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May 30, 2008

Strange But True!

Q. When the neurobiology prof encountered a student who had plagiarized her entire paper from one of his class lectures, what punishment did he mete out? An F? Expulsion from the class?

A. A lesser teacher might have but not this one, says Oliver Sacks in “Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain.” When the prof called the student into his office, something didn't add up: She didn't seem the type to cheat or lie so he played a hunch, asking her if she happened to have a photographic memory. “Why, yes, sort of like that,” she replied. “I can remember anything if I put it to music.” She then sang back to him whole sections of his lecture. And quite prettily, he added. “I was flabbergasted.”


 
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