A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a vertebrate's body. In a human, the cerebral cortex contains approximately 14–16 billion neurons, and the estimated number of neurons in the cerebellum is 55–70 billion. Each neuron is connected by synapses to several thousand other neurons. These neurons typically communicate with one another by means of long fibers called axons, which carry trains of signal pulses called action potentials to distant parts of the brain or body targeting specific recipient cells.
Physiologically, brains exert centralized control over a body's other organs. They act on the rest of the body both by generating patterns of muscle activity and by driving the secretion of chemicals called hormones. This centralized control allows rapid and coordinated responses to changes in the environment. Some basic types of responsiveness such as reflexes can be mediated by the spinal cord or peripheral ganglia, but sophisticated purposeful control of behavior based on complex sensory input requires the information integrating capabilities of a centralized brain.
The operations of individual brain cells are now understood in considerable detail but the way they cooperate in ensembles of millions is yet to be solved. Recent models in modern neuroscience treat the brain as a biological computer, very different in mechanism from an electronic computer, but similar in the sense that it acquires information from the surrounding world, stores it, and processes it in a variety of ways.
This article compares the properties of brains across the entire range of animal species, with the greatest attention to vertebrates. It deals with the human brain insofar as it shares the properties of other brains. The ways in which the human brain differs from other brains are covered in the human brain article. Several topics that might be covered here are instead covered there because much more can be said about them in a human context. The most important is brain disease and the effects of brain damage, that are covered in the human brain article.
Does memorising improve your thinking abilities?
I think that problem solving is the best way but would spending a little bit of time memorising things that you find interesting and may prove to be useful in the future be a good thing to do? Or Would it tarnish your creative thinking...
Hello all,
I am doing a high-school grade science fair on the effects of aging on synesthesia. Well, at least that's what it tests, but in reality, it's the other way around, almost. Synesthesia, while, indeed, being a genetic condition, is a condition of the brain. Therefore, if the brain is...
The aim of the game is simple (similar to the Math Q&A game). I will post a brain teaser, the first person to give the correct answer gets to set the next question, the first person to then answer this question correctly gets to set the following question... ad infinitum. A few rules before we...
I have selected a few brain teasers at random for the most part that I found at least mildly amusing and that I could not immediately find in this sub-forum.
I wouldn't say that any of them are very hard, but some require sideways thinking and I think that makes them fun to do.
It is almost...
Here's how these work; 26=L in the A would be 26 letters in the alphabet,
12=N on a C would be 12 numbers on a Clock, and 1=the L N would be 1 the lonliest number.
Here they are;
10=A by L Z
273=D K in Z D C
My question is about West Nile Virus and why/how it is much more likely to cause encephalitis in the elderly. What I've found is that increased permeability of the BBB is what allows the virus to infect brain tissue which is how the majority of neurological damage is done. The rest of the...
Well i have done it, and now i feel very low, sort of having no more to offer,
not that what i offered had any value any way, it is just a rotten feeling,
that one is useless.
Just wondering...does anyone here have any infomation to share on brain imprinting?
such as transfering memories and thoughts from one person to another?
Answer selects two natural numbers from the range [2,100] (x, y). He tells one man Sum' 's' (where s = x+y) and another man 'Product' 'p' (where p = x*y).
The men are asked to find x and y.
Both men have perfect logic.
Know that the starting numbers were selected from [2,100]
And are good...
There's a common belief that every glass of alcohol you drink kills a certain number of brain cells.
This is a myth I thought I'd clear up here, one that results from a severe condition sometimes seen in chronic alcoholics called Wernicke-Korsakov's Syndrome...
Seriously, it seems like the cannabis plant is built for the intelligent, inquisitive, imaginative, ect. mind. Not only do my senses, reason, intuition, and imagination expand on marijuana, I also understand science so much more. There is something it does to your logical faculty that makes you...
A teacher is sitting at a park and counts all the kids and all the dogs. She comes to a total of 40 head and 100 legs. How many kids and dogs are there?
There is more than one answer. the first one is 30 kids and 10 dogs.
Find ONE more answer!
There is no trick animal (ie: a three...
i tried searching for it on google but couldn't get the right term. Do you guys know of any research going on trying to transfer knowledge directly into brain like chip?
I just started physics this year, and we were assigned our first problem today. Before I continue I'd just like to stress that I am not looking for an answer. Just a hint, or something to help me out. Telling me that I'm on the right path would be helpful as well :smile:
Here's the...
Lots of current research showing that primates have hard coded values in the neurons of their prefrontal cortexes.
See
costs and benefits in the brain
http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nn1756.html
Cardinal utility in the brain...
I am taking too many AP classes plus I am in a chess club. Now what happens is that even though I have an A so far in all of my subjects. I can't get rest. Literally, I study till my mind starts burning, then when it gets really hot, I jump in the swimming pool for half an hour, then study...
I've been hearing that our very brains have more computing power than the highest of computers. IS this true. I mean what do we d o that's all that complex without brains. I know consciously we don't have very much math ability but unconsciously we do. By the way, which mental activities use the...
