Our Brain

Your brain and spinal cord make up your central nervous system. Together, they control your body -- but it's the brain which is Commander-in-chief.

What is a brain?
Okay, so your brain is wrinkled, soft and a little wet. It doesn't look like much. But it's made of more than 10 billion nerve cells and over 50 billion other cells and weighs less than 3 pounds! And it's the most extraordinary thing that you could possibly imagine! It monitors and regulates unconscious bodily processes like breathing and heart rate, and coordinates most voluntary movement. It's the site of consciousness, thought and creativity!

How does my brain communicate with my body?
Different parts of your brain do different things. Some areas receive messages from sense organs, others control balance and muscle coordination, still others handle speech, or emotion, memories, or basic motor skills, or complex calculations. You may think your heart is where you feel emotion, but it's really your brain. You may think your legs take you down the street, but it's your brain instructing the muscles in your legs to move. Your eyes may take in light and an image may be projected onto the pupil, but it's your brain that interprets what you see...you get the picture.

Are human brains different than other animal's brains?
Be glad you're a human. Because human brains are more complex than the brains of any animal on Earth! Why? It's not that they're the biggest. But human brains are larger and heavier in comparison to the human body, than any other animal. Underneath your scalp, sits a brain that, as it has grown, has continued to fold in on itself and develop deeper and deeper folds and crags. Spread out it would be the size of a pillowcase. Folded in on itself it becomes the place to think, dream, and create beautiful poetry!

Factoids:

• A newborn baby's brain grows almost 3 times in course of first year!
• Humans have the most complex brain of any critter on earth!
• Your brain is divided into two sides. The left side of your brain controls the right side of your body; and, surprise, the right side of your brain controls the left side of your body.

Source: http://yucky.discovery.com/flash/body/pg000135.html