Six Strange Brain Facts You Hardly Know

For a long time, it was believed that the brain was responsible for our entire body, including memories and emotions. Philosophers believed that the brain contained the soul. However, some very interesting things have been discovered throughout history. In this article, we are going to go through some weird brain facts that you probably did not know about.

We all know that the brain is the most important organ in the human nervous system since it controls most activities and is able to process a lot of information. This is also where all our emotions and cognitive abilities reside, including thoughts, memories and the ability to make decisions.

Some strange brain facts

From the first moment the brain was mentioned (which was in an ancient Egyptian medical document known as the Edwin Smith Papyrus, discovered in the 19th century) to today, our understanding of the brain has evolved. However, there are still many mysteries and oddities around the brain waiting to be discovered.

Size

The size of the brain varies a lot depending on age, gender and body mass. However, some studies suggest that the male brain weighs about 1,336 grams, while the female brain weighs 1,198 grams.

In terms of dimension, the human brain is not the largest. The sperm whale has the largest brain of all mammals. Remember that this mammal weighs about 35 to 45 tons, and it seems disproportionate to compare it to a human brain.

However, the human brain is the one with the most neurons, or nerve cells, which are the cells that store and transmit information through electrical and chemical signals.

Function

The human brain consists of three parts:

• Brain stem, which connects the rest of the brain to the spinal cord.
• The cerebellum, which is located at the back of the brain and plays a role in movement regulation, coordination and balance.
• Cerebum fills most of the skull because it is the largest part of the brain. It stores the cerebral cortex and other smaller structures that are responsible for conscious thoughts, decisions, memory, learning, communication and stimulus processes.

Energy consumption

Although the human brain is not a very large organ, it requires a lot of energy. In fact, it requires 25% of all the energy your body needs to function, even if it only accounts for about 2% of your weight.

But why does it require so much energy to function properly? Some researchers believe that most of this energy is used to maintain both mental and physical processes. Some of that energy is probably invested in keeping brain cells healthy.

According to other researchers, however, the brain uses a lot of energy during the resting state. James Kozloski explains that the inactive networks are active even under anesthesia. These areas have high metabolic rates, which increases the brain’s “energy budget”, even when it apparently does nothing.

However, Kozloski’s hypothesis states that the brain does not use much energy for no reason, but that it maps where all experiences and information are stored instead. This is the map we turn to when we make decisions.

How much of your brain do you actually use?

People thought that humans only used 10% of their brain capacity. This same myth suggested that if we could use the other 90%, we could “unlock” incredible abilities.

In fact, you use most of your brain almost all the time. Brain scans have shown that humans use almost the entire brain all the time, even when we are sleeping. Nevertheless, activity patterns can vary depending on what we do or what sleep phase we are in.

Neurologist Krish Sathian also claims that even when you are busy with a task, the rest of your brain is busy doing other things. Thus, you can come up with the solution to a problem after you stop thinking about it or after a night’s sleep because your brain never stops working on this particular problem, even if you do not focus on it.

Strange brain facts: The dominant half

People often talk about the dominant half of the brain and how it affects the personality. This is actually one of the most well known facts about the brain. In general, people with a dominant left hemisphere are better at math and analytical tasks, while people with a dominant right hemisphere are more creative.

But that is not entirely true. While it is true that both halves of the brain have slightly different functions, it is not a “dominant” side of the brain that defines personality.

Instead, research has revealed that people use both halves almost equally. However, it is true that the left focuses more on language, while the right is responsible for non-verbal communication.

Changes that come with age

As you grow older, your brain loses neurons. The frontal cortex and hippocampus are two important brain areas in cognitive processes, including memory and recovery. These areas begin to shrink at the age of 60 to 70 years.

However, new research suggests that adult brains may also generate new cells, which will increase the chances of brain plasticity.

Neurogenesis is the process by which new neurons are formed in the adult brain. Experts suggest that the average human brain produces 700 new neurons per day in the hippocampus alone.

There are still many strange brain facts to discover

Although there have been many scientific breakthroughs, there are still many unanswered questions. For example, we still do not understand how the brain processes complex information.

Thus, we still do not fully understand consciousness, which part of the personality depends on the brain, why we sleep and dream, or how we store and access memories, among many other things. Finally, we learn from new discoveries, but this also leads to new questions.