Overview

Brainiac-Facts

•  The adult human brain weighs approximately 1.4 kg (3 pounds) and contains about 100 billion neurons (nerve cells) and trillions of "support cells" called glia.
• The brain supports more than 100-500 trillion synapses
• The spinal cord is about 43 to 45 cm long (17-18 inches) in adult humans and weighs about 35-40 grams (1.2-1.4 ounces).
• The backbone that houses and protects the spinal cord, is much longer than the spinal cord—about 70 cm (27 inches) long.
• The brain is capable of between 10¹⁵ and 10¹⁹ computations per second (CPS). By comparison a modern super computer is capable of 10⁹ CPS.

Explore More

• Genes to Cognition- from Cold Spring Harbor
• The Bionic Brain- from futurist Ray Kurzweil
  
• TED talk video - Sarah-Jayne Blakemore compares the prefrontal cortex in adolescents to that of adults
• TED talk- Daniel Wolpert- How does you brain work?
  
• Debunking 10 Brain Fitness Myths
• Grey Matters: Brain science in the 21st Century- on Youtube
• The human brain is evolving and getting bigger- Scientific American
• Video lesson on right and left hemispheres
• Brain Fitness at Smartbrains
• How the Freaky Octopus Can Help us Understand the Human Brain
• PBS - Scanning the Brain
• What can you do without a brain?