10 фев 2025
- The $15,000 A.I. from 1983: • The $15,000 A.I. From ...
Scraping, grinding, or drilling a hole through the thick, hard skull that evolution developed to protect our most sensitive contents might be one of humanity’s worst ideas -- and also one of our best.
We have no idea how it started, or why the first trepanner thought it would fix anything. We just know that nearly every civilization worldwide has been drilling holes in heads for at least 7,000 years. Sometimes it actually worked. Sometimes it… didn’t.
Unraveling the impossibly-complex story of trepanning exposes a deep conceptual understanding of the relationship between the brain and behavior. It reveals our desire to take drastic measures to preserve the lives of people who are important to us, whether their value is practical or emotional. And the development of trepanning from Neolithic peoples to the Greeks and Incas and modern trauma surgeons takes a winding road through horrors and genius.
Trepanning evolved alongside our understanding of biology, physics, and even consciousness, with both its tools and practices reflecting our increasing knowledge and our changing attitudes toward health and human life.
Love stories. Skull jewelry. Headache cures. Experimental psychosurgery. A few people who just wanted to chill. It’s all trepanning.
And the most remarkable thing about this seemingly-crude phenomenon is how it not only persists, but that it might actually be an important part of our plan for tomorrow.
So sharpen an old rock, measure your brainbloodvolume, and grab a watermelon to practice on.
We’ll see you in the future.
** SOURCES / FURTHER INVESTIGATION **
“Bore Hole” by Joe Mellen: www.amazon.com...
“A Hole in the Head: More Tales in the History of Neuroscience” by Charles Gross: mitpress.mit.e...
“Holes in the Head: The Art and Archaeology of Trepanation in Ancient Peru” by John Verano: www.amazon.com...
“Hippocrates, Vol. III” translated by Dr. E. T. Withington: www.google.com...
“The Popular Science Monthly,” September 1875: www.google.com...
“The Popular Science Monthly,” February 1893: www.google.com...
“A History of Medicine: Primitive and Ancient Medicine” by Plinio Prioreschi: www.google.com...
“A History of Human Responses to Death: Mythologies, Rituals, and Ethics” by Plinio Prioreschi: www.amazon.com...
The Wellcome Collection: wellcomecollec...
** SPECIAL THANKS **
Advisor, History of Medicine: Dr. John Dickey, UMass Chan Medical School
The Wellcome Collection, The British Museum, and others who generously license their material with Creative Commons
#science #technology #documentary #history
*guy losing liters of blood from a hole in his head*
"Whoah I feel lighter now haha this is crazy! My blood pressure is going down and I feel like taking a nap whoah"
A forever nap
Patient: "Doctor I have a very bad stomach ache."
Doctor: "Let me work on the top of your head for a sec."
lol
We spent a week doing ‘top of head’ in Anatomy. I know just where it is.
if God didn't want me to put holes in my head why did he give me five?
Real
Seven if you count your eye sockets
Exactly, he already gave you so u don't have to
TREV! This is not a how-to guide!
topologically it's just 1 hole, if I remember correctly. But did you ever shed a thought about the fact that a part of the brain is exposed. We call it eyes, but its a straight connection into the brain visible from outside.
people really had it tough before the invention of Aspirin 😂
💀
aspirin doesn't do shit for severe headaches tho (not saying that the holes in skull help either)
Asprin works better for me than Tylenol and Advil. Advil relaxes muscles a little.. Tylenol midly relaxes pain receptors.. but Asprin actually thins the blood and allows your head to feel lighter. Its no where near as strong as Prednisone "steroids" for inflimation reduction, but its the best over the counter meds ive tried.
@rosenette11
I'm just here before the channel blows up more. Glad I have a backlog of the old content to watch now too, and whatever the future holds for this teams channel. I've been having a science itch. Great work as always for like the last 15 years at this point, Kevin.
thanks, nosleep! Really excited to re-invent the content here and roll it out every single week, retro tech, science documentaries, visualizations, and stories. 15 years and 50 more!
What an insightful video on trephenation, not at all boring.
thank you -- and we had to leave out some really good stuff (RUclips would've age-restricted it for "gore" despite it being purely medical/scientific)
@popularscience I appreciate your whittling through reams of material and material on reaming that could lead to circular arguments.
I thought it was very boring. Afterall, he spent the hole time boring through Joe rind.
@@catherinebaldwin6580 That was the 'hole point of my pun!
