This is hidden brain.
I'm Shankar Vedanta.
We've all heard the urban legend of the mother who, upon finding her child trapped under a car, is able to summon superhuman strength to lift the vehicle from the ground and save her child.
It turns out there's truth to the legend.
In 1982, Angela Cavallo's son was working on a Chevy Impala when it fell on top of him.
Angela lifted the car high enough off the ground that two neighbors could pull her son to safety.
A similar event happened in 2019 when an Ohio teen lifted a car to save his neighbors life.
In 2006, a canadian woman saved a group of children, including her own two sons, by fighting off a polar bear.
It's unclear biologically how people can summon godlike strength in scenarios like these, but it raises an interesting question.
Are we all capable of more than we think?
You often hear echoes of this theme in the biographies of famous people.
At 21, Stephen Hawking was diagnosed with ALS and given only a few years to live.
He not only defied the odds and lived to the age of 76, he also went on to become one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists of all time.
Bethany Hamilton was 13 when a shark bit off her left arm.
She went on to become a professional surfer who has won multiple championships.
It makes you think, doesnt it?
What can I accomplish if I really set my mind and heart to it?
What am I keeping myself from accomplishing by believing it to be impossible?
The science of human potential and psychological insights on how to discover our potential.
This week on hidden brain.