NOTHING blows your mind quite like ... your mind!

Actually, this is a note about the brain rather thanthe mind. So far they're considered to be
'separate, but not quite', but that's another day's work.


THE AMAZING BRAIN

First, the wide angle view

The human body is home to Trillions of living cells - most of them are not human. Research done in 2013
(see below) suggests the total number of HUMAN cells in our body is 3.72 x 10 to the power of 13, or
37,200,000,000,000 (37 Trillion). Because an estimated 10% of our total cells are human: the other 90%
belong to distant relatives who colonize us (you could also say infect, 'inhabit' or 'infest'). In a headcount
of our cells, we are almost 90% bacteria. Each of us comprises a vast and complex, ever-changing
ecosystem of organisms. In a very real sense, we are never alone. Scientists now believe that each human is
home to a vast and unique ecology that reflects our heritage, our species, our health and our history. One
could envisage the whole human race connected by, or even immersed in, a roiling sea of living things that
constantly flows from person to person, from tribe to tribe, from nation to nation; sometimes with
devastating consequences. We transfer samples of our microorganisms to others, and they reciprocate by
donating samples of their colonies to us. Though we have historically characterized this as (at worst)
contamination or infection our microscopic passengers probably see it differently.

Scientists estimate that if you unravel the DNA in a single human cell it is 1.8m (6 feet) long. Assuming a
human cell count of 3.72 x 10 to the power of 13 (see reference below from Annals of Human Biology,
2013) per person, this means the combined length of the DNA strands in the cells of a single person is
66,960,000,000 kilometres - long enough to go around the Earth over one and a half million times. This
was so unfathomable, I checked the arithmetic several times.

[Ann Hum Biol. 2013 Nov-Dec; 40(6):463-71.] "An estimation of the number of cells in the human body."
Because of the methodology used, even this astronomical figure is likely to be an underestimate. The
authors calculated, where possible, for an average (non-pregnant, healthy), 30-year old young adult,
weighing 70 kg, 1.72 m tall and with a body surface area of 1.85 m.

Its hard not to be anthropocentric, but one should remember that our passengers were here billions of
years before us, and it is likely that they will be here long after we humans are gone. One could view the
human race as temporary lodgers on Earth. Through us flows ancient hoards of microbes that are happy to
use us, their distant kin. Meanwhile in comparison, we flit through the Tapestry of Life, as evanescent as
fireflies.


The Brain There's NOTHING quite like it

The brain comprises about 2% of the bodys weight (1/50th) but it uses nearly 25% (a quarter) of the
available oxygen and glucose. Over 90% of the brains total available energy is used by the voracious
cerebral cortex, though it is only 2-4mm thick and contains one fifth of all our neurones. Thats nearly
19% of our body's total energy, gobbled up by a structure about as thick as a coaster.

The brain is serviced by 100 million capillaries and has at least 125,000 miles of neural cabling (about
halfway to the Moon) if you add in the length of all the individual neurones, scientists have estimated that
a single brains cabling could run to millions of miles.

Scientists estimate there may be as many as 10,000 different kinds of neurones in the human brain - we
have a total of about 86 billion neurons each (on average). Like a snowflake each neurone is unique. 80%
of them are self-recursive and fire backwards as well as forwards. They fire [1] (on average) 5-50 times per
second and each neuron has 5,000 100,000 constantly changing connections (synapses). A single neuron
can connect directly with up to 10,000 other neurones.

Rather than being the chaotic fizz of trillions of darting action potentials (electrical signals), the macro-
electrical output of the whole brain forms waves that swell and fade as they roll across the brain at
frequencies between 1.5 - 4 cycles per second (Delta waves) and 15 - 40 cycles per second (Beta waves)[2].

