But Reitmeyer’s family didn’t give up. One of the therapies they decided to try was Brain Fitness. Reitmeyer first started using it in April 2006. He also consulted nutritionists specializing in the brain, did neurofeedback and physical therapy, and used the Interactive Metronome System, a neurological assessment and treatment tool. Now, a year and a half later, Reitmeyer is doing karate and taking classes in stand-up comedy.

 

Merzenich’s unflagging belief in the brain’s enormous potential for recovery makes him a bit of a renegade in the field, says Misko. “It’s been very hard to get anybody like the NIH or major scientific journals to pay attention and share the same level of optimism,” he says.

 

Merzenich is used to fighting uphill battles—when he first contended that the adult brain was highly malleable decades ago, he was met with not just skepticism but open hostility. It’s natural to be somewhat cautious about making claims about the brain, says Erin Bigler, a psychologist and neuroscientist at Brigham Young University. He says the brain can be very adaptive, including rewiring itself. But since much of the activity occurs on a level too small to see, even with the best of our imaging tools, we can’t be sure what is happening at the molecular level. “I tell my students it’s like a helicopter over L.A.,” Bigler says. “You get a basic idea, but you can’t see what’s happening unless you’re on the ground. You don’t know if a water main is blocking traffic or what.” Nevertheless, Bigler says Merzenich’s research is promising.

 

Along with programs to ward off cognitive decline, Merzenich and Posit Science are now working on developing programs for people with autism, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. And he plans to work on ways to stop disorders in the brain before they start. Strengthening brains that are at risk, he thinks, is the future of neuroscience.

 

“There’s nothing as free as the life of the scientist,” he says. “Beyond the findings, to come into the next intuition about what to do next and where it goes or where it leads you, boy, that is open. And that is fun.”