October Brain Facts

Monday, October 1, 2018

Brain experts agree that although our knowledge of the brain has changed drastically in recent years, there is more to learn.
 
Here are our top fascinating brain facts of the month:
 
1. Your tongue’s receptors, called taste buds,transform information about tastes and send them to the brain to be processed into your favorite flavors. Additionally, we also have between 5,000 and 10,000 taste buds but start to lose them around age 50. Each taste bud consists of 50 to 100 sensory cells that are receptive to one of at least five basic taste qualities: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami (Japanese for “savory).  

2. Your brain depends on the balance of excitatory and inhibitory neurons. Too much inhibition will stop signals in their tracks before they get to their destination. Perfect excitation (where one neuron triggers two, which trigger four, and then eight, and so on) leads to electrical storms and seizures. Modern research on the brain suggests that healthy functionality depends on walking the line between these two extremes.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin for #BrainFactFriday as we demystify the mysteries of the brain.

Learn more brain facts at brainfacts.org.