![\"Mean](\"https:\/\/saravanan.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/MeanBeanCounter.jpg\" "\\"MeanBeanCounter\\"")
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I don’t know the significance any of the other information in this post either. \u00a0At this point in time, all of them seem to be completely useless pieces of trivia.<\/p>\n
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The moment a speaker starts “the human brain is the most complex thing in the Universe”, I lose\u00a0all respect for them. \u00a0I am sure they have turned every rock in the Universe and looked underneath before making such a tall claim. \u00a0Or, why can’t they perceive that two human brains is more complex than one human brain. \u00a0Or, how exactly do they define complexity? \u00a0Or brain?<\/p>\n
Similarly, when someone says that we use only 10% of the our brain, you can immediately conclude that this person doesn’t understand evolution. \u00a0Since we know that human brain is an energy-expensive organ in the body, and that evolution just won’t build such a wasteful organ.<\/p>\n
Another brain myth, but less well knows is the number of cells we carry in the brain: 100 billion neurons and 1 trillion glial cells (neurons do the thinking and glial cells do the housekeeping). \u00a0But recent studies<\/a> give us very reliable cell count in the brain. \u00a0We know know that we have about 85 billion neurons and 86 billion glial cells. \u00a0In all, about 170b in total. \u00a0Not the originally claimed 1,100b.<\/p>\n We humans are very proud of our huge cerebral cortex. \u00a0We believed that it is brimming with neurons. \u00a0Even though our cerebral cortex occupies 80% of the brain, it has only 20% of total neurons! \u00a0Interestingly, the cerebellum (‘small brain’ in Latin), a small inconsequential bulb of the brain that hangs behind the big-mean-cerebral cortex, contains 80% of all the neurons; whereas it is only 10% by volume! \u00a0By the way, we only have a vague idea of what cerebellum does. \u00a0The state of the art in neuroscience is truly embarrassingly primitive.<\/p>\n We love to think that the human brains are somehow different from rest of the primates. \u00a0Anatomically speaking, the only difference between us and other primates is the brain size. \u00a0Human brain seem to be just a blown up version of monkey brains.<\/p>\n I saved the best for the last: In the neocortex (the seat of human uniqueness, including intellect and executive functions), men have 21% more neurons than women (23b\/19b<\/a>) and 33% (65b\/49b<\/a>) more glial cells! \u00a0I don’t think anyone knows what to make out of this information because men and women have very similar average IQ<\/a>.<\/p>\n Of course, I don’t know the significance any of the other information in this post either. \u00a0At this point in time, all of them seem to be completely useless pieces of trivia. \u00a0But I will end up remembering them anyway. \u00a0You, my reader, I am sure you will end up remembering at least the last one for sure!<\/p>\n