1. The brain can stay alive for 4 to 6 minutes without oxygen. After that cells begin die.
2. The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate, and most invertebrate, animals.
3. Neurons multiply at a rate 250,000 neurons per minute during early pregnancy.
4. Each cubic millimeter of cerebral cortex contains roughly one billion synapses.
5. 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.
6. Eating foods rich in vitamin E, beta-carotene, and vitamin C may help lower your risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
7. Albert Einstein’s brain weighed 1,230 grams (2.71 lbs), significantly less then the human average of 1,300g to 1,400g (3 lbs).
8. Wine drinkers on average have a higher IQ than beer drinkers. Studies show a slight advantage to wine drinkers — but do wine drinkers have higher IQs because they drink wine or vice-versa ? It may be that some people with high IQ reach a high social status and then choose to drink wine to fit in.
9. An elephant’s brain is huge - about six times as large as a human brain. However, in relation to body size, humans have the largest brain of all the animals, averaging about 2% of body weight. A cat’s brain? It weighs about one ounce, a little over 1% of body weight.
10. Recent research proves that your brain continues to produce new neurons throughout your life. It also proves that it does so in response to stimulation (do those brainpower exercises). Scientists refer to this as brain plasticity or neuro-plasticity.
11. 750ml of blood pumps through your brain every minute which is 15-20% of blood flow from the heart.
12. Despite rapid scientific progress, much about how brains work remains a mystery.
