ABSTRACT
Project H.M. was just the sort of thing one might expect the Internet to latch onto: it was a live streaming video of a frozen human brain being slowly sliced apart. Users who clicked the link on Twitter or Facebook between the 2nd and 4th of December 2009 were immediately confronted with a close-up shot of the brain’s interior, which was parchment-colored and framed by a block of ice. In this video, a machine called a microtome slid the brain’s halved surface across the screen, shaving off layer after layer of translucently thin tissue—like prosciutto, in the words of the project’s Italian director. As each completed slice crumpled against the microtome’s blade, it was wiped up by a gloved human hand bearing a large paintbrush and whisked off-screen so the process could begin again. To the left, a smaller video feed featured an aerial view of the lab, showing white-coated scientists tending the machine and the trays of fresh brain slices. Project H.M. became a small sensation for its 3-day duration. Visitors to the link re-posted it enthusiastically, left both admiring and critical comments for the scientists, and surfed through the rest of the website to watch informative documentaries and learn more about the process. During the 53 hours it took to fully section the brain, more than 400,000 people clicked in to watch (Cavanaugh 2009). What narrative was this project performing, and what—if anything—did it intend to teach?
