2025-06-02
42 分钟The first time I held someone's brain in my hands,
that was a really odd sensation
because I had sat with her family and planned her funeral and I knew that she had wanted the colour purple.
And I remember wondering which bit of the brain housed that bit of knowledge.
Which bit of the brain was the bit that told her she loved purple?
I found that really strange.
It's heavy in your hands.
It feels...
Almost spongy, and it's covered in folds and dips and texture.
And of course, there's also a range of sort of fibrous coverings to it,
which can sometimes cling to the surface of the brain.
It's a strange thing.
Alexandra Morton Hayward, or Ali.
has dedicated her life to studying that strange thing inside our heads.
And she has a unique perspective.
In her 20s,
when most of her friends were finishing their degrees and climbing the corporate ladder,
Allie got a job as an undertaker.
And she's not afraid to speak pretty plainly about everything that job entails.
These days, she's a forensic anthropologist.