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Hey, I'm Jada-Bumran.

I'm Robert Krollwich. This is Radio Lab. The podcast. Yes, and today at the podcast, we're going to present a story that... The whole thing is an accident, really, this particular podcast. We were on tour a few months ago doing the symmetry thing. In San Francisco. And right as we were there, we got an email from a woman who lives there, telling us this nutty story. Something odd had happened to her, and she wanted to share it with us, so he met her in the lobby. I missed, I didn't hit the record button fast enough. Could you just tell me your name again? Sure. My name is Liza Schoenfeld, and I'm a research technician at the Glaston Institute at the University of California, San Francisco.

Now, Liza is just getting started with her scientific career.

I finished my undergraduate degree about a year and a half ago.

And this story takes place as she was about to take that next step after college and apply to grad school.

And the star of our story, other than, of course, Liza herself, is a little mischievous part of her brain, well, everyone's brain. Part of your brain called the basal ganglia. Basel ganglia, which at the time she'd been studying. Just so we understand, basil and ganglia, so basil is not the thing from which Pesto is made, in your case. No. What does basil mean? I'm going to have to ask someone else about that.

Okay, let's go on to ganglia.

So ganglia, you know, collections of neurons. Big collections. So basil ganglia is a fairly large part of your brain. It's actually this big hunk deep in the center. And it's responsible for controlling and coordinating movement. When I move my neck back and forth, am I using my basal ganglia?

Yeah.

When I wink, am I using my basal ganglia?

...