25 Amazing Facts About Your Brain
Fri, Feb 6, 2009
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Crystal brain cell
Image: PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE
If you’re preparing for a quiz show and need to brush up on your knowledge of the human brain – or if you just have a love of learning – look no further, because we’ve gathered up a list of some of the best brain facts on the planet. Amongst other things, you’ll learn why babies’ heads are so darned big, why a healthy lunch is good for your body and your brain, why happy thoughts will keep the doctor away and why your lover’s cologne makes your heart skip a beat.
Check out our list, and if you’ve got more cool and interesting facts to add, please leave a comment!
Image: Gaetan Lee
Fast Brain Facts
- 3 = the weight of your brain in pounds
- 4 to 6 = the number of minutes your brain can survive without oxygen before it starts to die
- 8 to 10 = the number of seconds you have before losing consciousness due to blood loss
- 10 to 23 = the number of watts of power your grain generates when you’re awake (that’s enough to turn on a light bulb!)
- 20 = the percentages of oxygen and blood flow going to the brain
- 100,000 = the number of miles of blood vessels in your brain
- 1,000 to 10,000 = the number of synapses for each neuron in your brain
- 100 billion = the number of neurons in your brain
Image: Michael Heilemann
Baby Brains
- Each person has about the same number of brain cells at birth as in adulthood, but those cells grow, reaching maximum size at about age six.
- A newborn’s brain triples its size in the first year of life (no wonder babies have such big heads!).
- The sense of touch is the first sense to develop in a fetus, with the lips and cheeks experiencing this sensation at eight weeks.
- Keep exercising your brain, because mental activity stimulates the creation of new neurons throughout your whole life.
Image: Ctrldata
An Apple a Day
- Think positive because when you do, you’ll keep the doctor away: Studies show that 50-70% of visits to the doctor for physical ailments can be traced to psychological reasons.
- Eat well, and it’ll have positive effects on your brain, because a study of one million New York students showed that those who ate lunches without additives such as artificial flavours, preservatives and dyes performed 14% better in IQ tests.
- That being said, your brain is the most fatty organ in your body!
Image: mbgrigby
The Memory Game
- New connections are created each and every time you remember something or have a new thought.
- Stronger, more intense emotional connections are linked to memories prompted by scent.
- Memories triggered by scent (like cologne) have a stronger emotional connection, and therefore appear more intense than other memory triggers.
- Cherish your sleep because that’s probably the best time for your brain to file away all the memories of the day.
Image: Erik Mallinson
Things That Make You Go “Hmmm…”
- It’s not your brain that’s hurting when you get a headache – without pain receptors, your brain can’t feel any pain.
- Your brain knows when you tickle yourself, which is why you don’t bend over laughing.
- Supertasters have a super power that enables them to sometimes taste flavours that others can’t detect; they have more taste buds and a brain that’s more sensitive to tastes of foods and drinks.
- When you sleep, you’re virtually paralyzed because your brain creates a hormone to prevent you from acting out your dreams.
- About 12% of people dream in black and white.
- It’s not true that humans only use 10% of their brains; each part of the brain has a purpose.
Image: jj_judes
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February 11th, 2009 at 10:34 am
In fact, it is correct that every part of the brain has a purpose..
However, you only use a minimal amount of your brain _capacity_.
This means, that you have the potential of being much more intelligent than you are.
February 12th, 2009 at 10:19 am
No, you just don’t use more than 10% simultaneously, but you use your whole brain. Fact is, you could do with a whole less.
February 12th, 2009 at 11:44 am
every part of your brain is used, it’s just that is like when your car is idleing. it’s on and in use, but activities is at a minimum till you use it.
another fact you might like or well more a theory is that you can literally rewrite your brain convincing yourself that grapes taste like apples.
i could go on. like how if your brain is injuried, it can reorganize itself.
February 12th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Last I checked, new neurons are not created with use. New connections between neurons can be established or existing connections can be reinforced. Without the stimulation, those connections would die off.
February 13th, 2009 at 12:36 am
It is true that every part of your brain has a purpose. Although, we barely tap into the true potential of it.
There have been theories that, if we had full access to our brain’s abilities, we could possibly have the gift of telekinesis. Our brains are potentially THAT powerful.
We are truly an incredible species.
