Us and our brain

The brain is quite an interesting organ, I think everybody agrees. The fact that we only use around 10% of it constitutes a mystery that we seem to fail to decipher. Neuroscience is an intriguing field and on which our best scientists employ their intelligent time.

I was watching the news tonight and, among all of them, the one that was retained by my bored self was the one mentioning an experiment with elephants in the New York Zoo. The researchers placed a mirror on the wall of the elephants' area and filmed their reactions to it. It was clear that they had a self-conscience (as it was called), for they recognised themselves on the mirror. An example is that a X was marked in an elephant's head and as soon as she saw it on the mirror she tried to remove it no less than 47 times. She was trying to get rid of that white X mark on her own head, by staring at herself at the mirror. Really amazing! The only 2 species that passed this exam so far were the monkeys and the beautiful dolphins. This experiment shows these animals have a sense of self and are conscious of how they look.

Intrigued by the brain, this time human, I found out this page which is ultra interesting and where we can learn a big deal about ourselves and our bodies. It even allows you to take part in real-life experiments, like this test: do you know which one is your dominant eye, hand, ear?

You can also try to improve your memory skills (very useful for me, I'm the last person to rely for remembering names, streets, phone numbers, even situations!), find out what smells make you irresistible or trick your brain with optical illusions. It's a real cool page for those who have a little time and enough curiosity.

I will leave this blog now and do the sensitivity test to find out my most sensitive areas with the highest number of pressure sensors :)

I'll also leave you with the 11 steps for a better brain, who's your friend, hey?

PS - Talking of which, just found out I need a friend to do the sensitivity test. Doesn't it sound weird and kinky?