It’s hard to imagine something you have never really seen before, but I am going to ask you to try. Granted you have seen images of your own or someone’s, maybe even a real one from another, but, you have never seen your own, and you have never seen one in action. To view this mass when it is in full operational mode would be to witness a lightning storm on a wide spread yet miniature scale. Thousands of bolts of electricity scattering over the grey squishy surface. What type of creature is this? What is with the lightning show? In this particular case this is how this organism communicates not only with itself but it’s host and other organs. It’s the epicenter of the host, the central unit, the CPU.

Comparing it to a CPU is a stretch itself. In order to recreate this organ we would need thousands of Blue Gene supercomputers, each with a thousands of processors and millions of TB of RAM. The Blue Gene units would occupy the equivalent of a city block, would require it’s own nuclear power plant keep the system running, and the equivalent of a river would have to be routed through the CPUs to keep them cool enough to operate.

What powerful organism is this? What could this be to demand so much energy? It must be a force unknown to us? Actually, quite the opposite, this city of supercomputers is what a simulation system would look like to replicate the human brain.

A 3lb grey matter mass, that sits inside your skull, barely raises your overall body temperature, generates just enough electricity to power a light bulb and really only ask you to down a couple of sandwiches and get some good sleep for a few hours to keep it running.

We are beginning to get a better understanding of at least the functions and areas of the brain than ever before, to think that soon we may be able to not only record our dreams, but, to realize immortality, simply uploading your brain to a computer and thus live forever, or at least until the power runs out.

But, first, how does the brain even come into existence? Well, nine months prior to you being born this mass did not exist. Of course at that stage we are just a single cell hiding in a membrane. The Zygote is a half-breed , 50% biological father and the other half is biological mother. This 50/50 mixture is the unique genetic combination that formed you and after a day, your Zygote splits in two, congratulations your DNA just replicated! You are officially on your way and have been promoted to a blastocyst, which is made up of many cells. Now you are cooking up a yolk sac, an important part of the process those yolks, while I don’t mean to spoil your appetite, the yolk may be the most delicious part of a fried egg, however, in utero the yolk is what will eventually become part of the digestive track and blood vessels.

In addition to your blastocyst forming the yolk it also creates a sack filled with H20, this sack serves as a sort of air bag, a protective layer to keep you safe as you are now an embryo, it is at this point our star begins to emerge, the brain is starting to form. It is inside that H20 encapsulation the process known as gastrulation begins. We all form from germs, about three layers, and these layers form everything that makes you you, including your brain, in fact it comes from the top layer called the echinoderm. Up next the mesoderm and then lastly endoderm.

Your ectoderm makes the neural groove that folds up and around forming the neural tube. It is from that tube that your brain continues to develop and also your spinal cord. As the tube gets longer, and to the technical extreme this tube is categorized in sections, the front, the proencephelon, is what gives us of cognitive abilities. Our smarts.

Then the mesencephalon, which is what sharpens our senses then finally the hindbrain, the Rhomencephalon, this is what ties it all together linking up with the spinal cord. At this point you are now a fetus, eight weeks have gone by and you are well on your way to becoming, well, you. The brain at this point is growing strong and your first sense comes into play, touch. Neurogenesis is in full power producing nerve endings.

The brain is growing, even after your born it will continue to develop until your forties, however, neurogenesis continues, the development of new brain cells, our entire lives. The old adage “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” is proven invalid. Your brain is, more or less, a muscle. Like any muscle when you want it to be stronger, more flexible, and tone you exercise it. The brain is no different. Reading, memorization, new experiences, learning a language, even having a conversation are all stimulations that can produce cell growth.

But, we know how the brain grows, what is it made of?

The brain weighs in at about three pounds and is primarily water and fat. To touch it would feel spongy,it has the same consistency as tofu. As a whole the brain looks wrinkly. Those wiggly hills and valleys are called the gyri and sulci. It is comprised of grey and white matter, neurons, synapses, and roughly 100,000 miles worth of blood vessels. Brain cells as well in abundance, and we kill them in droves on a daily basis. You have more brain cells as a newborn then you will ever have again.

