The Brain

We live in a world where computers can outperform humans at chess, poker, and even trivia challenges, but with all their abilities and intricacies, they are no match for the human brain. In fact, the brain contains the most complex manifestation of intelligence known to science. Follow along as Tidbits gives you the facts about how the most marvelous organ in your body resides directly between your ears!

BRAIN FACTS

• Although the brain makes up only about two percent of your body weight, it consumes 20% of your caloric intake. It uses 20% of the oxygen supply and around 30% of the blood supply. About a quart of blood flows through the brain every single minute. The blood vessels in the adult human body would stretch about 100,000 miles if laid end-to-end. Of those, 400 miles are located in the brain.

Although your brain makes up only 2% of your body weight, it consumes 20% of your caloric intake!

• The brain is made of 60% fat and cholesterol, making it the fattiest organ in the body. Cholesterol is an integral part of every brain cell because the fatty acids in cholesterol are crucial for the brain’s performance. About 25% of the body’s cholesterol resides within the brain. Without a supply of adequate cholesterol, brain cells die.

• About 73% of the brain is composed of water, which means that if you get dehydrated by more than two percent, you can suffer from a loss of concentration, cognitive skills, and memory. The human brain weighs about three pounds., but if all the water were squeezed out of it, its weigh be only about ten ounces.

Dehydration depletes the brain of water, which can lead to a loss of concentration, cognitive skills and memory.

• The brain will begin to lose consciousness after about ten seconds without oxygen and will die of oxygen starvation after about five minutes.

• The human brain can generate about 23 watts of electrical energy, enough to power a lightbulb.

• The human brain will triple in size in the first year of life, which is why early childhood development is so critical during this time. It continues to grow until about the age of 18. After middle age, the brain decreases in physical size as time passes.

The human brain will triple in size in the first year of life, which is why early childhood development is so important.

• The size of a brain does not translate to intellect. There is no evidence that a larger brain is any smarter than a smaller brain.

• In general, men’s brains are ten percent larger than women’s, even after taking into account larger body size. However, the hippocampus, which is the part of the brain linked to memory, is typically larger in women.

• The average human brain, at 3.3 pounds, is about 1/50th of total body weight.

• Human brain tissue is soft and squishy, with a consistency of gelatin or tofu.

ANIMAL BRAINS

• By comparison, a chimpanzee’s brain is about 1/150th of body weight, and the gorilla’s is 1/500th.

• Similarly, elephants can have brains as huge as 13 lbs. representing 1/1,000th its body weight, while a whale’s 19-lb. brain represents 1/10,000th of its body weight.

• Small birds have a larger brain-to-body ratio than man with the brain accounting for 1/12th of the body weight.

• Still, the human brain is the largest brain of all vertebrates relative to body size.

CRANIAL PORTIONS

• You do have a left and right brain. That’s because it’s divided into two almost symmetrical, but not identical, hemispheres which are connected by a nerve bundle called the corpus callosum.

• The brain is cross-wired. The left side controls muscles on the body’s right side; the right side of the brain controls the muscles of the left side. However, it’s only a myth that artistic people rely more on their right brain, and that analytical people are more left-brained.

• There are three major parts of the brain: the cerebrum, cerebellum, and brain stem.

• The cerebrum is the brain’s biggest part, accounting for 85% of its weight. The cerebrum handles movement, senses, temperature, and judgment as well as higher-order operations such as problem solving, reasoning, emotions, and learning.

• The cerebellum controls posture, balance, movement, coordination, speech, and eyes.

• The brain stem handles involuntary bodily functions such as breathing and heartbeat, as well as things like swallowing and coughing.

• The brain is further split up into four lobes: the frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal lobes. Each lobe handles specific tasks. The frontal lobe tackles thinking tasks, as well as movement, reasoning and short-term memory. Sensory information on touch and taste is processed in the parietal lobe. The occipital lobe is all about processing and storing the information the eyes take in. The temporal lobe works on memory storage, smell, taste, and sound.

• It’s a myth that you only use about ten percent of your brain. Brain scans show that the entire brain is working most of the time, even while you're asleep.

BRAIN FUNCTIONS

• According to the Laboratory of Neuro Imaging at the University of Southern California, the average brain generates 48.6 thoughts per minute. This adds up to a total of 70,000 thoughts per day.

• Nerve cells called neurons make the brain tick. There are about one hundred billion neurons in a typical brain. They’re able to communicate with other neurons through chemical or electrical signals called synapses. A piece of brain tissue the size of a grain of sand contains 100,000 neurons and one billion synapses, all communicating with each other. Still, the total weight of the neurons in a human brain account for only ten percent of the brain's weight.

• When it comes to multi-tasking, the brain cannot really concentrate on two things at once. What it can do is quickly toggle back and forth between tasks. However, doing so decreases the attention span, diminishes the ability to learn, short-circuits short-term memory, and causes a decline in mental performance.

• A psychologist tried some practical experiments on the hypothalamus. When stimulated, the hypothalamus gives rise to a powerful pleasurable sensation. He connected a small electrode to this “pleasure center” in a rat’s brain, arranged so that the rat could stimulate itself. That rat stimulated its hypothalamus up to 8,000 times an hour for hours or days at a time. The rat favored this over the exclusion of all else, even food, sex and sleep.

• It’s known as “brain freeze” or an “ice cream headache.” The official term is “sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia” which means “nerve pain of the sphenopalatine ganglion,” a cluster of nerve cells in the parasympathetic nervous system. That’s the system responsible for regulating bodily functions that happen when the body is at rest including storing energy, digestion, secretion, slowing heart rate, etc.

• When you eat that slushie or ice cream cone, the temperature at the back of the throat changes very quickly.

"Brain Freeze" is the intense, but short-lived pain that occurs in the head when quickly consuming very cold food or beverages.

Two important arteries—the internal carotid artery, which brings blood into the brain, and the anterior cerebral artery, which is where brain tissue starts—are also located there. The brain likes to remain in a state of status quo. That includes its internal thermostat. So when those arteries get cold, they contract. The brain interprets that sensation as pain, and a quick but nasty headache results. Taking sips of coffee or warm water helps bring relief. □

FIND THE DIFFERENCES: