Brain Surgery Live with Mental Floss

Brain Surgery Live will take viewers into a cutting-edge operating room during a DBS surgery, an elective procedure in which an opening is made in the skull to access the brain. The brain is operated on while the patient is fully awake and able to speak with the neurosurgeons and neurologists. Because the patient is awake, the neurologists know where to target electrodes and then put the patient through a series of tests to determine whether or not they've pinpointed the affected area of the brain. Host Bryant Gumbel will guide viewers through the live surgery and the journey of twists and turns of human gray matter. Joining him through the live coverage of the procedure are expert commentator and neurosurgeon Dr. Rahul Jandial, who provides insight into the hard science behind this operation, and Cara Santa Maria, science journalist and host of the podcast "Talk Nerdy." (National Geographic)