Fascinating Facts About Your Brain
We've long known that the brain is an amazing thing, but did you specifically know that:
• Every person has more than 75km of nerves in their body.
• Your nerves can send messages faster than a Grand Prix car travels.
• The brain is the most complex machine in the universe - it has over 100,000,000, 000 nerve cells each with up to 150,000 connections. Each cell is connected to 25,000 others.
• If every person on the planet simultaneously made 200,000 phone calls, there would be the same total number of connections as in a single human brain in a day
• The grey cells occupy only 5% of our brains - 95% is taken up by the communication network that runs between the grey cells!
• The brain weighs about 1.5 kg in an adult human, about 1.5% of the body weight.
• Damaged brain cells do not regenerate but mental and physical functions can improve after mild or moderate brain damage with skilful rehabilitation.
• Compared to other animals, human brains are big for the body.
• The human brain is only just bigger than your two fists.
• On average, the male brain (approx 1.4kg) is slightly bigger than the female brain (approx 1.26kg).
• Each half of the brain controls the other half of your body.
• In right-handed individuals (which comprise 91% of people): the right side of the brain controls: musical talent, fantasy, imagination, dreams, drawing, and painting. The left side of the brain controls: mathematical ability, ability to solve logic problems, controls language skills, remembers names, dates, and facts.
• The grey part of the brain is folded to fit inside the skull and, if flattened, it would cover the surface of an office desk.
• The brain contains 100 billion brain cells of which, 100,000 are irretrievably lost each day.
• You can retain about seven facts at any one time in short term memory, but over the long term your brain has to forget things to make room for new memories.
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Women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression than men in the United States.
The human brain has about 100,000,000,000 (100 billion) neurons.
From all the oxygen that a human breathes, twenty percent goes to the brain.
People who ride on roller coasters have a higher chance of having a blood clot in the brain.
Once a human reaches the age of 35, he/she will start losing approximately 7,000 brain cells a day. The cells will never be replaced.
It is not possible to tickle yourself. The cerebellum, a part of the brain, warns the rest of the brain that you are about to tickle yourself. Since your brain knows this, it ignores the resulting sensation.
In America, the most common mental illness is Anxiety Disorders.
Your brain is 80% water.
Your brain is move active and thinks more at night than during the day.
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BRAIN STATISTICS
Dimensions and Sizes
Average dimensions of the adult brain: Width = 140 mm/5.5 in, Length = 167 mm/6.5 in, Height = 93 mm/3.6 in.
How much does human brain weigh? At birth our brains weigh and average of 350-400g (about 4/5 lbs), as adults the brain averages 1300-1400g (about 3 lbs).
If Stretched out the cerebral cortex would be 0.23 sq. m(2.5sq.ft), the area of a night table.
Total surface area of the cerebral cortex is 2,500 cm2 or 2.69 sq.ft.
Composition
The composition of the brain = 77-78% water, 10-12% lipids, 8% protein, 1% carbs, 2% soluble organics, 1% inorganic salt.
The breakdown of intracranial contents by volume (1,700 ml, 100%): brain = 1,400 ml (80%); blood = 150 ml (10%); cerebrospinal fluid = 150 ml (10%).
The cerebellum contains half of all the neurons in the brain but comprises only 10% of the brain.
The cerebral cortex is about 85% of the brain.
Percentage of total cerebral cortex volume = frontal lobe 41%, temporal lobe 22%, parietal lobe 19%, occipital lobe 18%.
There are about 100 billion neurons in the human brain, the same number of stars in our galaxy.
The left hemisphere of the brain has 186 million more neurons than the right hemisphere.
750-1000ml of blood flow through the brain every minute or about 3 full soda cans.
In that minute the brain will consume 46cm3 (1/5 cups) of oxygen from that blood.
Of that oxygen consumed, 6% will be used by the brain's white matter and 94% by the grey matter.
Times
The brain can stay alive for 4 to 6 minutes without oxygen. After that cells begin die.
