How is this for becoming engulfed in your own research!

Hey guys,

I remembered seeing this video on 20/20 about the brains of killers.  Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnV4RnWcmWo

(In case you didn’t want to watch it and to take my word for it)

Dr. Fallon is a researcher and professor who studies the human mind.  More specifically, he studies the brains of violent criminals.  Through his work, he has found a pattern in the minds of killers of little activity in the orbital cortex.  This part of the brain is responsible for morality and behavior.  To prove his study, he was sent seventy MRIs from various doctors that had a mix of killer brains and 'normal' brains.  When he analyzed the MRI’s, he pointed out the five killers of the seventy scans.  He then came to the conclusion that aggression and immoral behavior is inherited through the “warrior gene” that is passed down from mother to daughter.  Here is where the story takes an almost Hollywood twist.  When he was given a book about his family, it showed a line of murders.  This included seven murders throughout his family line, including his early grandfather killing his mother and his cousin who killed her father and step-mother with an axe.  Intrigued, he scanned his family member’s brains and it turned out he had the mind of a killer!  His orbital cortex was showing no activity, just like all the other serial killers and psychopaths he had been studying before.  He then tries to figure out why he was not a killer himself.  He finally placed the reasoning on his upbringing.  He said that his family nurtured and loved him.  He believes that this kind of living environment was the major factor into whether he was going to be an inspiring researcher or a killer.

            This article brought up a lot of questions in my mind.  First was the social usage of Dr. Fallon’s findings about the correlation between orbital cortex activity and the possibility of future violence.  I am unsure of at what age this can be detected, but if it can be found at an early age in a child’s life, should we as a society put forth money towards scanning children’s brains to keep an eye out for the ‘potential killers’?  Dr. Fallon has already shown that these can be easily identified.  Would the cost of finding these matches and teaching the parents how to properly raise their child be worth having fewer violent acts in today’s world?
            Another question that Dr. Fallon brought up is the power of free will in violent acts in people.  He believes that a serial killer is bred and without nurturing can almost be fated to become a killer.  With these new ideas about the human mind, should we as a society change the ways in which we punish criminals (ex. mentally insane receive treatment instead of time behind bars or executed)?

Let me know what you think!