Mystery of fearless woman

American scientists have discovered a woman with a rare brain disease, making her not afraid of anything, including a large snake crawling around her or a knife next to her neck.

Not all snakes are scary and not everyone is afraid of snakes.

This woman has no fear because of a special condition that destroys the amygdala part of the brain.

Over the past two decades, researchers have investigated this woman, called SM, to find clues to help treat neurological seizures, especially for soldiers returning from the war.

" It is very valuable that this woman is alive, " AFP quoted research author Justin Feinstein. "The nature of fear is to survive and the amygdala part of the brain helps us to maintain life by avoiding what may be life-threatening."

" But because SM lacks the amygdala, she also loses the ability to detect and prevent dangers in the world ."

Instead of being scared, SM brought in a curious sense of curiosity.

To test her reaction, the researchers took her to an animal store, full of spiders and snakes, animals that she repeatedly said "hated" and did not like to meet.

" As soon as I entered the store, SM immediately got sucked into the snake cage and fixed his eyes on the big snakes ."

When asked if he wanted to hold one, SM agreed and played with a snake for 3 minutes. " She caressed her body, touched her tongue, and watched as it slid through her hand ."

Her words revealed a curious excitement, she repeatedly repeated: " It was great! ". However, when she was about to reach a black spider, she was stopped because she could be bitten.

" When asked why she likes to touch something that she knows is dangerous and even says that she hates it, SM replies that she was intrigued by her curiosity, " wrote the study.

Her eldest son, over 20 years old, said he could not remember ever seeing her panic. He recounted once when he was young, he played with two other brothers and they saw a large snake nearby. " My mother just ran over, picked it up, took it to the side of the road and dumped it on the grass, then left it ," he said. " I think it's weird ".

The woman also recounted when she was 30 years old, a man grabbed her and held a knife to his neck. " I looked at him and calmly said, 'If you kill me, I will have to step through my angel first '", the man immediately let her go. Then she calmly walked home.

Another experiment was set up by scientists, bringing her into a haunted house. There people disguise as monsters, demons, swarming from the darkness, and show a series of scary videos. " She reacts to monsters by smiling, laughing and talking to them ."

" She watched scary movies in a very interesting and relaxing mood. She even asked about a movie's name so she could rent the video back ."

Feinstein said they hoped that a special case of SM could help treat people with neurological disorders after the tremor, often among US soldiers returning from the war with Iraq and Afghanistan.

" Their lives are filled with fears, they don't even dare to leave their homes because of worries about the current danger ."

"By understanding how the brain handles fear, one day we can find a treatment to eliminate fear from life ."