Grey matter accounts for 40% of the brain and white matter is 60%. The grey matter is made up of neurons, which are the transmitters and gatherers of the signals generated by the white matter, where the dendrites and axons reside. They create the network by which the neurons send their signals. These signals are basically little lightning bolts. If you were to see a brain in action it would be like watching a miniature electrical storm, every action, every detail, everything you are experiencing right now is causing these to fire. The brain is constantly busy, it processes roughly 400 billion bits of data a second.

The anatomy of the human brain is split into different sections or lobes. The largest part, the cerebrum, is divided into two hemispheres. It accounts for 85% of the brains weight. Underneath that is the brainstem then directly behind that sits the cerebellum. The out side layer of the cereburm is called the cerebral cortex, this is where the four lobes are; the frontal, the parietal, the temporal, and the occipital lobe.

The sections are labeled the forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain. Each lobe is riddled with cavities that contain fluids, these are called ventricles. Starting at the forebrain, it develops into the cerebrum and its underlying parts, the midbrain becomes linked to the brainstem and the hindbrain is responsible for regions of the brainstem and cerebellum.

Something that makes human brains unique is that our cerebral cortex is greatly enlarged compared to other brains, this cortex is thought to be the area where, well, complex thoughts come from. Next is the occipital lobe where visual processing occurs. The temporal lobe is responsible for processing sound and language, and also houses the hippocampus and amygdala, which play roles in memory and emotion. Then finally the parietal lobe integrates input from different senses and is paramount to spatial orientation and navigation.

Brainstem is the communications hub between brain and spine, it connects directly to the spinal cord and also consists of the medulla oblongata, pons and, like we now know, connects to the midbrain. The brainstem’s primary functions are relaying information between body and brain, of course, and it also supplies some of the cranial nerves to the face and head. However, it’s most critical tasks are controlling our breathing and our hearts, as well as our consciousness.

But wait. There’s more! In between the brainstem and the cerebrum you will find the thalamus and hypothalamus. The thalamus is a relay, sending information on sensory and motor functions to the cortex and assists the brainstem in regulating consciousness, sleep and alertness. The hypothalamus is the bridge between the nervous system and the endocrine system -where hormones are created - by way of the pituitary gland.

On now to the cerebellum which plays a critical role in motor function control, mainly coordination and balance. it may also play a role in cognitive function as well.


We will conclude for now with a better understanding of how the brain forms and what it forms into. Thank you very much for reading this, please click the little heart below so I know you liked it and wish for me to continue this series. From here we will delve into how the brain operates and has we continue we will look into memory, dreams, adverse effects of chemicals, illness, pain and disease and much more. It’s a facinateing subject that everyone of us should have a better understanding of. The fact that you are learning about your brain with your brain is at this very moment forming new neural pathways and increasing your brain strength. You can hit the showers, todays workout is over, but, first below are some quick fun facts and debunked myths to make you more brain savvy and to keep that muscle pumping iron!

Brain Facts

-The brain treats rejection as if physical pain.

-Sphenopalatine Ganglioneuralgia is the scientific term for “brain freeze”

-There is no Right/Left divide in the brain, both hemispheres work in tandem.

-The long held belief that we only use 10% of our brains is false. You use the whole brain, all 100% of it.

-Half of your genes describe your brain, while the other half cover the remaining 98% of your body.

-Yawning sends more oxygen to the brain to help it cool down and speed up.

-You cannot tickle yourself because the brain knows what you are going to do so you are expecting it.

-Boredom is brought on by lack of brain stimulation and is largely a product of perception and is connected to our born obsession with curiosity.


*For more fun brain facts visit http://www.brainhq.com

and

http://www.brainfacts.org