The curious afterlife of a brain trauma survivor

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View this email in your browser  |  Manage newsletter subscriptions  08.21.22 The Curious Afterlife of a Brain Trauma Survivor Sophia Papp emerged from an accident with her personality transformed. She tried to continue on as before—until she realized she could reinvent herself. BY MIKE MARIANI | 14-MINUTE READ Sophia Papp's world changed in a moment on an ordinary September morning. She was riding in a car with her family, anticipating an idle day by the river, when the driver lost control and the car flipped. Sophia suffered a grave coma. She survived, but soon her parents noticed something strange. The 19-year-old woman who had woken up wasn't quite the same Sophia as before. She talked back to her doctors, played pranks on other patients, and flirted with a surgeon. A traumatic brain injury, her doctors found, had affected her inhibition control, completely transforming her personality. "A quiet, easygoing young woman fell into a weeklong slumber and woke up talkative, tempestuous, and inscrutable," writes Mike Mariani in this fascinating excerpt from his forthcoming book, What Doesn't Kill Us Makes Us. So began Sophia's tumultuous afterlife. Though her physical recovery was strong, Sophia was determined to prove that her intellectual abilities, too, remained unaffected by the TBI. She enrolled in a university just months after the accident and devoted her energies to her studies. The exhaustive effort took a severe toll on her well-being. Eventually, with the help of others, Sophia came to understand that she could let go of her need to restore a continuity of self from before her accident. "When catastrophes cleave our lives apart, in order to restore purpose and cohesion we need to stitch our stories back together with a new throughline," Mariani writes. What doesn't kill us may make us stronger, or just remake us. Camille Bromley | Features Editor Google Search Is Quietly Damaging Democracy BY FRANCESCA TRIPODI | 4-MINUTE READ A series of incremental changes over the years has transformed the tool from an explorative search function to one that is ripe for deception. How Long Droughts Make Flooding Worse BY AMIT KATWALA | 4-MINUTE READ Parched ground is less likely to absorb water and increases the risk of dangerous flash floods. But there are ways to mitigate these conditions. The Future Could Be Blissful—If Humans Don't Go Extinct First BY MATT REYNOLDS | 10-MINUTE READ WIRED talked with long-termist philosopher William MacAskill about human extinction, Elon Musk, and his new book, What We Owe the Future. Doctors Are Pioneering a Better Way to Perform Autopsies on Kids BY GRACE BROWNE | 3-MINUTE READ Hi-res imaging can help determine cause of death in very young babies—giving parents answers without the distress of an invasive autopsy. To Fix Tech, Democracy Needs to Grow Up BY DIVYA SIDDARTH | 11-MINUTE READ Calls to "democratize technology" ring hollow when both systems seem to be failing. The key is realizing that democracy is not yet in its final form. GET WIRED Get 1 year of WIRED for less than $1 per month. That includes Steven Levy's exclusive newsletter and a free tote! Subscribe now. Have questions or comments? Reply to this email.   This email was sent to you by WIRED. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our email address, wired@newsletters.wired.com, to your address book.   View our Privacy Policy Unsubscribe or manage your newsletter subscriptions