Skip the details: Jump to Top 10 list
Want to Seem Smarter Than You Are?
Did you know humans have two brains? Read my top 10 list! I recently dropped this knowledge nugget on a group of family members, and their eyes widened in amazement. Instantly, their impression of my mental powers climbed a notch.
Why? Because the fact was both fun and informative. And talking about brains makes a person seem especially erudite (I searched the thesaurus under smart, and figured erudite sounded the most sophisticated).
So keep reading this and other BANALs to impress your friends and loved ones! Or at least, to have a fresh topic for the dinner table.
Mysterious Organ
Scientists admit there is more we don’t know about the brain than what we do know. Some physical characteristics:
- Your brain contains an estimated 86 billion interconnected neurons, adding up to a quadrillion connections (1000 trillion).
- A piece of brain tissue the size of a grain of sand contains 100,000 neurons and 1 billion synapses.
- Your brain can generate enough power to light a light bulb (23 watts). But you need your sleep to maintain those pathways.
- Teenage brains are not fully formed (despite what they think 😁) Doesn’t happen until age 25.
- Brain information travels at 268 mph.
- The average brain generates 48 thoughts per minute.
- Your brain processes images sent by your eyes faster than you can blink.
- Every minute, enough blood flows through the brain to fill a liter soda bottle.
Does Size Matter?
The average adult human brain weighs in at 1300 to 1400 grams or around 3 pounds. Does a bigger brain mean you are smarter? Scientists tend to differ on this question. Those who dispute the claim say that other factors affect one’s intelligence, and question how intelligence is measured.
Men tend to have larger brains than women – about 100 grams larger on average. I’ll let you make your own conclusions.
Careful guys. Before you gloat, consider the case of Albert Einstein. His brain was 10% smaller than the average brain. But how, you ask? His neuron density was greater than the typical human brain.
Are you Right-Brained or Left-Brained?
The correct answer is No. The whole side-of-the-brain theory has been soundly debunked (read more). Yet the idea persists, and is still even taught in some places.
PSA – don’t take on-line or other tests that purport to tell you if you are right-brained or left-brained. At worst, they might be a scam to get your money or personal info. At best, they perpetuate the myth that you can’t be more logical or more creative because you “aren’t built that way”.
Interestingly, however, the brains between introverts and extroverts are very different. MRIs reveal that the dopamine reward network is more active in the brains of extroverts while introverts’ brains have more gray matter.
Top 10 Mysterious Brain Factoids
This list is incredibly subjective, so let me know where and why I got it wrong.
Number 10!
Nosy?
Your nose is always visible, but your brain pretends it isn’t there.
Number 9!
Sphenopalatine Ganglioneuralgia
Otherwise known as Brain Freeze. Occurs when cold hits the receptors in the outer covering of the brain, called the meninges. The cold creates a dilation and contraction of arteries, causing a rapid-onset headache.
Number 8!
Use Your Brain!
You use all your brain, not just 10 percent. Even when you are sleeping. Even in space.
Number 5!
GPS Is Bad For You
Relying on GPS to navigate destroys your innate sense of direction, a skill that took our ancestors years to develop.
When areas of the brain involved in navigation are no longer used, those neural connections fade away via synaptic pruning. No wonder geography is so hard for our youth!
Number 4!
Don’t Drink And Go To The Chapel
Your brain is incapable of forming memories when you are drunk.
So relax, it’s not that you forgot. And don’t bother trying to recall how you ended up in the gutter or with a wedding ring on your finger in Vegas. Your brain never captured the event.
Number 2!
Synesthesia
A condition where stimulation of one sense evokes a perception of another sense. People with synesthesia might “taste” words, “smell” sounds, or see numbers as colors.
I reviewed a memoir written by an autistic savant with synesthesia here. Fascinating read.