I’LL TAKE HAWKING’S BRAIN AND THE LIVER OF A COLLEGE STUDENT

A woman in England who had a kidney transplant last May claims that she has taken on many of the personality traits of the donor. After the surgery Cheryl Johnson, 37, found herself becoming more irritible and belligerant, traits that she assumes came from the 59-year-old man whose kidney she now owns. Along with her personality changes, she also began reading Jane Austen and Dostoevsky rather than the pulp fiction she used to enjoy. While most doctors don’t believe patients who tell these stories, a theory called cellular memory phenomenon has been developed to explain the rare but famous examples of this effect which include a woman with vertigo who became a climber, a chocolate-hating lawyer who began eating Snickers, and a seven-year-old girl who had nightmares about being killed after being given the heart of a murdered child. (The Telegraph)