TED2009
Jim Fallon: Exploring the mind of a killer
Jim Fallon: Explorant la ment d'un assassí
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Els assassins psicòpates són la base per a alguns programes de televisió d'èxit, però què fa que algú esdevingui psicòpata? El neurocientífic Jim Fallon parla sobre els escàners cerebrals i les anàlisis genètiques que descobreixen la sinistra natura (i criança) dels assassins. En un gir massa estrany per a la ficció, Jim Fallon comparteix amb nosaltres la seva fascinant història familiar que fa el seu treball esgarrifosament personal.
Jim Fallon - Neurobiologist
Sloan Scholar, Fulbright Fellow, Professor Emeritus of Neuroscience, Jim Fallon looks at the way nature and nurture intermingle to wire up the human brain. Full bio
Sloan Scholar, Fulbright Fellow, Professor Emeritus of Neuroscience, Jim Fallon looks at the way nature and nurture intermingle to wire up the human brain. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:18
I'm a neuroscientist, a professor at the University of California.
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Sóc neurocientífic, professor a la Universitat de Califòrnia
00:21
And over the past 35 years,
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I en els últims 35 anys,
00:24
I've studied behavior
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he estudiat el comportament
00:26
on the basis of everything from genes
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sobre les bases de tot, des dels gens
00:29
through neurotransmitters, dopamine, things like that,
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fins als neurotransmissors, la dopamina, coses així,
00:31
all the way through circuit analysis.
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sempre des de l'anàlisi de circuits.
00:33
So that's what I normally do.
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Bé, això és el que faig normalment.
00:35
But then, for some reason,
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Però un dia, per alguna raó,
00:37
I got into something else, just recently.
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vaig començar amb una altra cosa, fa poc.
00:39
And it all grew out of one of my colleagues asking me
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Tot va començar quan un del meus col·legues em va demanar
00:42
to analyze a bunch of brains
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que analitzara un grapat de cervells
00:44
of psychopathic killers.
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d'assassins psicòpates.
00:46
And so this would be the typical talk I would give.
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Així que aquesta seria la típica xerrada que donaria.
00:49
And the question is, "How do you end up with a psychopathic killer?"
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I la pregunta és: "Com et pots convertir en un assassí psicòpata?"
00:52
What I mean by psychopathic killer
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El que vull dir amb "assassí psicòpata"
00:54
are these people, these types of people.
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és aquesta gent, aquest tipus de gent.
00:56
And so some of the brains that I've studied
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I alguns dels cervells que he estudiat
00:58
are people you know about.
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són de gent que coneixeu.
01:00
When I get the brains I don't know what I'm looking at.
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Quan vaig rebre aquests cervells, no sabia el que estava examinant.
01:02
It's blind experiments. They also gave me normal people and everything.
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Eren experiments cecs. Fins i tot em van donar cervells normals.
01:04
So I've looked at about 70 of these.
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Aixina que he observat uns 70 d'aquests aproximadament.
01:06
And what came up was a number of pieces of data.
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I el que vaig obtenir van ser unes quantes dades.
01:09
So we look at these sorts of things theoretically,
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Així doncs, mirem aquest tipus de coses teòricament,
01:12
on the basis of genetics,
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sobre les bases de la genètica,
01:14
and brain damage, and interaction with environment,
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el dany cerebral i la interacció amb l'entorn,
01:17
and exactly how that machine works.
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i com funciona aquesta màquina exactament.
01:19
So we're interested in exactly where in the brain,
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Ens interessem pel lloc precís del cervell,
01:21
and what's the most important part of the brain.
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i quina és la part més important del cervell.
01:23
So we've been looking at this:
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Així que hem estat observant això.
01:26
the interaction of genes,
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La interacció dels gens,
01:28
what's called epigenetic effects,
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el que s'anomena efectes epigenètics,
01:30
brain damage, and environment,
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el dany cerebral i l'ambient.