February 13th, 2009 at 11:43 am
Yes, John, but the 10% “fact” has no known source. Generally a person is only using 10% of their total neurons at any given time. So it’s more accurate to say that humans only use 10% of their brain at once.
February 13th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
I have a banana. It tastes good.
February 14th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
We use whole brain but we dont use entire capacity.Some people have keys to unlock paths or source to get answer.
February 14th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
10-23 the number of watts your grain generates? Was this a hidden grain test?
February 14th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
About the fact that mentions the study on a million NY students: Students who do not eat foods with preservatives and artificial flavors and dyes do not represent the entire human population; they represent students like them. Even more important, students who choose to eat these “healthier” foods are very likely to be different from students who don’t, and to have different lifestyles to begin with. In plain English, kids who care (or whose parents care) about how they eat, probably also care about their well-being in other areas of life, such as school. Whatever way you look at it, the study is completely flawed, and you can’t conclude that those eating habits cause higher I.Q. scores.
February 15th, 2009 at 12:24 am
The 10% story is the herpes of myths — it just won’t go away, despite there being zero evidence for it. We use our entire brains, as others have stated here. Maybe not quite all of it at once, but all of it. Just because an fMRI doesn’t show activity in the entire brain doesn’t mean it never gets used. You don’t use every muscle in your body all the time, but just because you aren’t using your leg muscles while you sit at the computer doesn’t mean they won’t come in handy when you walk away.
While I understand the attraction of the idea, Alexa’s comment about telekinesis is without foundation. There is no scientific theory that explains in the slightest how using our brains to their “full potential” (whatever that means) would lead to an ability to move objects psychically. There’s simply no plausible connection between what percentage of neurons are firing in a brain and the ability to apply force to physical objects without touching them.
February 15th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
I like what the lady said about telekenisis. I agree with this statement as well as believing we have the potential of other abilities. If the brain controls everything in our bodies down to the cellular level then it could be possible to speed up healing, or regeneration. And let’s not forget the abilities to walk through walls, shape-shift, and telepathy.
February 16th, 2009 at 12:52 am
collective consciousness is a theory that seems to be growing in popularity. it very much lacks in credibility but i find an idea about it very interesting. because our brains put out such little power they (our brains) can pick up on relatively small changes in heat. like the heat that our bodies produce when we are stressed. so in proximity we can pick up on others emotional stress. i understand that it is probably not the brain that receives the minute changes it only interprets them but this is the kind of thing that we are more likely to have “potential” toward.
February 16th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
wienzy Says: “our brains put out such little power they (our brains) can pick up on relatively small changes in heat. like the heat that our bodies produce when we are stressed. so in proximity we can pick up on others emotional stress. i understand that it is probably not the brain that receives the minute changes it only interprets them”
Machines require thermal sensors to detect heat, the human body possess these? Also, collective consciousness, deals with larger areas than general proximity, so your theory isn’t well supported.
David Says: “I like what the lady said about telekenisis. I agree with this statement as well as believing we have the potential of other abilities”
This isn’t X-Men. Is there science to support your ‘ideas’? No, there is none. We would all like to believe some of these things but there 0!! evidence of this. Also, as stated above, you are wrong about the 10% brain usage thus leading to greater ‘brain potential’.
February 16th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
The human brain is really just an organic machine – it processes data like a computer does, just faster…
OSA
February 17th, 2009 at 6:19 am
Must agree with Jenni there, new neuron are not created by the brain, if fact young children have about 300 times (or something of that order)the number of synapses in their brains than adult brains. Apparently that neuroplasticity is “weeded out” as the child develops into an adult.
And while i agree with John that every part of the brain has a purpose, the average usage of those parts at any one time is said to be 10%, we just don’t use it all at once, we don’t seem to need to.
As for potential of being much more intelligent should we use more of our brain at once, i don’t know about that considering how little of our brain is used for what could be construed as intelligence!
There, that’s well over my 2c worth!
February 19th, 2009 at 12:10 am
Re: new neurons, research in the last 20 years shows that adult neurogenesis does happen. Check out the Society for Neuroscience for more info: http://www.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=brainbriefings_adult_neurogenesis
Re: eating well and school performance, there have also been studies around the provision of lunch programs to kids of low income (who typically have poorer diets than kids whose parents have higher incomes) to see whether they perform better when they have good food in them. The studies show that they do: http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/living-well-usn/2008/10/07/does-eating-a-good-school-lunch-make-you-smarter.html
February 19th, 2009 at 12:44 am
Thanks for the food for thought and sharing some clarity.
