A to Z of Brain

Adult brain continues to grow throughout our entire life. Adult brain is plastic, i.e., has the ability to respond to new experiences like a new job, marriage, or new friends.

Bird-brain is slang for a person who is silly and stupid or one with confused ideas.

Capacity (memory storage capacity) of the brain is something around 2.5 petabytes (or a million gigabytes). This is equivalent to storing 3 million hours of TV shows. So, your brain can never become short of storage space!

Dyslexia results with the reduced activity in the part of the brain that controls movement, co-ordination and balance, this is the commonest learning disorder affecting 1 in 20 persons.

Experiences build brain architecture---Watch our short video below on this.

Foods to boost our brain power—whole grains, oily fish (omega-3 fats), blueberries, vitamin B6, B12 & folic acid, sage, tomatoes, nuts, broccoli, black currants, and pumpkin seeds.

Games for the adult brain like Scrabble. Sudoku. Crossword puzzles can sharpen the brain as we age and delay Alzheimer’s.

Hemorrhage of the brain occurs when an artery of the brain bursts and bleeds. Beware of these symptoms of hemorrhage--severe/sudden headache, vomiting, dizziness, slurred speech, vision problems, seizures and paralysis on one side of the body. Cocaine, methamphetamines, and smoking cigarettes do increase the bleeding risk.

Intelligence Quotient (IQ) is a score derived from one of several different standardized tests attempting to measure intelligence. This word was first coined by the German psychologist William Stern in 1912.

Jet-lag experienced by frequent air travelers may cause long-term effects on the brain’s memory and cognitive functions, as per research studies.

Kleptomania is an uncontrollable urge to steal or shop lift; it is an impulse control disorder that is often related to mood disorders, depression, substance abuse, or eating disorders. It is suspected that kleptomania results from the imbalance in the brain-chemical serotonin.

Lesions of the brain are abnormalities in the tissue of the brain caused by disease or trauma. Women who are more susceptible for migraines than men have a higher risk for lesions due to inadequate blood flow to some parts of the brain.

Mental retardation can results from any one of the 200 likely causes. Can be due to brain damage or birth defects; however, we cannot exclude the preventable causes like social, environmental, cultural, or medical deprivation.

Neurotransmitters are the brain chemicals that communicate information throughout our brain and body. They relay signals between nerve cells called neurons. Brain is able to send message to our body organs to function through these neurotransmitters.

OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) is a mental disorder involving brain’s functioning in which people are burdened by unwanted thoughts or forcibly do repeated troublesome actions like washing hands etc. OCD may actively surface in a genetically-predisposed person once some stressful event occurs.

Parkinson's disease is a motor system disorders (tremor, trembling, rigidity, slowness), which is the result of the loss of dopamine-producing brain cells. This disease is progressive and not curable.

Quantum Brain Dynamics (QBD) is a hypothesis in neuroscience to explain the function of the brain within the framework of quantum field theory.

Robots built by brain scientists can now find and record information from individual neurons in living mice brain! The day is not far off for robots to study human brain’s thinking!

Stroke or cerebrovascular accident occurs when there is sudden stoppage of blood to the brain and brain cells die due to lack of oxygen and glucose. Latest study says green tea and coffee help prevent stroke.

Tumor of the brain takes up space within the skull and interferes with normal brain activity. It can increase pressure in the brain, push or shift the brain against the skull, and/or invade and damage nerves and healthy brain tissue.

Usage of brain varies for individuals. Albert Einstein used about 9.8% of his brain while normal humans use only 3 to 4 %.

Viral encephalitis or brain fever is an inflammation of the brain caused by viruses which are many. This causes the brain to swell.

Weight of the brain is only about 2% of our body weight, but the brain uses about 20% of our daily calorie intake.

X-ray images of the brain cells can be obtained using SAXS-CT. This maps the myelin sheaths of nerve cells, which is important in multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease.

Yoga exercises besides invigorating our body can energize and activate our brain.

Zero activity of the brain happens with the death of a person.

Watch the Video: Experiences build brain architecture

I wish my name was Brian ...