The slowest speed at which information travels between neurons is 416 km/h or 260 mph, thats as "slow" as todays supercar's top speed (the Bugatti EB 16.4 Veyron clocked at 253 mph).
10 seconds is the amount of time until unconsciousness after the loss of blood supply to the brain.
Time until reflex loss after loss of blood supply to the brain, 40-110 seconds.
During early pregnancy the rate of neuron growth is 250,000 neurons a minute.
Other Fun Facts About The Human Brain
Results from cognitive tests show 30% of 80-year-olds perform as well as young adults.
Your brain is about 2% of your total body weight but uses 20% of your body's energy.
The energy used by the brain is enough to light a 25 watt bulb.
More electrical impulses are generated in one day by a single human brain than by all the telephones in the world.
How much does human brain think? 70,000 is the number of thoughts that it is estimated the human brain produces on an average day.
After age 30, the brain shrinks a quarter of a percent (0.25%) in mass each year.
Albert Einsteins brain weighed 1,230 grams (2.71 lbs), significantly less then the human average of 1,300g to 1,400g (3 lbs).
Each year Americans consume 50 billion aspirin tablets or 15.5 million tons.
89.06 is the percentage of people who report normally writing with their right hand, 10.6% with their left and 0.34% with either hand.
The human brain has about 100 billion neurons. The most powerful personal computers today have about 0.4 billion transistors in the CPU. So we are a factor of 250 or so away. Within 15 years we will have processors with 100 billion transistors. It could be argued that a neuron is much more powerful than a transistor. In that case, we are 30 years away to having the full processing power of a human brain in a desktop PC.
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Did You Know?
...the weight of an average human brain is about 1300-1400g - @ 3lbs i.e., almost one bag of sugar.
It's smaller than an elephant's brain (6000g) but bigger than a monkey's brain (95g)! A dog's brain weighs about 72g and a cat's brain weighs abut 30g.
Your skin weighs twice as much as your brain!
Did You Know?.
..the brain represents about 2% of your total body weight. It is roughly 140mm wide, 167mm long and 93mm high
Did You Know?
...neurons multiply at a rate 250,000 neurons per minute during early pregnancy
Did You Know?
...your brain uses approximately 20% of the total oxygen pumping around your body!
...and about 750ml of blood pumps through your brain every minute!
Did You Know?
...unconsciousness will occur after 8-10 seconds after loss of blood supply to the brain
Did You Know?
...your brain consists of 60% white matter and 40% grey matter
Did You Know?
...information travels at different speeds within different types of neurons. Transmission can be as slow as 0.5 meters/sec or as fast as 120 meters/sec.
Traveling at 120 meters/sec is the same as going 268 miles/hour
Did You Know?
The human brain is approximately 75% water
Did You Know?
..."I had brain surgery 10 years ago, so I know some pretty fascinating things about the brain. One of the most fascinating things I learned is that the brain itself is incapable of feeling pain. (That doesn't mean brain surgery doesn't hurt!)"
Fascinating Fact by:
Kris Webb ~North Carolina, USA
Did You Know?
...the number of internal thought pathways that your brain is capable of producing is:one followed by 10.5 million kilometers of standard typewritten zero's!
Did You Know?
...your brain is capable of having more ideas than the number of atoms in the known universe!
(source: Tony Buzan, Head Strong 2001)
Did You Know?
...if you could harness the power used by your brain, you could power as a 10-watt light bulb
Did You Know?
...your brain consists of about 100 billion neurons!
That's about 166 times the number of people on the planet!
(source: Tony Buzan)
It would take you approximately 171 years to count them all!
(source: E. Chudler)
Did You Know?
...when you were born, your brain weighed about 350-400g and you had almost all the brain cells you will ever have. In fact, your brain was closer to its full adult size than any other organ in your body!
And...
...that your brain stopped growing
at age 18
Did You Know?
...all of your "thinking" is done by electricity and chemicals
DAAAMMM!!!...ALL THESE BRAIN FACTS MAKE MY HEAD HURT
Joe Buck (Bob)
