Singing Past a Stroke

The brain is a source of endless fascination to the minds of scientists, and researchers have now shown how singing helps many people with impaired speech after strokes. The brain’s speech center generally is on the left side,  with a mirroring spot on the right that’s usually underdeveloped. Singing, however, increases development on the right side, and singers’ brains are usually well endowed there. The new research found that singing helped stroke patients create new right-side connections — and helped them do it quickly. After a single session of combining words and tune, the patients were able to make simple statements such as “I am thirsty” — even when they started off unable to say intelligible words. (Via BBC.)