Brain scans are the key to surprising things. Dr. Daniel Amen, head of the Amen Clinics, wrote a newspaper editorial in the Los Angeles Times, on December 5, 2007. Dr. Amen, whose web site explains that he has both “real credentials” and “real experience,” says:
Clearly we care about the health outlook for our elected leaders. Should we go so far as to do brain scans? …
As a neuropsychiatrist and brain-imaging expert, I want our elected leaders to be some of the “brain healthiest people” in the land. How do you know about the brain health of a presidential candidate unless you look? …
Functional scans, such as Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography, provide a window into the brain. Doctors can now see healthy or dysfunctional brain patterns, much as we can assess the strength of a heart or measure hormone levels, and recognize trouble. All doctors might not agree on the interpretation, but there is a growing body of scientific literature establishing what these scans mean.
The sheer, unlimited power of these brain scans?and especially of their interpretation?was the subject of the special Where In Your Head issue of the Annals of Improbable Research.