-
Asked by Rhianne to Kylie, Matt, Bex, RobB, Sam on 12 Jun 2016.
-
Sam Briggs answered on 12 Jun 2016:
Hi Rhi,
Great question! Honestly, I have no idea, I once heard that there were more connections in the brain than there are atoms in the universe so working backwards, assuming that there 15 connections per cell and that there are a trillion trillion atoms (approx.) in the universe, then one could say… that I don’t have a calculator to hand.
Don’t let that stop you from trying to figure it out though. One of my favourite experiments is using a microwave to calculate the speed of light. Take the rotating plate out, put in a long chocolate bar and then measure the distance between the melted spots. Use c=f*lambda and back calculate for an approximate value of c!
Hope that helps? Or at least stimulates new questions!
-
-
Rebecca Thompson answered on 13 Jun 2016:
There are about 86 billion (!!!) neuronal cells in the average brain (http://www.nature.com/scitable/blog/brain-metrics/are_there_really_as_many). Neuronal cells are the ones that produce ‘brain power’ and pass signals through the brain, letting us think.
However there are loads of other types of cell in the brain that support the work of neuronal cells. These include oligodendrocytes, microglia, and astrocytes (sometimes together known as Glia cells). Without these supporting cells our brain wouldn’t function. There are probably between 2-10 x more glia cells than neurones.
So roughly, there are between 172 and 860 billion cells in the average brain.. which is a pretty mind boggling number!
-
Matt Dunn answered on 13 Jun 2016:
Hi Rhianne,
As a neuroscientist (brain scientist) I hear this question a lot!
Firstly, there are two main types of cells in the brain: functional (the neurons that use electrical signals to communicate) and structural (the glia that basically fill in the space and support the neurons).
The functional cells were always the most interesting, so the most work was done on those, and the general answer is that we don’t know for sure, but there are definitely between 70-100 billion neurons. Bear in mind that these are JUST the functional cells!
Each one of these functional cells is supported by more than one structural cells, so if we say there are at least two structural for one functional, the lowest number of structural cells is between 140-200 billion. The true number is probably far, far higher than this, but the honest answer is that we don’t know.
To add to the huge numbers, each functional cell connects like a wire to at least another 10,000 other functional cells, meaning that there are TRILLIONS of connections made in the brain, and these connections build your personality, help you move, speak, think, and generally make you, you.
Comments