24 Amazing Facts About The Human Brain

ULOOK2 Published 07/13/2014 in Science & Technology

Interesting things about your brain you probably did not know!

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1. You have over 100,000 miles of axons in your brain. That's enough to wrap around the world 4 times.
2. Information can fly around your brain at 260 mph
3. Ancient people thought the stomach and heart to be more important than the brain. Egyptians even pulled parts of the brain out through the nose before mummifying bodies
4. Your brain is the fattest organ in your body at around 60
5. And it has the same consistency as tofu
6. At any given time your brain can generate up to 25 watts of power. That's enough to power a lightbulb.
7. Wilder Penfield 1891-1976 created a drawing that became known as a homunculus, which shows what we would look like if our body parts were as big as the brain space they take up.
8. Brain surgery is not something new. In the past some cultures practiced trepanation, or the act of drilling holes in the brain to alleviate pain and cure sickness
9. Contrary to popular belief you don't only use 10 of your brain. Most of your brain is active all the time, even when you sleep.
10. Despite the common myth that large brains equal more smarts, people like Einstein actually had a smaller brain
11. Experts estimate that over the course of a lifetime human brains of the 21st century will retain up to 1 quadrillion pieces of information
12. Humans have more brain cells at the age of two than at any other point in their lives
13. It can also play tricks on you. Square A and B are actually the same color
14. It has no pain receptors so it doesn't feel anything
15. This is why doctors are able to perform open brain surgery on patients that are still awake.
16. Your brain is actually more active while you are sleeping
17. A woman's brain shrinks during pregnancy and takes up to 6 months to regain its size
18. There are more than 100,000 chemical reactions happening in your brain every second
19. You could survive with only 1 side of your brain
20. Your brain was just about as big as it is now when you were born. That's one reason that babies have disproportionately large heads.
21. You have roughly 70,000 thoughts every day
22. Your brain accounts for about 2 of your mass but uses up to a quarter of your oxygen and energy
23. Your brain continues to develop until your late 40s
24. The highest IQ every recorded is Kim Ung-yong of South Korea at 210

1. You have over 100,000 miles of axons in your brain. That's enough to wrap around the world 4 times.
2. Information can fly around your brain at 260 mph
3. Ancient people thought the stomach and heart to be more important than the brain. Egyptians even pulled parts of the brain out through the nose before mummifying bodies
4. Your brain is the fattest organ in your body at around 60
5. And it has the same consistency as tofu
6. At any given time your brain can generate up to 25 watts of power. That's enough to power a lightbulb.
7. Wilder Penfield 1891-1976 created a drawing that became known as a homunculus, which shows what we would look like if our body parts were as big as the brain space they take up.
8. Brain surgery is not something new. In the past some cultures practiced trepanation, or the act of drilling holes in the brain to alleviate pain and cure sickness
9. Contrary to popular belief you don't only use 10 of your brain. Most of your brain is active all the time, even when you sleep.
10. Despite the common myth that large brains equal more smarts, people like Einstein actually had a smaller brain
11. Experts estimate that over the course of a lifetime human brains of the 21st century will retain up to 1 quadrillion pieces of information
12. Humans have more brain cells at the age of two than at any other point in their lives
13. It can also play tricks on you. Square A and B are actually the same color
14. It has no pain receptors so it doesn't feel anything
15. This is why doctors are able to perform open brain surgery on patients that are still awake.
16. Your brain is actually more active while you are sleeping
17. A woman's brain shrinks during pregnancy and takes up to 6 months to regain its size
18. There are more than 100,000 chemical reactions happening in your brain every second
19. You could survive with only 1 side of your brain
20. Your brain was just about as big as it is now when you were born. That's one reason that babies have disproportionately large heads.
21. You have roughly 70,000 thoughts every day
22. Your brain accounts for about 2 of your mass but uses up to a quarter of your oxygen and energy
23. Your brain continues to develop until your late 40s
24. The highest IQ every recorded is Kim Ung-yong of South Korea at 210