Fun Facts about the Brain: 6 Surprising Facts

Do you think everything has been said about the brain? Read this article and you might discover amazing facts about the brain that no one has told you about before!

For a long time, the brain was thought to be responsible for our entire body, including memories and emotions. Philosophers believed that there was a soul hidden in the brain. However, through numerous studies, some very interesting facts were discovered. In this article, we'll cover some interesting facts about the brain that you probably don't know yet.

The brain is the main organ of the human nervous system because it controls most activities and is able to process countless information.

While listing basic trivia about the brain, it's also worth mentioning that it's also home to all of our emotions and cognitive abilities, including long-term and short-term thoughts, memories, and decision-making abilities.

Fun facts about the brain

From the first mention in an ancient Egyptian medical document known as the Edwin Smith papyrus, discovered in the 19th century, to the present day our knowledge, including numerous curiosities about the brain, has significantly expanded. Nevertheless, there are still many secrets and curiosities waiting to be discovered.

Brain size varies greatly with age, gender, and body weight. Some studies, however, suggest that a male brain weighs around 1,336 grams, while a female brain weighs 1,198 grams.

In terms of dimensions, the human brain is not the largest. The sperm whale, the largest carnivore living today, has the largest brain known to scientists of any mammal. Considering that this mammal weighs around 35 to 45 tons, comparing a human brain to that of that animal seems disproportionate.

However, it is the human brain that contains the most neurons, i.e. cells that store and transmit information using electrical and chemical signals.

Functioning

The human brain has three parts:

• Brain stem - connects the rest of the brain to the spinal cord.
• Cerebellum - Located at the back of the brain, it plays a role in regulating movement, coordination, and balance.
• Cresomrain - fills most of the skull, hence is the largest part of the brain. Hidden beneath the cerebral cortex, it covers other smaller structures that are responsible for the processes of conscious thinking, decision making, memory, learning, communication, and perception of stimuli.

Energy consumption

Although the human brain is not a large organ, it requires a lot of energy. The fact is that it uses 25% of all energy needed by the body to function, even though it only accounts for about 2% of a person's weight.

But why does the human brain require so much energy to function properly? Some scientists believe that most of this energy is used to sustain thought and body processes. Some of this energy is likely invested in keeping your brain cells healthy.

However, according to other scientists, the brain uses a lot of energy when it is resting.  apparently "inactive" connections are actually active even at rest. These areas are characterized by a high metabolic rate, which increases the brain's "energy budget", even if it does not seem to be doing anything.

However, hypothesis is that the brain does not use a lot of energy for no reason but quite the opposite. According to this scientist, it represents the fact that individual areas store all experiences and information. This is the map that we refer to when making decisions.

How much brain do we really use every day?

Up to a point, it was believed that humans only use 10% of the brain's capacity. The same myth suggested that if we were to use the remaining 90%, we could "unlock" amazing abilities.

In fact, we use most of the brain almost all the time. Brain scans have shown that people use almost their entire brain all the time, even while they are asleep. Nevertheless, patterns of activity may differ depending on what we are doing or the phase of sleep we are in.

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The neurologist also says that even when we're busy with a task, the rest of the brain is busy with other things. In this way, we sometimes find a solution to a problem when we stop thinking about it or after a night of sleep.

In other words, the brain never stops working on a problem, even if you are not consciously focusing on it.

Dominant hemisphere

You often hear about the dominant hemisphere of the brain and its effect on personality. In general, people with a dominant left hemisphere are better at math and analytical tasks, while those with a dominant right hemisphere are more creative.

But that's not entirely true. While the fact is that the two hemispheres have slightly different functions, there is no "dominant" side of the brain that defines personality.

Instead, research has shown that humans use both hemispheres almost equally. However, it is true that the left side is more focused on language, while the right side is responsible for non-verbal communication.

Changes that come with age

With age, the brain loses neurons. The frontal cortex and the hippocampus, two key areas of the brain for cognitive processes including memory and regeneration, begin to decline between the ages of 60 and 70.

But new research suggests that the adult brain can also generate new cells, which would increase the brain's plasticity.

The process by which new neurons are formed in the adult brain is called neurogenesis. Researchers suggest that the average human brain in the hippocampus alone produces 700 new neurons a day.

Still new facts about the brain to discover

While many scientific breakthroughs have been made, there are still many unanswered questions. For example, we still don't understand how the brain processes complex information.

So people still don't quite understand what consciousness is, or which part of the personality depends on the brain. Nor do we know why we actually sleep and dream, or how we store and access memories. To sum up, new discoveries teach us, but also open the door to new questions.