I am reading an article in this month's SciAm mind about treating depression with deep-brain stimulation. Researchers found that an area known as Area 25 is overactive in patients with severe depression. From what I understand, this area is sort of a "traffic controller" for neural paths between...
I found this http://www.northwestern.edu/univ-relations/media_relations/releases/2004/11/chronic.html" very interesting.
http://www.northwestern.edu/univ-relations/media_relations/releases/2004/11/chronic.html
This one should be quick and easy, but I just can't seem to get it:
"A college rower can easily push a small car along a flat road, but she cannot lift the car in the air. Since the mass of the car is constant, how can you explain this discrepancy?"
Edit: I'm thinking that friction can be...
This thread is nearly dead. :zzz: I urge you all to post any new brain teasers you have or any website on them. Come on, we need some fuel for our empty brains.
PS: I have a website. www.mindsport.org
Hi,
I get my grad school decision in about 2 weeks.:cry:
I'm having a problem deciding between 2 fields that I would love to do a research project in. Both involve Computational/Simulations Science [Computer Science(computability and 3D engine development) & Mathematics].
The 1st is...
I am working on a repair for an old Meriam Well-type manometer and I am being a bit lazy on thinking/writing out my problem. I am trying to design a new well for it.
My question is -- am I right in thinking the well should have a large diameter and a low height so that the fluid pressure...
Okay, you're in a game show that is akin to Deal or No Deal.
You are given 3 suitcases to choose from, 1 of which contains a million dollars, the other two are empty.
Once you have chosen a suitcase, the host (who knows beforehand which of the 3 suitcases contain the million dollars), opens one...
Is it true Albert Einstein's brain is kept in a bottle in a small-town doctor's office near Kansas City? --Listener, Mike Murphy show, KCMO radio, Kansas City, Missouri
Cecil replies:
You heard right, friend. What's more, for a long time the doctor kept the brain in a cardboard box behind...
fMRI data were collected from the brains of individuals either as they passively looked at geometric line drawings on a screen in front of them, or as they traced these drawings with their eyes. Data from the first task were subtracted from data from the second task.
What area of the brain is...
Some brain teasers~~~~Plz look and try...
Hey i have a couple brain teasers please take a look. I will gave how many letter and words the answer is. This isn't really php code its just easier so the text is formatted right for the x thing.
1) White, 3F, squared ( the answer is...
Hi,
I listen trance music for a long time and I was an average student i got 45% in high school and after that started listensing trance music . U won't believe it i did very well i got honors in engineering and then did masters with honors and currently doing Phd in Aeronautical engg. ...
Hey everyone,
I found this really interesting article at Technology Review about a new procedure scientists have developed for administering drugs directly into the brain. This could potentially have major implications for the treatment of such neurological disorders as Alzheimer's and...
Hello,
I'm wondering whether heavy electromagnetic stimulations of neurons can cause our brain to stop working at all, in sense that all the neurons stop receiving the messages from any other. Are there any known hypothesis how our brain could be possibly made during an evolution? And Does the...
http://www.iucaa.ernet.in/~paddy/playthemes/playthemes.htm"
That's a nice collection of difficult(IMO) brain teasers and math problems (especially geometry). Till now, I haven't got any :cry:
I am new to this forum by the way. I would be gracious to anyone that can shed light to levels of hydrogen in the brain. At high temperatures, hydrogen gas can exist as a mixture of atoms, protons and negativley charged hydride ions. This mixture is said to have a high emissivity and...
How would I hypothetically, go about solving this problem:
Replace each G with one of the digits from 1 through 9 to make a true statement, each digit may only be used once.
G/GxG+GxGxG/G+GxG=100
Thanks guys,
Mk. :cool: :biggrin:
I found this to be an incredibly fascinating but incredibly gross phenomena. I'm wondering if any of you know any more about the science behind how the wasps actually induce the spiders behavior change...
The article is here...
http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=17"
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/weekinreview/05carey.html?ex=1296795600&en=bbc8fede11af6a48&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
A nice cautionary tale for the layman about brain imaging.
I wondering why the brain is the orgna that uses the most power of our bodies. I recently saw this. It says that the brain is the highest user of energy throughout our body,but how?
The muscles kidneys, or digestive system I'd think. What is it that the brain does that uses so much power...
A brain tumor was recently experienced. It was on the surface tissue of the brain and was about 3 inches in diameter. Non cancerous. There was no reported brain damage. Everything healed up great. For a good month or two, way of thinking was altared a little. Presently that way of thinking is...
Our brians are made out of organic material. It is very likely that the macro features we have such as consciousness, mind, qualia etc are an emergent property from these complex physical properties.
But could these emergent properties come from an extremely complicated device that is not...
The following statement is true:
12=11
There are no mathematical operators (+, −, *, /), exponents, parentheses, etc. missing. How can 12 and 11 be equal?
Hint 1: The given is not false.
Hint 2: How did the first humans count?
My website posts my movie reviews and rates them from 1 - 5. I want to post an average*, and I can't figure out how to do it.
Rating Number of movies
1....6
2...10
3...41
4...37
5...12
I can't figure out how to average* them without biasing them in favour of the higher numbers...