01:32
and how these are tied together.
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i com estan relacionats.
01:34
And how you end up with a psychopath, and a killer,
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I com s'acaba sent un psicòpata i un assassí
01:36
depends on exactly when the damage occurs.
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depèn del lloc on es troba el dany.
01:39
It's really a very precisely timed thing.
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És una cosa programada de manera molt precisa.
01:42
You get different kinds of psychopaths.
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Així es configuren diferents tipus de psicòpates.
01:44
So we're going along with this. And here's, just to give you the pattern.
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A això anem. I aquí el tenim, només per donar-vos el patró.
01:47
The pattern is that those people, every one of them I looked at,
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El patró és que aquesta gent, cadascun dels que vaig investigar,
01:50
who was a murderer, and was a serial killer,
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el que era un assassí, un assassí en sèrie,
01:53
had damage to their orbital cortex,
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tenia dany en el còrtex orbital.
01:55
which is right above the eyes, the orbits,
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El qual es troba exactament sobre els ulls, a les òrbites,
01:57
and also the interior part of the temporal lobe.
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i també a la part interior del lòbul temporal.
01:59
So there is the pattern that every one of them had,
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Aquest era el patró que tots presentaven,
02:01
but they all were a little different too.
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però tots eren una mica diferents també.
02:03
They had other sorts of brain damage.
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Tenien altres tipus de dany cerebral.
02:05
A key thing is that
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L'element clau és l'efecte de
02:07
the major violence genes,
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gens de violència rellevants,
02:10
it's called the MAO-A gene.
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com el gen MAO-A.
02:13
And there is a variant of this gene that is in the normal population.
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I hi ha una variant d'aquest gen que es troba a la població normal.
02:17
Some of you have this. And it's sex-linked.
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Alguns de vosaltres el teniu. Està relacionat amb el sexe.
02:20
It's on the X chromosome. And so in this way
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Es troba en el cromosoma X. Conseqüentment
02:22
you can only get it from your mother.
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només el pot transmetre la mare.
02:25
And in fact this is probably why mostly men, boys,
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I de fet, probablement és la raó per la qual en la seva majoria són homes
02:29
are psychopathic killers,
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els que són assassins psicòpates
02:31
or are very aggressive.
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o són molt agressius.
02:33
Because a daughter can get one X from the father,
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Perquè una nena pot obtenir un gen X del pare
02:36
one X from the mother, it's kind of diluted out.
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i un altre gen X de la mare, el que fa que quedi com diluït.
02:38
But for a son, he can only get
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Però un nen només pot rebre
02:40
the X chromosome from his mother.
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el cromosoma X de la mare.
02:42
So this is how it's passed from mother to son.
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Així és com s'hereta de mare a fill.
02:45
And it has to do with too much brain serotonin during development,
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I té a veure amb massa serotonina en el cervell durant el desenvolupament.
02:49
which is kind of interesting because serotonin
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La qual cosa és realment interessant perquè la serotonina
02:51
is supposed to make you calm and relaxed.
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se suposa que calma i relaxa.
02:54
But if you have this gene, in utero
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Però si tens aquest gen, a l'úter
02:57
your brain is bathed in this,
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el teu cervell es banya en serotonina.
02:59
so your whole brain becomes insensitive to serotonin,
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I per això el cervell s'hi torna insensible.
03:01
so it doesn't work later on in life.
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I ja no funciona posteriorment.
03:04
And I'd given this one talk in Israel,
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He donat aquesta mateixa xerrada a Israel,
03:07
just this past year.
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tot just l'any passat.
03:09
And it does have some consequences.
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I té algunes conseqüències.
03:11
Theoretically what this means
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Teòricament, el que significa
03:13
is that in order to express this gene,
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és que per a que aquest gen s'expressi
03:16
in a violent way,
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de forma violenta,
03:18
very early on, before puberty,
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molt aviat, abans de la pubertat,
03:20
you have to be involved in something that is really traumatic --
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s'ha d'experimentar alguna cosa veritablement traumàtica,
03:23
not a little stress, not being spanked or something,
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no una mica d'estrès ni que et peguin o alguna cosa així.
