Amazing Facts About the Human Brain:

The brain is a complicated thing to understand, some scientists have spent their entire lives learning how the brain works.

1. The Brain has a joke center. Sometimes, patients with damaged frontal lobes are unable to ‘get’ jokes.
2. You can’t hear phone conversations in noisy rooms – The brain can’t distinguish background noise from the voice on the phone.
3. Yawning actually wakes you up – Yawning gets more air into the lungs, thus increasing oxygen to the brain.
4. We’re hardwired to remember annoying songs – ‘Sequence recall’ to learn daily routines also lets songs get stuck in our heads.
5. The brain uses less power than a refrigerator light – The brain uses 12 watts of power – 17% of the body’s energy.
6. Frequent jet lag can damage memory – Stress hormones released during jet lag can damage the temporal lobe and memory.
7. Altitude makes the brain see strange visions – Oxygen deprivation is likely to interfere with visual and emotional processing.
8. Shoot-’em-up computer games aid multitasking – Shooting multiple enemies spreads your attention and means you’re constantly reacting to events.
9. It is impossible to tickle yourself – The brain dulls expected sensations when we cause them ourselves.
10. Brain sunlight makes you sneeze – Crossed wires in the brain stem send signals from the eye via the nose.
11. The weight of the brain is about 1.36kg.
12. The brain is made up of roughly 75% water.
13. Your brain stops growing at age 18.
14. Your brain uses 20% of the total oxygen in your body.
15. Studies show that brain waves are more active while dreaming than when you are awake.
16. Excessive stress has shown to alter brain cells, brain structure, and brain function.
17. The brain can live for 4 to 6 minutes without oxygen, and then it begins to die. No oxygen for 5 to 10 minutes will result in permanent brain damage.
18. Reading aloud and talking often to a young child promotes brain development.
19. A newborn baby’s brain grows about three times its size in the first year.
20. The human brain is the fattest organ in the body and may consist of at least 60% fat.