GREY MATTERS
Last month, Google, working with scientists from Harvard University published online the most detailed map yet of the human brain's myriad connections, extrapolated from a tissue sample smaller than a sesame seed taken from the cortex of a 45 year old lady undergoing surgery for epilepsy. The cortex is the outer layer of the brain responsible for complex thought and the results are nothing if not complex. Featuring 50,000 three dimensionally-rendered cells and 130 million synaptic connections along spidery tendrils, the data set measures 1.4 petabytes (1.4 million gigabytes), yet represents a tiny fraction of the human brain.
Unsurprisingly, this deep dive into our grey matter further highlights just how dizzyingly intricate and impressive the human brain is, not just through the results themselves, but by virtue of the fact that we've developed technologies clever enough to help obtain them in the first place. Upon removing the tissue sample, scientists immediately preserved it, staining it with heavy metals to reveal cellular structure, then embedding it in resin to strengthen it. They then cut it into some 5000 slices - each around 1/1000th the width of a human hair (and you struggle with onions!) - before analysing each and every one with an electron microscope. At this stage, the guys at Google, not short a processor or two, used machine learning to reassemble the 5000 2-D slices into a 3-D model, applying machine learning to reconstruct the hundreds of million of tendrils linking each neuron and creating the Google Earth equivalent of the brain, albeit one small portion... Just another day at the office then?!
This monumental undertaking has the scientific community enthralled at the possibilities it offers for analysis and discovery. The human genome was first mapped around two decades ago and we're still learning from that breakthrough. Though researches have only scratched the surface of the huge wealth of new data, some unexpected quirks have already been identified, such as message-sending neuron axons forming intricate coiled pairs, like intertwined snakes. Though the neurological significance of this symmetrical dance of cells is still to be determined, it's a novel observation and one of many we're expecting to find as we deepen our understanding of the most complex object in our known universe.
The brain is so complicated, we can't actually comprehend it. Even using our BRAINS!!? Comprehend that. Featuring some 100 billion neurons forming somewhere in the order of 100 trillion connections (even in people who say “ALL lives matter”, “Trust Boris” and “The Big Bang Theory is funny”), the brain is itself-bogglingly sophisticated, despite being 73% water. I kind of feel like it's the other 27% doing the heavy lifting – I just used my brain to do that sum but ask a cup of water what percentage you're left with if you remove 73% and I guarantee you won't get an answer!
The brain continues to grow until around the age of 25, then actually begins shrinking from your 30s or 40s, gaining momentum from 60ish. It's why some people get more right wing with age.
Scientists ascertained that information travels through neurons and out to muscles at up to 268 mph, which is only actually marginally quicker than a Bugatti Veyron 16.4, but since the human body is a relatively small racetrack, it's quick enough to seem automatic.
Brain imaging indicates we generate on average up to 50,000 thoughts a day, with stress and anxiety sufferers experiencing even more. Furthermore, National Science Foundation studies found some 80% of these to be negative, involving fear, pessimism, regret or self-judgement. It all sounds utterly exhausting! Aren't you now glad 73% of your brain is just rain? - there's a thought.
Neuroscience has proven that the whole “left brained or right brained” and “we only use 10% of our brains” claims were in fact made by people only using 10% of one half of their brains. The rest of the human race use 100% and engage both halves simultaneously to do anything.
Hydration, sufficient rest and exercise are all key to healthy brain activity. Remember to rest and hydrate extra after exercise or it swings the other way! Dehydration severely affects concentration and memory, so if you're feeling particularly scatty, perhaps you just need to find the nearest tap.
It's estimated the brain can perceive and store some 2,500,000 gigabytes of info – an incredible amount which means diddly shit when you're late for work and you can't find your car keys. Though remarkably capable of recall, the brain is nevertheless prone to error. Stored memories cannot simply be pulled out of a folder and played back verbatim – the brain must first reassemble various fragments like a puzzle, effectively reimagining the events for us to re-perceive, hence why you tell your mates you beat up three rowdy blokes on a night out when in fact you didn't actually go out and you don't have any mates.
The brain itself has no pain receptors so it can't feel pain. Brain surgery is often carried out on conscious patients, with just the scalp having been anaesthetised. Whilst it doesn't feel pain itself, the brain LOVES being the bearer of bad news - stub your toe and old jelly-top will tell you about it! But don't resent it, it just wants to keep you alive best it can. Survival classics such as breathing, digesting food and squinting in sunlight are carried out automatically and unconsciously and the brain expends so much energy on essential functions that it necessarily limits “non essential” tasks such as short term memory to a workable level. We can generally recall new phone numbers just long enough to dial them, but then they're gone, lest our brains get too overworked with life's trivia to remind us to suck air in through our gobs.
Science has once again reminded us what the politics of division seems intent on negating - each and every one of us has an incredible gift between our ears and we owe it to ourselves to use it the best we can. Now go drink some water.
July 22nd sees 2021's World Brain Day (it's a thing) promoting awareness of Multiple Sclerosis (https://wfneurology.org/world-brain-day-2021)