Matter of the brain. Throughout history, the human brain has been very successful in covering up its role. Everything from the ancient Egyptians to Aristotle, underestimated the impact of the mysterious substance between our ears. The famous anatomist Galen attributed brain role of managing movement and speech, but even he brushed off toward the gray and white matter, deciding that the fluid-filled chambers inside the brain do most of his work.

Human brain large...

The brain of the average adult person weighs about 1.3-1.4 kg. Some neurosurgeons describe the texture of the living brain as something like toothpaste, but according to the neurosurgeon Catherine Firlik more appropriate analogy can be found at your local health food store.

"The brain does not spread as toothpaste. And he does not stick to your fingers as she writes, Firlik in his memoirs, "Another Day in the Frontal Lobe: A Brain Surgeon Exposes Life on the Inside" (Random House, 2006). "Tofu - soft kind, if you are familiar with tofu - may be a more appropriate comparison".

If you are not charmed by this description, think about this: About 80% of the content of your skull is the brain, while approximately equal to the amount of blood and cerebrospinal fluid occupy the rest of the space. If you mix the whole brain, blood and fluids, they will amount to approximately 1.7 liters, that is a little less than it is to fill a 2 liter bottle of Cola.

... But they decline

But not too proud of all this history with a brain the size of a bottle of coke. People 5000 years ago had brains are even larger.

"From archaeological data from almost anywhere where it can be measured - in Europe, China, South Africa, Australia - we know that the brain is decreased by the amount of approximately 150 cubic centimeters from the average value in 1350 cubic centimeters. This is approximately 10%", said the portal, LiveScience paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin John Hawkes in 2009.

Researchers do not know why brains shrink, but some theories consider that they evolve in a more efficient. Others believe that our skull reduced due to a diet consisting of more easily chew food, leaving large, strong jaws no longer required.

Whatever the reason, the size of the brain is not directly correlated with intelligence, so we have no evidence that early man was smarter than modern humans.

Our brains consume energy

The brain of modern man is a black hole that consumes energy. The body, which is about 2% of body weight, consumes about 20% of the oxygen in the blood and 25% glucose circulating in your bloodstream, according to the American College of neuropsychopharmacology.

These energy demand has spurred a debate among anthropologists about what caused the evolution of large brains. Many scientists believe that the case in meat, citing evidence of the expansion of hunting among our earliest ancestors. However, the meat is an unreliable source of food, others say the researchers. The study, published in 2007 by the National Academy of science, said that modern chimpanzees know how to dig in Savannah rich in calories roots. Perhaps our ancestors did the same thing, feeding the power of your brain vegetables.

And as for why our brains are swollen in size, there are three main theories: climate change, environmental conditions, and social competition.

Wrinkles make us smarter

What is the secret of mind representatives of our species? The answer can be wrinkles. The surface of the human brain is characterized by deep folds, with valleys, called "sulci, and ridges, which are called "gyri". This surface is called the cerebral cortex and consists of approximately 100 billion neurons, or nerve cells.

Folded surface allows the brain to accommodate more in less - and therefore accumulate more "computing power". Our relatives-primates show different degree of folding their brain, as well as other intelligent beings - for instance, elephants. And by the way, the study by neuroscientist Lori Marino from Emory University showed that dolphins are even more pronounced crease in the cortex of the brain than people.

A large part of our brain is not the neurons

An old belief that we only use 10% of our brain's wrong, but now we know that neurons represent only 10% of the brain.

The remaining 90%, which make up about half the mass of the brain, called "glia", which in Greek means "glue". Neuroscientists used to think that glia is just adhesive substance that holds the neurons together. But recent studies have shown that the role of glia is much more extensive. The article, published in the journal "Current Opinions in Neurobiology" in 2005, pointed out the true role of these invisible cells, the activity of which extends from the disposal of surplus neurotransmitters to provide immune protection and stimulation of growth of synapses. As it turns out, the silent majority is, it seems, is not so silent.

The brain is a private club

Like bouncers at a night club, a group of cells in the blood vessels of the brain, called eventseverity barrier, allow only a small number of molecules penetrate the inner sanctum of the nervous system - the brain. Capillaries that feed the brain, covered tightly Packed cells, which prevent the penetration of large molecules. Special proteins in the barrier to transport nutrients inside the brain. Only the elite allowed to enter it.

