Shane Krider and Rachel Krider present 15 Mind Boggling Facts About The Brain
Blog based on Facts About The Brain podcast by Shane Krider
Facts about the brain – why is this so important? Well, I’m into it for a few reasons and it started with these two books: Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey; and Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.
This ignited my passion for personal development, and I continue to be hungry for more information around the idea of how we can use our brain to transform our life. These are my favourite 15 facts about the brain and why you should never buy into your own excuses.
- On average the brain contains 100-trillion to 1-quadrillion synapses.
Synapses are the little connections between the neurons in the brain. They send messages to the 100-billion neurons (or nerve cells) in your brain. It’s a very complex and interesting code they use to communicate to each other.
- You can expand your brain.
If you see each neuron as a tree, then each has it’s own branches growing from it – these are dendrites. We have the ability to expand our brain by growing new dendrites. Not a few branches here and there, like 100,000 more dendrites! This strengthens and grows your brain.
What can the average person do to strengthen your mind and grow your brain? Arnold Scheibel, head of UCLA Brain Research Institute suggests being actively involved in areas that are unfamiliar to you. “Anything that is intellectually challenging will serve as a kind of stimulus for dendritic growth.”
- The brain seems to specialize.
I’ve mentioned previously, the brain experiment carried out on the London cab driver, where they found the area within the brain related to mapping expanded tremendously to accommodate the information required to navigate very complex streets of London.
To be hired as a London taxi driver, you have to pass an extensive test called ‘The Knowledge’. There was a follow up study of the people who had successfully passed, which showed their brains started to reject learning new things.
This fact about the brain shows we have a natural tenancy to want to specialize to the exclusion of other things. It’s so interesting!
- Your brain is anywhere from 30x- to 1000x- more powerful than the fastest supercomputer.
The world’s #3 state of the art supercomputer is called Blue Gene Sequoyah, and it’s 100,000x- faster than your home computer. Your brain is at least 30x faster than that.
- Your brain only weights three pounds (1.36 kilograms).
If you were to build a supercomputer to replicate your brain it would be the size of several city blocks. It would weigh thousands of tonnes.
- It creates almost no heat
So what? Why is this an interesting fact about the brain? Think of it this way – the hypothetical massive supercomputer that is mechanically simulating the power of your brain would require an entire river running through it to keep it cool. Woah!
- Your brain runs on 20 watts of power.
That’s it! A 20w light bulb is pretty dim. You couldn’t even read by it.
If you were to build the supercomputer that can compete with your brain, it would drain the entire output of a nuclear power plant to keep up with your mind.
- The brain is the most complex object in the known Universe.
That’s pretty cool. The Universe is huge.
- You can scan and process complex images in 13 milliseconds.
MIT Neuro Scientist, Anne Trafton, published a paper on her findings that we can view a crowded subway platform, and have a snap judgement of that complex scene, deciphering 3-dimensional images, movement and thousand of pieces of visual information, and be able to identify what’s going on within 13 milliseconds.
- In twenty years we’ll be one-fifth of the way through mapping the human brain.
Gerald Rubin at Howard Hughes Medical Institute believes that in twenty year we will have mapped the brain of a fruit fly, and this will led us 20% of the way towards being able to model the neurons of the human brain.
- Even if we map the entire neural network of our brains we still may not understand it completely!
In 1986 scientists mapped the placement of every neuron in a tiny worm that has one of the simplest neural structures out there. They mapped all 302 nerve cells and 600 chemical synapses and gained no new understanding of how the worm functions.
So what Gerald Rubin is saying, it’s probably going to take us a hundred years to map the human brain, and even then we probably won’t understand it.
- People can survive on pretty much half a brain.
This brain fact is insanely awesome. If you have half of your brain removed, you can survive. Check out the story about a little girl named Cameron who had life-threatening seizures. She was offered a radical surgery, which removed the left side of her brain.
- Strange phenomenon occurs when right and left brain hemispheres are severed.
A corpus callosotomy is the procedure where they sever the neurons between the right and left brain.
A guy selects a shirt, and puts it on. One hand is doing up the buttons while the other hand is simultaneously unbuttoning. The phenomenon that occurs here is showing counter intention in real time. Freaky!
- If you allow it, your brain follows your desire.
This is an interesting concept, and is using a lot of the theories we’ve covered so far. On one hand, we’re taught to believe we are who we are because of our brain and genetic code. This may be true to a certain degree, but the remainder of it ultimately comes down to your brain following your desires.
- Your brain is amazing, but you are always one decision away from debilitating counter intention.
Everything we’ve learned about the possibilities of the brain, its power to grow, create and adapt, is mind blowing. And yet, all this can be derailed with one simple decision to counter your own intentions and desires.
When someone starts agreeing with an opposing person’s perspective, even though it doesn’t support their desire, this is counter intention. And when this is introduced into the mind, the brain starts working against itself. The body starts producing stress hormones, and the brain responds by killing dendrites and neurons. So being stressed out is about the worst thing you can do for your brain, your body and your life!
How to eliminate counter intention from your life
- Grant yourself permission and space to start to dream again.
- Make a decision that you’re going to start transforming your life. Use your own intuition.
- Reduce the stress in your life. Take on a point of view that allows joy.
- Start expanding your brain.
- Change your mind about things you agreed with in the past that no longer align with your dream.
When you understand these facts about the brain, grasp the concept of counter intention, stop buying into your own excuses, and back yourself, you can unleash the power of my mind and create some great results.
I’d love to hear your life changing stories – share in the comment section below and I’ll get back to you. Thanks!
Shane Krider
P.S. Other posts that you may enjoy.
Change Your Brain Change Your Life