James Bond: the villain of Specter sucks at neuro-anatomy

Zero points for Ernst Stavro Blofeld. James Bond’s (Daniel Craig) nemesis in the latest movie, Spectrum, stands out outside dark rooms. While watching a torture scene of Her Majesty’s spy, neurosurgeon Michael Cusimano noted a serious staging error. Far from stopping to talk about it to those around him, like many spectators, the man saw things in a big way. In the prestigious journal Nature, the Canadian returns to the gaps in neurological anatomy of the villain, at the head of the organization Specter.

The scene takes place in the middle of the Moroccan desert. The world’s most famous English spy is strapped to an armchair in a sanitized room. Around his head, a kind of vice on which is mounted a mini robotic drill. In front of him, the big bad of the film, Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz). And he intends to make 007 suffer… then erase his memory from the faces, in particular his beloved of the moment – Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux).

Incorrectly placed drill

The leader of the Specter takes action and activates the drill. The wick is placed behind James Bond’s left ear, slightly below. At the same time, in a room in Toronto (Canada), a neurosurgeon ticks. Blofeld “correctly identifies the fusiform gyrus as the area of ​​the brain responsible for recognizing faces,” writes Michael Cusimano in Nature. But in practice the drill is placed in the wrong place ”.

Indeed, the temporal gyrus is located slightly above the left ear. Instead of erasing the memory of the spy, the villain should have caused a stroke or massive hemorrhage, explains the neurosurgeon. And for good reason: the drill pierces the vertebral artery and the bones of the neck! “If Blofeld had been my student, he would certainly have failed in neuroanatomy,” concludes Dr Cusimano, humorously.

The Canadian, however, declares himself impressed by the theoretical knowledge of the Greek-Polish villain: not only does he manage to identify an area involved in memory, but in addition he draws the appropriate conclusions as to the consequences of the damage he would cause there. It remains to improve the practice. For this, the neurosurgeon says he is ready to offer his services to Hollywood screenwriters.