Eventseverity barrier protects our brain, but it also prevents the penetration of important medicines. The doctors are trying to treat a brain tumor, may use substances that reveal the gaps between the cells, but this leaves the brain temporarily vulnerable to infections. One of the new ways to deliver medicines for barrier can be nanotechnologies. The study, published in the journal "Cancer Research" in 2009, showed that specially engineered nanoparticles can penetrate the barrier and attached to the tissues of tumor. In the future, the joint use of nanoparticles and hemoterapia can become one of ways of struggle against tumors.

The brain begins with a tube

The basis for the brain begins very early. Three weeks after conception, the layer of embryonic cells, called neuroplastic, collapses and forms nanotrubki. This fabric will later become the Central nervous system.

Nanotrubki grows and differentiated during the first trimester. (When cells differentiate, they are developing in various fabric, from which will be formed in different parts of the body.) Neurons and glia begin to form in the second trimester. The cortex is formed later. In the third trimester, from 26 weeks, the brains go deep in the bark, and the brain of the fetus begins to resemble the brain, which is in newborns.

The brains of adolescents are not fully formed

Parents of troubled Teens can rejoice, or at least to relax: the behavior of people is partly dependent on the vagaries of brain development.

The development of the grey matter reaches a peak at the time of puberty, and then oppressed during adolescence, showing the greatest effect of development in the frontal lobes of the brain responsible for judgment and decision making.

The study, published in the journal Child Development" in 2005, showed that part of our brain responsible for multitasking, fully formed only to 16-17 years. But the study, presented at the Science Festival in 2006, showed that adolescents have a sound scientific justification his egocentrism. Considering the action that will affect others, adolescents are less likely than adults use the median prefrontal cortex, an area that is associated with empathy and guilt. And so continued until about the age of 20.

Brains never cease to change

Science once claimed that upon reaching maturity of our brain loses the ability to form new synapses. This ability is called "plasticity"that was supposed to be limited to the age of infancy and childhood.

The confusion. A 2007 study on the patient stroke found that her brain has adapted to damage to the optic nerves, taking similar information from other nerve fibers. This was followed by several studies that have shown that adults mouse can form new neurons. More recent studies have found more evidence that human neurons can form new synapses in adulthood; at the same time, research meditation showed that intensive mental training is able to change the structure and function of the brain.

Women still do not come from Venus

Popular culture tells us that the brains of men and women are just different. This is true in the sense that male and female hormones have different effects on brain development, and visual studies have shown differences in how men and women feel pain, take the social decisions and cope with stress. The extent to which these differences are causeds genetically, not formed experience is still unknown.

But for the most part, the brains of men and women is the same. Analysis of gender differences, conducted by American Psychologist" in 2005, showed that in 78% of cases of gender differences described in other studies, the influence of gender on the behaviour ranged from minor to zero. But recent studies have exposed the myth about the difference between the abilities of different genders. The study, published in the journal Psychological Bulletin" in January 2010, studied almost half a million boys and girls from 69 countries, and found no differences in their mathematical abilities. Focusing on our differences can give a good title for a book, but in neuroscience nothing is so simple.

Did you know that...


Brain bees exceeds the computer

In the new study says that bees can solve complex mathematical problems, the solution of which the computer would take days.

Insects can choose the shortest route between colors is detected in random order, effectively solving the problem of "travelling advertising agent", say researchers from the University of London.

Puzzling as the traveling salesman problem is finding the optimal ways that would allow him to travel all the planned areas. Computers solve this problem by comparing the length of all possible routes, and select the one that is the shortest.

Bees are able to achieve the same result using a brain the size of a poppy seed.

Dr. Nigel Rhine from the school of biological Sciences at Royal Holloway says, bee-miners solve complex problems travelling salesman every day. They fly to the flowers that are in different places, and because spend a lot of energy is not a flight, find for their flights shortest routes".

Using computer-controlled artificial flowers to verify the behavior of bees, she tried to find out whether bees to fly on common route, which is determined by the order of location of colors, or find the shortest path.

After the study of location of the flowers bees quickly find the shortest way to save time and energy.

The study, which this week should go in the journal American Naturalist, has a practical result for the world people. Modern life depends on such networks as the traffic of the Internet-information and communication lines are in business.

"Despite its tiny brain bees in their behavior can show outstanding results," says rein. "We need to understand how they manage to solve these problems without the help of computer.