Our weekly documentary curated by the editorial team at 21WIRE.
An extraordinary documentary on the brainpower of Daniel, a young Englishman who might be the world’s greatest mental athlete. But how does he do it? Leading scientists explore the extraordinary world of this real-life Rainman. Daniel’s psychological make-up is explored by Cambridge University autism expert Professor Simon Baron Cohen who delves into his childhood experiences in an effort to explain his remarkable abilities. In America Daniel meets other extraordinary people like himself, known as “savants” – including Kim Peek, whose story was the basis of the movie “Rainman”. Brain scientists at the Salk Institute in San Diego are astounded at his skills and discover the key to Daniel’s ability is his visual imagery which his brain “sees” when he hears a number, this condition is known as synaesthesia. Scientists also challenge Daniel to learn the world’s hardest languages, Icelandic, in just one week. The results are stunning.
Run time: 47 min
Narrated by Paul McGann
Written and Directed by Steve Gooder
Produced by FOCUS PRODUCTIONS LTD
Channel 4 International (2015)
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