February 21st, 2009 at 8:08 am
In regards to the idea that if we used our entire brain at once we would unlock some hidden potential, the truth of the matter is rather counter-intuitive. In one study, fMRI scans of a skilled portrait artist and of a non-artist were made as each drew a series of faces. Interestingly, although both showed increased activity in the right-posterior parietal region of the brain (a site associated with facial perception and processing) during the task, the level of activation was lower in the expert than in the novice. Other fMRI studies have corroborated these results, suggesting that as we get better at doing something, so do our brains. So if we really did only ever use 10% of our brain at once, that would make us pretty much perfect at everything!
Also, like Natski I believe the “fact” about adults having the same number of neurons as newborns is incorrect. I’ve been taught that neural “pruning” occurs from birth into early adulthood and the number of neurons lost if they aren’t used is astounding (hence the adage “use it or lose it”). To be sure I checked the recent literature and indeed, a study conducted in 2007 by Oxford University found what studies before it also found: that on average, adult neuron estimates were 41% lower than those of the newborn.
Overall though, a great list full of interesting information!! :)
Oh- the chemical that keeps you from acting out your dreams is dopamine (that is, unless you have REM behavior disorder, in which case you DO act out your dreams– for an absolutely hilarious account of what that’s like, check out this link to comedian Mike Birbiglia on The Moth podcast, telling about when he had to explain to an ER doc that he was the Hulk. Hilarious AND educational :)
http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/mike-birbiglia-sleepwalk-with-me/13417512
February 21st, 2009 at 11:09 am
Kevin Says:
February 16th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
wienzy Says: “our brains put out such little power they (our brains) can pick up on relatively small changes in heat. like the heat that our bodies produce when we are stressed. so in proximity we can pick up on others emotional stress. i understand that it is probably not the brain that receives the minute changes it only interprets them”
Machines require thermal sensors to detect heat, the human body possess these? Also, collective consciousness, deals with larger areas than general proximity, so your theory isn’t well supported.
David Says: “I like what the lady said about telekenisis. I agree with this statement as well as believing we have the potential of other abilities”
This isn’t X-Men. Is there science to support your ‘ideas’? No, there is none. We would all like to believe some of these things but there 0!! evidence of this. Also, as stated above, you are wrong about the 10% brain usage thus leading to greater ‘brain potential’.
years ago, there was no evidence the world was round, or that there were planets in space like ours, or that Australia even existed, but it is, there are and it does….
0 evidence is just that, a nothing
February 21st, 2009 at 2:21 pm
I’m horrified to see amongst these comments that the old 1960s urban myth of using only 10% of your brain is still doing the rounds. I hear that American self-help literature is the main culprit in spreading this detestable nonsense. I’m more shocked to find that people are still actually believing and spreading this ridiculous lie.
Anyone who believes and repeats it, especially with arbitary qualifiers such as Marc’s “No, you just don’t use more than 10% simultaneously, but you use your whole brain. Fact is, you could do with a whole less.” is a credulous fool. Please check your information and stop the spread of false and misleading information about the brain.
March 2nd, 2009 at 7:23 am
Thank you so much this is the best site you just helped me with my homework! Thank you
March 15th, 2009 at 5:44 am
What is sci-fi today ….
March 18th, 2009 at 12:08 am
Great article.
March 28th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
“10 to 23 = the number of watts of power your grain generates when you’re awake (that’s enough to turn on a light bulb!)”
Er no, it is the number of watts your brain *consumes*. That is why you need food. And for the rest of your body of course.
March 29th, 2009 at 11:24 am
extremly good facts. is it possible that we seperate our conciousness levels ??..like sub concious brain talkin to the concious brain .. or with a help or some tool we can speak to our brain ..i have tried it by using yoga but science can give me more facts abt it ..
April 1st, 2009 at 3:28 pm
super use full
April 7th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
BRAAAAINSSSSSSS….
BRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAINS..
April 18th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
Well, the 10% thing is just one of the myths about the brain – it does not refer to the capacity, just the number of neurons firing at a time (you don’t get any smarter if 100% fires all at a time – you’d probably have a stroke)… telekinesis being another myth. Though there is an uncertainty about telepathy – there exist inconclusive studies of cases of proper telepathy.
