(maybe in contradiction to popular perception of what happens with our hardware)

As brain science continues to advance, the evidence for plasticity strengthens. Using sensitive new brain-scanning equipment, as well as microelectrodes and other probes, neuroscientists conduct more experiments, not only on lab animals but on people. All of them confirm Merzenich’s discovery. They also reveal something more: The brain’s plasticity is not limited to the somatosensory cortex, the area that governs our sense of touch. It’s universal. Virtually all of our neural circuits — whether they’re involved in feeling, seeing, hearing, moving, thinking, learning, perceiving, or remembering — are subject to change.