Hitchhiker's Guide to the Brain. When the whole universe is in your head - Elena Belova (9789669938169)

1.5 kilograms is the average weight of the human brain. However, this “baby” in our head consumes 20% of all the energy we receive during the day. Why such wastefulness when the functioning of other organs of our body is no less important for a full life? Biochemist, bioinformatician and neurophysiologist Elena Belova decided to understand this, as well as other issues. Together with her, you will look at the brain from a variety of angles and learn, perhaps, everything that scientists currently know about it. Is it possible to survive without a head? Why are people with phenomenal memories autistic? Which part of the brain is responsible for recognizing emotions and what happens if it is turned off? Why do we get distracted and lazy (and is it possible to do without it)? So, are you ready to travel along the winding paths of our “on-board computer”?

Is it possible to survive without a head? What a stupid question, you will answer; any schoolchild will answer that it is impossible. However, one particularly lucky chicken succeeded: he ran around his native chicken coop for another year and a half until he died as a result of an accident. This event clearly shows that we do not know much about our body, or more precisely, about its most complex organ - the brain. In this book you will find all the “ins and outs” of our head, which was previously available only to doctors and medical students; and you will also learn from it why gray matter is gray; how coffee makes us mutants; why alcohol deprives us of the ability to speak clearly and why, with all the amazing abilities of our brain, a month after an important exam we can’t remember almost anything.