May 18th, 2009 at 6:21 am
“I like what the lady said about telekenisis. I agree with this statement as well as believing we have the potential of other abilities. If the brain controls everything in our bodies down to the cellular level then it could be possible to speed up healing, or regeneration. And let’s not forget the abilities to walk through walls, shape-shift, and telepathy.”-David. I think people are watching Heroes too much to believe that can really happen. There’s no account stating that can actually happened or it actually happened.
July 11th, 2009 at 10:30 am
This is really a wonder ful site
I came to know this site very strangely but now i have become a ‘fan’
Thaks for creating such a knowledgeful site.
Thaks agian
Channaveer swami
July 28th, 2009 at 7:28 am
If we’re only using 10% of our brains, that means we’re only using about 2% of each section.
The 10% brain myth is just a poor explanation for people who are “psychic”.
But we don’t use 100% of our brain all the time. When we’re doing certain activities, we use different sections of the brain and such, at different times. Humans use 100% of their organs, or they probably wouldn’t even be there.
I am sure we use all of our brains.
July 28th, 2009 at 7:43 am
Commenting on what Jenni said:
I agree with how you can’t create new neurons, but neurotic connections don’t just die off. That is why you don’t forget how to swim or ride a bicycle once you’ve learned how.
The older you get, the more pathways there will be within your brain. This makes it more difficult to create new connections, which is why it is still important to keep your brain active.
You know how the elderly tend to keep old traditions, and they’re always cranky, especially when they read about the newest technology that will be available in a few years? One reason for this behaviour might be because of how many neurotic pathways are already established in their brain; it becomes more difficult to create new ones.
September 25th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
we only use less than one percent of our brain
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:52 am
Brain can be amazing you can do everything with a brain.
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:58 am
Your brain is a part of you and it on your body but it side you so you can`t see it
October 23rd, 2009 at 5:02 am
Don`t drink or smoke because it will kill you brain and you will not be as smart as you won`t to be. You may fill smart but you won`t be as smart as you think you are.
October 23rd, 2009 at 5:05 am
Thanks to your brain you are here on was website right now reading this to yourself and you can be happy and a live now with a brain.
October 27th, 2009 at 12:36 am
Brains are kool they help you think about things.
November 16th, 2009 at 9:27 am
You Brain only weighs 2% of your body’s entire weight and that your brain is about 1300-1400 cubic millimetres i love the human brain.
November 20th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
who found and named brain cells
January 23rd, 2010 at 1:29 pm
I agree with most of you that we DO NOT use ONLY 10% of our brains’ capabilities, however, MY OWN PERCEPTION is that there is a certain percentage of our brain that is currently in use at a certain time in doing a certain SOMETHING. Since the brain is like a CPU of a computer, certain computers have certain capabilities when it comes to doing multiple things all at once. Just like our bodies, we have a gagillion muscles, yet we don’t use ALL OF THEM AT ONCE, there are certain muscle groups that are being used for certain activites you engage in (i.e. My brain might just be using only 5% of its FULL CAPABILITY when I’m just laying in bed reminiscing about good times with my family as a child–and ONLY THINKING OF THAT ONE THING ONLY, maybe if I am able to think about 10 different things all at once in my brain, able to focus on each one EFFECTIVELY AND ACCURATELY compute or resolve issues all at once, not simultaneously, but in multiplicity, then HELL! Your brains might just be utilizing 40, 50, or even 60% of it’s thinking ability and processes). I think if we DID use our brains’ FULL CAPABILITY/CAPACITY…the result of that would more than likely be that we could be SUPER-MULTI-TASKERS (being able to handle 20, 30 or 40 tasks all at once–mentally, without missing a single detail about each issue, or forgetting anything at all) moreof, than being able to move objects without touching it…I mean, if our brains control our every bodily movement and mental computations and problem solving, well sh*t, isn’t all those neurons ATTACHED and CONNECTED to everywhere in our bodies? If that is so, then I don’t think I COULD EVER CLOSE A DOOR WITHOUT TOUCHING IT, because my brains are connected to my body, and NOT the door, therefore, it WILL NOT MOVE THE DAMN DOOR lol I hope I’ve explained “my” perception and understanding of that 10% myth :) Have a good one ;)