New brain facts
Cognitive science is the study of the brain. It has given us new insight into how the brain works. It has also revealed countless new and interesting facts about the physical composition of the brain as well, interesting facts that you probably didn’t know.
Our information superhighway
For instance, did you know the weight of the brain is about 3 lbs? Or that the brain is made up of about 75% water? You have heard of neurons, and probably know that they are the circuit stations of the brain, but did you know that the brain has about 100 million of them? And of those 100 million, each is linked to 1,000 to 10,000 synapses to convey information around the brain.
No hard feelings
And remember the “brain” scene in the movie Hannibal? Well, that was physically possible, because there are no pain receptors in the brain, so the brain can feel no pain. Yikes!
Why we are smarter
Further, the brain has physical characteristics that make us smarter as humans. At 2% of body weight, the human brain comprises the largest percentage of body weight of any organism.
High maintenance
It takes a lot of blood to keep that brain going: there are 100,000 miles of blood vessels in the brain. It also takes a lot of oxygen: up to 20% of the total oxygen in your body (remember, the brain only weighs three pounds).
Protective padding
Ever wonder why we can hit our heads without damaging our brains? Well, there is a lot of padding: the human brain is the fattest organ in the body, with up to 60% fat composition.
The changing brain
A newborn baby’s brain grows to about three times its size at birth in its first year. The brain stops growing at age 18.
Whole brains
And you know that myth that we only use 10% of our brains? Well that is far from true: every part of our brain has a known function.
Memory lag
Did you ever think that traveling could affect your memory? Well, science has learned that frequent jet lag can impair memory due to stress hormones.
The champ
Did you know there is a recognized global memory champion? His name is Ben Pridemore, and his claim to fame is memorizing 96 historical events in 5 minutes and memorizing a single, shuffled deck of cards in 26.28 seconds. Sound strange? Well, everyone gets their fifteen minutes of fame somehow. Do you remember who said that? Good, your brain is still working!
More fun and interesting facts
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Want to learn more fun facts about the brain? Here are 100 fascinating facts you never knew about the human brain.