A newborn baby makes 3 million new synapses per second adults make new synapses too
(synaptogenesis), but not as prodigiously as a baby can a baby doubles the size of its brain in the first
year. Whereas an adults brain uses about 25% of total energy intake an infants brain may use up to
60%! (no wonder they sleep so much and their heads are always so warm) (Hogervorstet al, 2009). At
birth, there are about 2,500 synapses per neurone in the brain, a three year old infant has about 15,000,
which is about twice the number in the adult brain. There are about 60 trillion synapses in the adult
cerebral cortex alone, and according to Wiki[3] the brain has up to 500 trillion synapses, or about one
billion per cubic millimetre. The brain, especially the cortex, is literally hissing with current as well as
writhing with movement as neurones move to establish new synapses with their neighbours. Neurones, in a
very real sense, live to transmit information. Those that do not do so soon become defective and die
(apoptosis), almost as if they need to have a purpose.

HOW DO NERVES TALK TO EACH OTHER?
Each neuron has about one million specialized proteins called ion channels. These proteins form gates in
the wall of the nerve cell (the cell membrane) that allow molecules and ions into and out of the cell their
number, type and location change in response to various inputs stimuli like sounds, sights, stress, injury,
learning the guitar and so on. Ion channels are the means by which nerve cells (neurones) communicate
with each other, and every time they communicate with each other the ion channel 'profiles' of the
communicating cells are changed - this process is essential for learning. The number, type and activity of
ion channels can also change according to the organisms evaluation of threat [4] to its survival (e.g.
'nociception', which is the 'threat signal' the brain uses to generate our pain experience). The nerve cell
nucleus makes ion channels by following instructions contained in the DNA. The instructions are activated
by 'experience' - that is, by what has happened to the person. Once formed in the nucleus, the ion channels
pass through the nuclear membrane and migrate along the cell to their insertion point on the cell periphery.

The number of possible firing/non-firing combinations of the brains 100 billion neurons and thus the
theoretical number of different states [5] of the brain - is about10 to the millionth power]. This estimate
does not include the additional states that would result from tripartite [6] interactions with Glial cells. The
estimated number of atoms in the known universe is only about 10 to the power of 1080, and Google only
does about three billion [3x 10 to the power of 7] searches per day worldwide miniscule by comparison
[7].

Glia? The cells in the brain that are not neurones (Glia) were formerly thought to have no role in
transmitting signals (now discredited [8]). The human brain consists of about 90% glia [9] though there is
disagreement on this point[10]. In university, we were taught that Glia were just connective tissue of the
brain (brain glue) then we were told they formed myelin (a fatty insulation coat)then that they had some
immune functions but took no part in synapses. The truth is glia do so much more and are involved in
synapses and neuroplasticity and may play an important part in some pain syndromes [11].

WHO ARE YOU?
According to your whole-body cell count, you are mostly bacteria, and the entire adult brain is replaced
every few weeks so, if your personality is contained in your brain, who are you?

According to our physicist colleagues, and theyre not kidding, every atom in your brain (and outside it, for
that matter) originally came from an exploding star so what are you exactly? - Stardust? (See Pulsars, a
discovery of Jocelyn Bell, Irish Physicist)

So much for science ruining all the magic and mystery!





[1]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yy994HpFudc&feature=related- neurones firing simulation

[2] The Promise of Sleep William C Dement, 1999

[3]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_synapse

[4] Threatis a core concept not only in plasticity, but in pain science, pain education and pain
management, affecting everything from diagnosis to treatment choice even the choice of words we use
with patients!

[5] States alight bulb has two states, on and off, an array of two bulbs has four states and so on

[6]Glial cell +Neuronal synapse

[7]Apparently,the number of possible chess moves is 1045

[8] Nature457,675-677,5 February 2009

[9] Nature457,675-677,5 February 2009

[10]Journal of Comparative Neurology, V513 (5), 532541, 2009

[11]Do glial cells control pain?, Suter et al. Neuron Glia Biol. 2007 August; 3(3):255268.Possible role of
spinal astrocytes in maintaining chronic pain sensitization: review of current evidence with focus on
bFGF/JNK pathway. Ji RRet al. Neuron Glia Biol. 2006 Nov;2(4):259-269.

Hogervorst etal, 2009
Evolution ofthe hip and pelvis
Acta Orthopaedica Supplementum No. 336, Vol. 80, 2009

Communication is the transfer of emotion.
Seth Godin