human brain

Here are ten remarkable facts about our most complex organ, our brain, according to BBC One’s Inside the Human Body.

– The human brain is so sophisticated it takes nearly 20 years to mature

– In the womb, humans grow 8,000 new brain cells every second



-By the time humans are born they have all the brain cells they will ever need

-The human brain is the “most sophisticated thing” in the known universe

-New-born babies can recognise their mother’s face after just a few hours

-Babies can see in the womb but only in black and white. However their eyes are sensitive enough to detect the dim light passing through their mother’s belly



-Humans blink up to 20 times every minute. Each blink lasts around half a second. But add them together, and humans are living in the dark for more than an hour every day

-Each brain cell will make, on average, 10,000 connections with other brain cells

-Learning to balance and co-ordinate your body is so complex the area of the brain devoted to this task contains as many cells as the rest of the brain put together

-Young divers in Thailand have taught their eyes to focus underwater by making their irises contract rather than dilate. All children can develop this skill if they start at a young enough age



Inside the Human Body is on BBC One