03:25
but really seeing violence,
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Sinò veure violència de veritat,
03:27
or being involved in it, in 3D.
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o veure-s'hi embolicat, en 3D.
03:29
Right? That's how the mirror neuron system works.
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Oi? Així és com funciona és sistema de neurones mirall.
03:31
And so, if you have that gene,
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Doncs, si tens aquest gen,
03:34
and you see a lot of violence
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i veus molta violència
03:37
in a certain situation,
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en una determinada situació,
03:39
this is the recipe for disaster, absolute disaster.
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és la recepta per al desastre, el desastre absolut.
03:42
And what I think might happen in these areas of the world,
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I el que crec que pot passar en aquestes àrees del món,
03:45
where we have constant violence,
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on la violència és constant,
03:48
you end up having generations of kids
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és que acabem tenint generacions de nens
03:51
that are seeing all this violence.
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que estan veient tota aquesta violència.
03:53
And if I was a young girl, somewhere in a violent area,
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I si fos una nena jove, en algun lloc violent,
03:56
you know, a 14 year old, and I want to find a mate,
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ja sabeu, de 14 anys, i volgués trobar parella
03:58
I'd find some tough guy, right, to protect me.
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buscaria algun tio dur que em protegís.
04:01
Well what the problem is this tends to concentrate these genes.
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Bé, el problema és que això tendeix a concentrar aquests gens.
04:05
And now the boys and the girls get them.
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I ara nois i noies els hereten.
04:07
So I think after several generations,
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Per tant, crec que després de diverses generacions,
04:09
and here is the idea, we really have a tinderbox.
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i aquí està el quid, realment tenim un barril de pólvora.
04:12
So that was the idea.
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Aquesta és la idea.
04:14
But then my mother said to me, "I hear you've been going around talking
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Però llavors la meva mare em va dir: "He sentit que vas parlant
04:16
about psychopathic killers.
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sobre assassins psicòpates.
04:19
And you're talking as if you come from a normal family."
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I ho fas com si vinguessis d'una família normal."
04:22
I said, "What the hell are you talking about?"
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Vaig dir: "De què dimonis parles?"
04:24
She then told me about our own family tree.
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Llavors em va explicar coses sobre el nostre propi arbre familiar.
04:27
Now she blamed this on my father's side, of course.
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Li va tirar la culpa a la família del meu pare, és clar.
04:29
This was one of these cases, because she has no violence in her background,
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Aquest era un d'aquests casos, perquè no hi havia violència en la seva ascendència.
04:33
but my father did.
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Però sí en la dels meu pare.
04:35
Well she said, "There is good news and bad news.
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Bé, em va dir: "Hi ha bones i males notícies.
04:37
One of your cousins is Ezra Cornell, founder of Cornell university.
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Un dels teus cosins és Ezra Cornell, fundador de la Universitat Cornell.
04:40
But the bad news is that your cousin is also Lizzie Borden.
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Però la mala notícia és que Lizzi Borden també és cosina teva
04:43
Now I said, "Okay, so what? We have Lizzie."
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Li vaig dir: "D'acord, i què?"
04:50
She goes, "No it gets worse, read this book."
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Em va dir: "No, és pitjor, llegeix aquest llibre".
04:52
And here is this "Killed Strangely," and it's this historical book.
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I aquí està "Assassinada estranyament" i és el seu llibre històric.
04:54
And the first murder
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I el primer assassí
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of a mother by a son
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d'una mare per un fill
04:58
was my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather.
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va ser el meu re-re-re-re-re-rebesavi.
05:01
Okay, so that's the first case of matricide.
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D'acord, així que aquest és el primer cas de matricidi.
