WHY CAN'T THIS HAPPEN TO ME?

Wouldn't it be cool if you banged your head on something one day and just woke up the next day a different person? That's kind of what happened to Derek Amato of Denver, Colorado. Six years ago, he hit his head hard after diving into the shallow end of a pool. Days later, he sat down at a piano and discovered he was a musical genius! WHAT? Why can't that happen to me? 

Amato is said to be one of just 30 "acquired savants" worldwide. Each of these savants discovered an inexplicable ability that was unleashed after an incident. He was 40 years old at the time of his accident. Amato remembered the impact being really loud like a bomb exploding, and knew that he hit his head hard enough to be injured. He was taken to the hospital immediately with a serious concussion. He also suffered some memory and hearing loss from the accident. 

A few days after the accident, Amato visited a friend who had a keyboard and for some reason he felt himself drawn to the instrument. He said that he remembered sitting down and playing a beautiful, and fully structured, original piece of music that just flowed from his hands. He couldn't stop playing and played until 2 a.m. Amato was quoted as saying, "I could not only play and compose, but I would later discover that I could recall a prior played piece of music as if it had been etched in my mind’s eye."

 Here's the kicker; although, Amato's dabbled in playing a little guitar before the accident, he'd never even touched a piano! WHAT? It looks like I'm going to have to start banging my head on things to become a better musician! Scientists are all over this case because rare cases like this open up a whole new realm of scientific exploration, as they investigate how this can happen. Here's the big question: Do we all have this superhuman ability built in, if we could just tap, or in this case 'bang', into it and release it? Now, that would be interesting! It sounds like something out of "X-Men" or something! I wonder what my super power would be. The ability to clear out a room with my obnoxious gas? If that's the case, my superhuman ability has already been unleashed! 

A Wisconsin psychiatrist, who researches savants, says that he believes that after trauma, other regions of the brain step in to compensate for the loss of function, which rewires the brain in ways we can't imagine. One kid named Orlando Serrell was hit in the head with a basketball at the age of 10 and soon discovered that he could remember the weather for each day after his accident. Then there's Alonzo Clemens who suffered brain damage after a head injury when he was three. He can create incredibly detailed sculptures of animals in just minutes. 

I still think the big story here is Derek Amato who discovered his talents at the age of 40! Amato says that he still gets painful migraines and has lost about 35% of his hearing, but claims its well worth it! He's left his corporate job and has become a professional musician. He's released one CD of original compositions with another one on the way! What can I say? This is simply amazing and I'm officially jealous!