I just started watching Heroes...?

Question

, and was wondering how Syler takes powers from other people? i know he cuts their heads open..but then what does he do?

Answer 1

Presumably he eats their brain, but it is never really clarified, as far as I can remember.

Edit: No, wait, I do remember. His power is really that he can see how things work, so he opens up their brain to see how their power works and then does it himself.

Answer 2

Congrats and welcome; I LOVE Heroes =]

Sylar cuts open the person's head and then studies their brain to see how  their ability works and then is able to take their ability for himself.

Sylar is able to do this because of his original ability, Intuitive Aptitude, which allows him to "see how things work".

Answer 3

The exact method hasn't been explained on the show yet - they were originally going to show him eating their brains but it was decided that was too graphic so they left it as a mystery. There's loads of debate about how it happens (with people largely falliing into either 'he eats the brains' or 'he studies the brains' camp, personally I'm going for the latter but who knows?). I've heard that they'll explain it in the first couple of episodes of the third season