{"id":33113,"date":"2025-03-10T09:42:21","date_gmt":"2025-03-10T16:42:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/?p=33113"},"modified":"2025-04-24T12:19:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T19:19:40","slug":"brain-facts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/2025\/03\/10\/brain-facts\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Surprising Facts About the Brain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The organ once described as \u201ca jet engine on an ancient horse cart<\/a>\u201d is a remarkable evolutionary achievement full of surprises. In honor of Brain Awareness Week, here are five fun facts about the cerebrum you may not know. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Your Brain Could Power a 25-Watt Light Bulb<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The metaphorical light bulb over your head might be closer to the truth than you realize. The brain\u2019s billions of neurons consume 20% of the body\u2019s energy<\/a> even when at rest, enough to power a small light bulb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. The Brain Is Mostly Fat.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Move over neurotransmitters, lipids are the new hot molecule in brain research. The brain is approximately 60% fat<\/a>, and neuroscientists are just beginning to unravel how fatty acids play a role in brain performance and other critical functions.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen most people think of molecules in the brain, they think of neurotransmitters,\u201d said WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine molecular neuroscientist Jason Gerstner<\/a>, PhD. He studies fatty acid binding proteins found in astrocytes, star-shaped brain cells he found play an essential role in sleep regulation<\/a>. \u201cLipids are an underappreciated area of study, but modern neuroscience is now considering how cells in the brain operate with lipid signaling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. The Brain Can Store as Much Information as 20,000 iPhones.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Your neural networks may be capable of storing up to 2.5 petabytes<\/a> of information, equivalent to about 20,000 iPhones with 128 gigabytes of storage. Researchers note that brains are more flexible<\/a> than computers when it comes to storing memories and other information, but the rough metaphor captures the brain\u2019s extraordinary capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Brains Are Unique, like Fingerprints.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Every brain has a unique functional connectivity profile<\/a>, or pattern of how different areas of the brain connect. These profiles are distinct enough to identify an individual from a group solely using fMRI technology, imaging that measures blood flow to show activity in the brain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nonmedical term \u201cneurodiversity<\/a>\u201d was developed in the 1990s to describe how all brains develop differently. Activist Kassaine Asasumansu later coined \u201cneurodivergent<\/a>\u201d to describe individuals whose brains work in an unexpected way, and the term has been embraced by people with autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, and other conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Human Brains Have Shrunk Since the Last Ice Age.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Our brains have decreased in size by about 10% in the last 100,000 years, research shows. <\/a>Anthropologists debate various possible explanations<\/a> for this shrinkage, from the invention of language enabling more symbolic and thus efficient thinking to a warming climate making smaller, quickly cooling brains more adaptive. Still, the average adult brain today weighs 3 pounds<\/a> and more than pulls its weight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Learn more about the organ once described as \u201ca jet engine on an ancient horse cart\u201d this Brain Awareness Week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25158,"featured_media":33114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[107,29],"wsuwp_university_location":[],"wsuwp_university_org":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33113"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25158"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33113"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33138,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33113\/revisions\/33138"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33113"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_location?post=33113"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_org","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_org?post=33113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}