This video blew my mind. Well, at least it put a hole in it
Good, but did the explosion and the small channel it created allow the evil spirits to escape?
I did mine to let them in!
I’m surprised no one mentioned Humunculus, a manga that talks a lot about trepanation and the main guy has it done on him. It’s a very good psychological manga, many good topics on mental illnesses and psychological disorders. Joe Meller’s story seems to be the base for the manga concept of wanting to expand consciousness, psychic powers and such
Glad that you're still making videos.
I love your other channel, Sauce, too.
thanks, Johnny -- and yeah, Vsauce2 continuing as normal (new video out over there next week!) and a new one each week here. lots and lots of content is happening
Good to hear!!@@popularscience
Ive had a craniotomy fenestration and shunt placement due to a cyst taking up the entire right hemisphere. Along with 8 brain surgeries, ive had a couple subdurals and an epidural hematoma the size of a softball. I couldn't imagine having any of that done before "modern" medicine. Inconceivable how this was done thousands of years ago.
"It would have worked, too, if you wouldn't have stopped me."
I'm just thinking about these holes looking likes they where inflicted with warhammers.
Well look at it this way. This is the oldest surviving surgery that we know of. It was also a very dangerous surgery performed by top doctors. Those doctors needed a livelihood and if they have no one to teach their very important medical procedure they will be out of a job and their decendents will have to look work else where instead in top of the line bone cracking
Perhaps he just wanted a headphone jack but he was too ashamed to admit it.
They always did say I've got a head like a hole.
Black as your soul?
I'd rather die than give you control!
I 1st heard about brain trepanation when I was around 17, and when I developed migraines a year later, I understood why people went that route. Never tried it myself, but the thought crossed my mind a lot then as my migraines used to be pretty bad.
Pain can make people consider trying the most amazing things just to make it stop...I'm not surprised. I get migraines from Monosodium Glutamate in food, and I tell any restaurants that I want to eat at that "It won't kill me, but it'll make me wish it could" so that they understand how serious I am about it...because I am ALSO alllllmost that serious about it. I don't ACTUALLY consider suicide, but that might be mostly because I know that all I have to do to make it go away is 'survive two or three days, and keep drinking water'. Movement, food, all optional...I just need to not-die and eventually it will end. If that kind of blazing agony would happen randomly for a full week at a time and may-or-may-not end after that week, well, I'd likely end up a lot more willing to consider desperate options to make it stop. o.o;
God: gives humans intelligence
Humans: ima put a hole in my head
you can't reach great heights without first knowing where rock bottom is
@@popularscience true, someone had to "invent" common sense after all
god: gives me consciousness
brain: i want to die
Just found this channel. Enjoying it so far!
ayyy jasper, welcome -- hopefully you like the next video as well, coming next week!
Hey man just found your videos today, they are so amazing I just wanted to let you know your going places. Keep entertaining man!
thanks Kyle, many more on the way -- new video next week!
@@popularscience keep ‘em coming!
"Egon, this reminds me of the time you tried to drill a hole through your head."
"That would have worked if you hadn't stopped me."
_- Ghostbusters, 1984_
Looking forward to the next video where you show us how to do a lobotomy on a cantaloupe
There's a great episode of Hamilton's Pharmacopeia where he interviews Amanda Feilding, "My LSD-Induced Love Affair With a Pigeon". She's now a prominent researcher in the field of psychedelic medicine, specifically 5-MeO-DMT if I recall.
I watched that episode, it's nuts
Quote Morpheus, "This may feel a little weird. "
Until his hand got sore haha!
Bet buddies head was a lot more sore.
Wild
THIS IS THE SUPERB CONTENT I NEED IN MY LIFE. I HOPE YOU DO MORE OLD GADGETS OUT OF POPULAR SCIENCE MAGAZINES.
The ending quote was absolutely amazing. I love your videos, dont you make videos for v-sauce? Absolutely great hosting. Keep it up my guy.
You have explained my curiosity about trepanning, brought a whole new meaning to being "bored/Bored to death" and have also made me thankful for Excedrine headache pills! cannot wait to see this channel blow up just like the Vsauce Channels did :)
Bad blood always sounded like they knew about infections in a rudimentary way.
I like that Jeo says he got high and enlightenment from the hole being drilled and the blood letting out, meanwhile that's just symptons of blood loss
Fun fact: John Lennon asked Paul McCartney if he would ever consider doing this
Gonna do a presentation on trepination as a treatment for possesion in Africa. Thanks for more inspiration!
