The Human Brain is that which sets us apart from all other
biological species on earth (and may be in universe). As far as we know, humans
are the only creatures who think, analyze, create music, literature and art,
travel in space, and walk on the surface of moon and so on. Brain shapes our
action, imagination, hopes and dreams.
Brain has been compared to a supercomputer, however is much
more complicated than any known man-made device.
About 3 pound of fatty tissue of our brain consists of two kinds of cells: neurons
and glial cells (supportive tissue). It is estimated that there are about 200
billion neurons in adult human brain. Also, there are about 10000 different
types of neurons.
Neuron,
the functional unit of the brain, has a body, axon and dendrites. The axon is
like a fiber-optic cable carrying outgoing messages (electrical impulses) to the
target cells in different locations of our body. Dendrites are tree-like
formations where axons from other neurons form a communication unit- synapse. The
function of synapse is basically transferring signal from one neuron to another.
Each neuron in the brain is connected to hundreds of thousands other neurons. Can you Imagine
how complex this network is ?
