Mind-blowing Facts about Music, the Brain, and the Body
The most powerful and strangest lump of organic material in the known universe is sitting inside your skull...the human brain weighs about three pounds\u2014call it about 1400 grams if you\u2019re feeling metric\u2014and contains about 10 billion neurons...a piece the size of a grain of sand contains 100,000 neurons and over a billion synapses...\nAt the same time, it uses only about 10 watts to function...that\u2019s ten times better than your laptop...and one brain (we think) is equivalent to at least 100,000 laptops when it comes to computing power...\n\xa0Even then, it can do things no computer can do, no matter how big...that thing in your head could have a storage capacity of perhaps up to 2.5 petabytes, although no one knows for sure yet...in fact, the capacity of the brain might be unlimited...not bad for something that\u2019s 60% fat...\nThere is no obvious biological reason for it, but our brains seem to be hardwired for music...there are special areas of the brain devoted just to deal with music...\nMaybe this is a result of our ancient ancestors trying to imitate birdsong...it could be related to language...maybe it has something to do with storytelling...details are sometimes easier to remember if they\u2019re put to music...or maybe music developed along with religious rituals and chants...\nBecause the way music is wired into the brain, it\u2019s a very useful tool when it comes to figuring out how that 10-watt lump of fat in our skulls work...and sometimes we learn things that are completely unexpected and almost always totally wonderful...\nLet me show you...here are some mind-blowing facts about music, the brain, and the body...\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices