The average human brain weighs about 3 pounds, is 75% water, contains around 80 billion neurons, and makes up less than two percent of total body weight. Ironically, it uses about 20 percent of the body’s energy.

Neural signals can travel at roughly 250 miles per hour.

If your brain could convert into electricity, it would generate about 12–25 watts of power, enough to light a bulb, especially an LED one.

There are about 100 trillion synapses in your brain—more than the stars in the Milky Way galaxy.

Your brain doesn’t really begin forming until about two weeks after conception.

If the brain were digital, it could hold about 2.5 petabytes of information.

Brain size doesn’t technically determine intelligence. Some brains are more efficient and don’t need extra size to compensate.

Your brain is the reason you feel pain, yet the brain itself is incapable of feeling pain.

Your brain processes images faster than text—some claims say up to 60,000 times faster, though that number is likely exaggerated.

Stress can shrink your brain, specifically the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex.

As a baby, your brain triples in size within the first year and continues developing until your mid-20s.

The immune cells of the brain are unique; they’re called microglia.

Some of your neurons can stretch up to three feet long.

Your brain is almost as active during REM sleep as it is when you’re awake.

The consistency of the brain is similar to Jell-O, tofu, or chilled butter.

Your brain requires about 400 calories per day just to function.

Your brain goes dark in less than a minute after your heart stops, with only minimal activity lasting for a few more minutes.

After age thirty, the brain shrinks about 0.3 percent per year.

Your memories aren’t stored in just one spot of the brain—they’re distributed across different regions.

Meditation has been shown to increase gray matter in the brain, improving learning and emotional regulation.

Without oxygen, brain cells die permanently within 4–6 minutes.

Confabulation is the term for when your brain creates false memories. These memories can be surprisingly convincing.

It’s nearly impossible to tickle yourself because your brain cancels out the sensation.

When intoxicated, your brain falsely believes it’s functioning normally, even though your body disagrees.

A “brain freeze” isn’t actually in your brain—it’s your brain misinterpreting a cold sensation in your throat as pain.