Human Head And Brain Size

Human Head And Brain Size

The human head contains 22 bones, consisting the cranium and the facial bones. The cranium is formed by 8 bones. The skull has many little holes in its base which allow the cranial nerves to travel to their destinations. The face consists of 14 bones including the maxilla (upper jaw) and mandible (lower jaw). The cranium protects the brain, which, for an average adult male weighs about 1400 gram (49 oz). The brain of Russian novelist Turgenev, weighed 2021g (71 oz), Bismarck's brain weighed 1807g (64 oz), while that of famous French statesman Gambetta was 1294g (46 oz). Female average brain mass is slightly less than that of males. The largest woman's brain recorded weighed 1742g (61 oz). Einstein's brain weighed 1230 gram (43.39 ounces), meaning Einstein's brain was smaller than average.

Human brain: left is front of brain (your face side)

An elephant's brain weighs 5000g (176oz or 11 lb), a whale's 10000g (352oz or 22lb). In proportion to the body, the whale has a much smaller brain than man. This seem to give man the edge, until it was discovered that the dwarf monkey has 1g of brain per 27g (0.95oz) of body, and the capuchin monkey has 1g of brain per 17,5g body, whereas man has 1 gram of brain to 44g of body.

Photographic memory

Most scientists believe that “photographic memory” is a myth. Clever people train their brains to remember well. In fact, as humans we simply do not remember things well. Of the three beings known to be able to recognize themselves in the mirror, the orangutan, the dolphin and the human, only the humans turns around and instantly cannot remember what his/her own face looks like. (Try drawing a picture of yourself without looking in the mirror:)

Brain power

The human brains consists of more than 100 billion neurons (nerve cells) through which the brain's commands are sent in the form of electric pulses. These pulses travel at more than 400 km/h (250 mph), creating enough electricity to power a light bulb. The brain consumes more energy than any other organ, burning up a whopping 20% of the food we take in.

The left side of your brain controls the right side of your body and the right side of your brain controls the left side of your body.

It is estimated that the mental capacity of a 100-year old human with perfect memory could be represented by computer with 10 to the power of 15 bits (one petabit). At the current rate of computer chip development, that figure can be reached in about 35 years. However, that represents just memory capacity, not the extremely complex processes of thought creation and emotions.

The seeing brain

One-quarter of the brains in used to control the eye. We actually see with our brains, with the eyes basically being cameras.

You're born with 300 bones, but when you get to be an adult, you only have 206.

But consider this: for all the complexity of the brain, you still have only one thought at a time. Make it a positive thought.

Courtsey: http://didyouknow.org