05:04
And that book is very interesting. Because it's about witch trials,
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És un llibre molt interessant, perquè tracta de judicis de bruixes,
05:07
and how people thought back then.
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i com la gent pensava en aquells dies.
05:09
But it doesn't stop there.
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Però no acaba aquí.
05:11
There were seven more men, on my father's side,
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Hi havia set homes més en la família del meu pare,
05:14
starting then, Cornells, that were all murderers.
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els Cornell, que eren tots assassins.
05:18
Okay, now this gives one a little pause.
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D'acord, parem un momentet.
05:21
(Laughter)
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(Rialles)
05:23
Because my father himself,
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Perquè el meu pare mateix,
05:25
and my three uncles, in World War II,
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i els meus tres oncles, a la Segona Guerra Mundial
05:27
were all conscientious objectors, all pussycats.
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eren objectors de consciència, uns gatets.
05:30
But every once in a while, like Lizzie Borden, like three times a century,
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Però un cop de tant en tant, com Lizzi Borden, unes tres vegades cada segle,
05:32
and we're kind of due.
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i ara és el nostre torn.
05:34
(Laughter)
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(Rialles)
05:37
So the moral of the story is:
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Aixina que la moralitat és:
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people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
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la gent en cases de vidre no hauria de llençar pedres.
05:41
But more likely is this.
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Però això és el més probable.
05:44
(Laughter)
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(Rialles)
05:48
And we had to take action. Now our kids found out about it.
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Hem d'actuar. Ara, els nostres fills ho saben,
05:51
And they all seemed to be OK.
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I tots ells semblen estar bé.
05:53
But our grandkids are going to be kind of concerned here.
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Però els nostres nets estaran una mica preocupats.
05:56
So what we've done is I've started to do PET scans
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Així que he començat a fer tomografies
05:59
of everybody in the family.
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a tothom de la meva família.
06:01
(Laughter)
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(Rialles)
06:02
We started to do PET scans, EEGs and genetic analysis
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Vam començar a fer tomografies, electroencefalogrames i anàlisis genetics
06:05
to see where the bad news is.
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per veure on són les males notícies.
06:07
Now the only person -- it turns out
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Per ara, l'única persona, resulta que
06:09
one son and one daughter, siblings,
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un fill i una filla, germans,
06:12
didn't get along and their patterns are exactly the same.
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no es portaven bé l'un amb l'altre. Encara que els seus patrons eren idèntics.
06:14
They have the same brain, and the same EEG.
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Tenen el mateix cervell, i el mateix encefalograma.
06:17
And now they are close as can be.
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I ara estan tan units com poden estar-ho.
06:20
But there's gonna be bad news somewhere.
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Però hi haurà notícies dolentes en algun lloc.
06:22
And we don't know where it's going to pop up.
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I no sabem d'on sorgiran.
06:24
So that's my talk.
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Aquesta és la meva xerrada.
06:26
(Laughter)
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(Rialles)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jim Fallon - NeurobiologistSloan Scholar, Fulbright Fellow, Professor Emeritus of Neuroscience, Jim Fallon looks at the way nature and nurture intermingle to wire up the human brain.
Why you should listen
Jim Fallon has taught neuroscience and psychiatry grand rounds at the University of California Irvine for thirty-five years. Through research he explores the way genetic and perinatal environmental factors affect the way the brain gets built -- and then how an individual's experience further shapes his or her development. He lectures and writes on creativity, consciousness and culture, and has made key contributions to our understanding of adult stems and stroke, schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.
Only lately has Fallon turned his research toward the subject of psychopaths -- particularly those who kill. With PET scans and EEGs, he's beginning to uncover the deep, underlying traits that make people violent and murderous. In his talk at TEDDIY at TED@PalmSprings, he shared a surprise discovery about his own family that prompted him to bring his work home.
Watch his followup talk from The Moth at the 2011 World Science Festival >>
Jim Fallon | Speaker | TED.com