The human brain is a very powerful and complicated organ. Over the years, it has enabled humans to build cities and entire countries as well as turn rocks and trees into homes, create lenses out of glass to view stars or microscopic organisms. It is a remarkable organ about which we still don’t know a lot. These ten peculiar, little-known facts about the brain may serve as a reminder of how amazing our nervous system actually is.
1. The Brain Runs Hot
According to research, the human brain warms up when it functions, reaching a temperature of 104°F (40°C) as compared to the rest of the body’s 96.8°F (37°C). Unusual heat signatures may point to “brain injury or a problem” even though this temperature indicates a healthy brain. Female brains are somewhat warmer than male brains, perhaps as a result of the menstrual cycle, according to 4-D maps of brain temperatures throughout the day. The study discovered that the average daily variance in the temperatures of the male and female brains was 1.8°F (1°C), with cooler temperatures in the brains’ “outer portions.” Older people’s brains tend to run hotter than those of younger individuals because they tend to be colder at night and warmer during the day.
2. Particulates may cause brain damage
An internet article reports that scientists have come to the conclusion that inhaled ultra-fine hazardous air pollution particles can travel from the lungs into the blood circulation, invade the brain, and become entrenched in its tissue, where they can stay longer than in any other organ. The likelihood of such invasive particles, such as calcium, iron, malayaite, and anatase titanium dioxide, causing neuroinflammation and severe cognitive impairment, alarmed the researchers.
3. Some Brains are unable to read faces
A neurological condition known as prosopagnosia, or face blindness, is defined by the inability to recognize well-known faces. Patients with the syndrome are aware that they are seeing a face, but they are sometimes unable to identify whose face they are seeing, even when it is their own or a family member’s face. Brad Pitt, a well-known person who experiences the disease. He admitted that many individuals don’t think he can identify or recognize their faces. He is therefore perceived by them as “disrespectful, egocentric, and conceited.” As a result, he has always felt lonely since he was a child. Often, the illness begins to impair a person at birth.
4. The Brain is Changed by Modern Life
The prefrontal cortex of the brain can get damaged by the stress and demands of modern life, resulting in “frontal fatigue,” a condition that causes mental illnesses.
One medical professional provides a three-step stress-reduction program.
First, be aware of the symptoms of frontal tiredness, which include difficulties focusing, word loss, and trouble multitasking. Dr. Rego advises getting your hands dirty by doing crafts, cooking, producing art, playing an instrument, gardening, or undertaking a do-it-yourself activity.
It is also advised to indulge the senses in the search of beauty: “See, smell, hear, and taste everything life has to offer. Look into new foods, music, art, and especially the natural world. Additionally advised is social engagement.
He suggests better managing thoughts and feelings by engaging in meditation or other forms of distraction, reading thought-provoking material, and attempting to become less and less angry as his third method for relieving frontal exhaustion. Rego also advises avoiding technology and social media as much as you can.
5. Einstein’s Brain Had Some Unusual Features
The autopsy findings, as well as images and tissue samples of Albert Einstein’s brain, revealed not only the conventional traits but also a number of unexpected ones. Every aging-related alteration in his brain was visible, and two regions of his brain had an abnormally high ratio of glia, a type of non-neural cell, to neurons. The missing furrow is supposed to have “increased the connections in this location,” which is assumed to be related to mathematical abilities. The “complexity and pattern of convolutions on some sections of Einstein’s cerebral cortex” is another outstanding aspect of Einstein’s brain, and it may have contributed to his extraordinary talents. The fact that Einstein’s brain was really smaller than average is one of the most unexpected findings.
5. A Few Animals’ Brain Cells Are Somewhat Similar to Our Own
Von Economo is a large and recognizable structure that is found in both human and animal brains. It was named in honor of the anatomist Constantin von Economo. Well, in some species’ brains, particularly the larger ones, like elephants, cows, great apes, whales, and dolphins. According to scientific theory, it independently originated in big-brain or particularly social animals. The neuron is absent in some brain disease patients, and it is overrepresented in super-agers, elderly individuals who do not undergo the typical memory loss associated with aging. Due to the lack of neurons in animals commonly employed in lab research like rats and mice, little more is known about neurons aside from these few facts.
6. The Brain Loves a Surprise
According to MRI scans of the human brain, people are hard-wired to enjoy pleasant surprises. The nucleus accumbens, also known as “the brain’s pleasure center,” reacts strongly to surprises. The professor said that while receiving gifts on your birthday is nice, getting surprises on other days is preferable. When surprises are pleasant, the nucleus accumbens becomes like a Christmas tree because of a dopamine rush they trigger.
7. The Effects of Horror Films on the Brain
Neuroimaging research shows that watching horror films affects the brain as well, especially when the plot builds to a shocking or horrifying moment. However, there isn’t a dopamine rush. Instead, when fear gradually rises while watching horror movies, brain regions related to visual and auditory processing are more active. After such a time, the brain undergoes extensive changes, with increased activity in regions related to emotional processing, threat assessment, and decision-making. By upping the ante—by having some sort of “supernatural menace that cannot be reasoned with,” horror movies excel above other film genres. According to academics, people who watch scary movies together as opposed to alone are looking for excitement and a reason to socialize.
9. The Brain Is Rewireable
The brain can it be rewired? The use of psilocybin mushrooms as a therapy for serious depression is possible. Indeed, psilocybin is referred to as a potential breakthrough therapy by the American Food and Drug Administration. When the chemical is transformed into psilocin in the intestines, it can be utilized to treat a number of conditions, such as cluster headaches, anxiety, anorexia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Psilocybin can free depressed people from the obsessive grip that negative, anxious, or scary thoughts and self-criticism have on them. This promotes more adaptable thinking, enables the brain’s neurons to grow new dendrites, which improves intercellular communication and creates new neural circuits in the brain. A psychedelic doesn’t work for everyone, says Matthew Johnson, a professor of medicine.
10. The Brain Compresses Data
The human brain ignores information that is not relevant to the job at hand in order to function effectively, concentrating only on that data. Neuroscientists assert that the brain uses data compression to enhance performance while minimizing expense, or to adopt tunnel vision. Researchers Christian Machens and Joe Paton, among others, did research that has led to ideas that can direct future studies into how mental models of the environment might enable intelligent behavior in the context of life sciences, artificial intelligence, and decision making.
Ref : www.Listverse.com