Brain
How well do we know how to think? It’s amazing how we could process so much information and extract it into knowledge that could be passed on to many generations. “Of course, it’s the work of the brain!” Well, how exactly do brains work?
After browsing around, I stumbled upon a website that explains how the brain works. The website is literally called “how the brain works.” This charming little essay from Professor Thomas has plenty of serious yet fun information to consume. Rather than memorizing and naming things, he helped us understand how this meaty organ inside our skull works. Check it out!
The brain consists of a type of cell called a neuron. Millions of neurons connected from one part to another determine how strongly our thinking works. But the brain isn’t just about thinking; it is mostly used for movement. The brain controls muscles, moves fingers to tap and scroll, and moves your eyes to process words on this screen. All of these activities are planned inside your skull right now! Crazy to think most of us don’t even have to think to do so. It happened automatically.
Of course, it’s not naturally happened that we can move our fingers across the screen. We’ve already trained our brains to do so. Hours of countless training causes bonds of specific neurons to get stronger. Coordinated perfectly, parts of vision and muscle movement then turned these texts which actually mean nothing to our eyes but become something by recalling memories of how the letter works and how to read them. Brain processes and learn constantly to optimize what happened outside the body and coordinate what’s inside so we can live accordingly. What a nifty, hardworking organ!
But how about sleep? Does it shut down when we take a rest? Well, no. It actually still executes so much stuff when the human who carries it around stops. When we sleep, the brain cleans up any waste products from neural activities that happened during the day. At this time, the brain also moves knowledge around. Imagine moving scattered files on the desk, organizing them, and putting them in some specific folder to be accessed later in the future. It can even replay experiences to analyze patterns of neural activity and make the connection even stronger. That’s where the dream happens.
Even after many years of research by experts, most of the brain is still mysterious to us. We haven’t mapped exactly how every neuron is connected. We still don’t know how it has awareness and feels alive. We still don’t even know what part of the brain “the mind” comes from or is located exactly. The mind can’t be externally and exactly observed because it’s a uniquely personal experience. Maybe later in the future we’d map all of our minds and tap into knowledge and mind directly as easily as accessing files.
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