I didn't get into it much in the story, but scientists at Smith Kettlewell are interested in using MRIs to see how blind people's brains and sighted people's brains respond to map-reading.

It's known that the visual cortex "lights up" when blind people read braille, the same way it lights up when a sighted person reads text. In other words, as far as the brain is concerned, you don't necessarily need eyes to see.

So what about maps? Does the parietal cortex of a blind person "light up" when he or she reads a map with her fingers the same way it lights up when a sighted person reads a map with her eyes?
Interesting stuff.

Thanks for writing!
Amy

Cheers!
-Brandon