Heyyy that's awesome, one of the most comprehensive articles is from Charles Gross (whose book we used) writing in The MIT Press Reader, check it out: thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/hole-in-the-head-trepanation/
Okay, I'll check it out.
Oke definitely subbed. Excellent quality! Despite me squirming throughout the whole episode in discomfort =S
Awesome, thank you! There's another one of these documentary videos coming next week. :)
Needed this video like I needed a hole in the head.
So like, surprisingly a lot actually.
11:30 I'd totally wear a part of my skull around my neck, that sounds badass.
I'm fairly well educated, but have never heard of this before. Fascinating! Personally, I don't even want a tattoo, or to skydive, and I think a sunroof on a car is a safety hazard. But I like learning about all the unusual things people do. How many politicians have extra holes?
So I actually have a permanent hole in my head. I was born with a rare genetic disorder called Saethre Chotzen syndrome, where some of my skull bones were fused together. The doctors chose to remove a large chunk of my skull in order to allow my head to develop normally. This was in the 1980s when that happened, and I still have the hole in my head to this day.
My dad had a brain biopsy, and they never "covered" the hole they made.
This might be the most uncomfortable video I have ever watched.
The main weapon was the sling - which throws large rocks at heads - heads get hit and skulls shatter - small pieces of bone must be removed
I have persistent headaches and it's always in the same spot behind my left eye in the temple area. Have considered gouging out the eye and drilling my head to make the pain stop lol. They say the brain doesnt have pain receptors but some headaches suck pretty bad.
It's so weird how various anomalies regarding our facial nerves and cranial vasculature make it feel like pain is coming from within our brain cavity. I have migraines and they feel like they're coming from behind my temples, but it's treatable easily by using a triptan drug to emulate a bit of serotonin in my facial nerves
@tylerphuoc2653 I think mine is because I had bacterial meningitis when I was younger. Probably brain damage XD
@@belialofeden Meningitis can affect basically any part of the cavity where cerebrospinal fluid is. The lasting damage can be formally within the brain, in the brainstem, or somewhere in your cervical (neck) vertebrae
I recommend getting a CT scan before self trepanation so you'll know precisely how deep to drill.
Pressure poppers
I have constant pressure in my cheek bones and AC bice my eyes, also diagnosed with persistent postural perception disorder, I have been thinking of this.
Interestingly, I’ve been to a traditional Tibetan Medicine hospital and the practice of a small trepanation of the skull to let blood flowing away is displayed as a traditional practice and seems its still practiced in that hospital. I guess it’s maybe based on a similar concept of that of Mr. Mellon about reducing the blood pressure
Alternate title *strangest ways to open a water Mellon”
Joe Mellen, really, the whole skit was a foreshadowing
She missed the opportunity to say “trepanation for the nation”
No way! I'd never think, maybe I will feel better with a hole in my skull."
So weird.
0 second comment: i always thought it was to "let the demons out" (relieve intercranial pressure)
we'll see i guess
Found another rare video that i will talk about to my friends
please tell your closest 50,000 friends and family to like and subscribe
I would guess for the headaches they had observed the open fontanel in an infant pulse. Thus they thought an adult with a hole like that could have a pressure valve.
Don;t know how you missed the fact bushmen (San) used to also do this practice including the whole necklace thing.
Wait... Matthew Taber wrote a medical journal?
Kinda related but not really, but as someone that's gotten more tooth extractions than they'd like to say, partially due to genetics and bad habits during childhood. I've always thought about how barbaric it all kinda is, not in a bad or disparaging way regarding the profession #AppreciateDentists, but more so in just how brute force it can sometimes be. Like, obviously with scans like x-rays it's been made much more precise and anaesthetic makes the process feel more like someone's shoving their thumb into your sinuses or jaw, as opposed to the horrific pain I imagine early dentistry would've been.
Though the auditory, and tactile experience of the cracking of your own teeth whilst a dentist is pulling on a molar like it's a nail stuck in a knot in a 2x4, is very much unnerving sometimes. Reminds you that apart from newer procedures regarding certain types of extractions or fillings where proper oral surgery is done prior, the process itself when you're in the chair hasn't changed much in a while. Just that we've gotten more advanced in the techniques surrounding diagnoses and patient comfort, as well as controlling infection and using tools like suction hoses with irrigation, and UV activated polymers to help.
And even cooler, is the fact that I had/have (it's in one of my drawers somewhere, I got to keep it) a semi-rare type of molar due to the genes controlling tooth formation, which made two of the extraction a bit of a chore considering they had more roots that were knurled. Thus making it kinda hooked into my gums.
Wow it sure is a good thing you use that cut proof glove you're definitely safe for that thing we should make body armor out of it too actually that's some very durable stuff
Compared to a watermelon a human skull has water between it and the brain. Gotta remember that.
Only a thousand views? I figured this to have a few million.
hopefully we get there, it'll take a little while to get the algorithm rolling. but that's why we love the early crowd who's with us from the start
I am suffering from chronic fatigue, I would give it a shot anytime. I also do not believe stone age people were idiots, rather the opposite, brain volume is getting less since Chro-Magnon that is sure.
God no thanks. Can’t even imagine the pain they had to sit through.
This dude looks like a young version of bushcampdad
so what you're saying is.. I should try this at home
if my doctor name is Hippocrates i ain’t going
and if she ain’t wear the ring i made from my skull, we calling it off
I had a friend who got into black magic, then drilled a hole in his head to release the demons. He's not right...
I just think he needs a bigger hole
It suggested the other new video but not this one.
the algorithm works in mysterious ways
I've had some bad pressure headaches where my natural desire is to drill a hole in my head... now imagen if all the doctors around me agreed
Is this where the saying "I need this like a "hole in the head" originated?
It seems that way, jimmerlin -- there was some coverage in the 60's/70's about the counter-culture fringe elements (like Huges and his followers) engaging in trepanation, which had to have come off as being nuts to most people
How great was trepang 2 though?
So, just to be sure the holes are covered with skin right?
Who else is here from Vsauce2?
I am, and he always makes my day better while I watch his videos! He's an amazing teacher
Me
me
Me
I'm gonna have nightmares now.😢
At least we've gotten better at doing the bad thing
sometimes that's all we can hope for
hell yeah more kevin content
Brain surgery kinda solved the pressure in my head. Hole in my head has at least one benefit
I don't think mental illness was a reason for trepanation. In many cultures, people who would be considered schizophrenic or otherwise having severe mental illness, were often regarded as special messengers from the gods, or having the ability to see into the spirit realm, etc. Chances are good that our ancestors felt the same. Mental illness wouldn't have been seen as a problem, but as a gift.
"bloodbrainvolume" german writing law
It's weird how we came into the world in a body without an instruction manual or a schematic 😂
Neutral Link: is it Dream, or is it advertising?
we are probably about to find out
Hey Mr. Host Guy. I'm getting some Frankie Muniz vibes from you
good video
Joe Mellen really should cared a lot about his Mellen.
i do it to get the bad thoughts out
Sure, but now that there's a hole, won't it be easier for new ones -- and WORSE ones -- to make their way in? Cranial conundrum.
I want to know all the ways they tried and rejected. I feel like the Chinese probably tried black powder for everything once they invented it. Pretty sure I would’ve.
I am so confused by why this channel exists, what was popular science/why is vsauce doing this?
15:54 why not put it in a vice?
Cuz our brain is in a lil box
"Trepanning" used (mistakenly)as noun "trepang" - "hole in the head" makes now sense for a video game of said name. Otherwise "sea cucumber" didnt.
Those there are speed holes
Who’s WE???
I thought it was for spiritual purposes? People today do it because they say it heightens their spiritual awareness or connection to god or something like that?
This is much like the medical “science” of blood letting and humors
I would guess migraines , that's what feel like doing when i get one.
This is because the brain is the least understood part of the human body.
Helium holes.
Kirkland vsauce 😂
F CC f F fg Nl pop
meme accounts show a lot of women getting hurt too
doing dumb things is the great unifier of all demographics
Id do it
It's actually really surprising how little pushback people seem to have had with this. The very sick, hurt, and unconscious people aside, there weren't too many indications that people put up a crazy fight to avoid trepanation, or maybe it just got dropped from the narratives. History is written by the drillers.
Lol 😂 amazing. I love your work on V2. Loved this.
2:05 TABBERRRRRRR
missed a chance for a JSchlatt cameo :'(
I've never cringed so hard in my life listening to a video...
This is sickening.
Elon''s studies are far from what these ppl were doing.
first victor cheese now joe melon 😞😞
WTF did i just watch ? LoL
For fun obviously