1. By Jennifer Enghauser Bio 121: Medical Terminology Professor Abdullah August 30, 2011 The Brain

2. The Human Brain: Intro and definition The brain is perhaps the most specialized organ in the human body. It controls the mental processes and physical actions of the human being. It is an organ within the nervous system – located in the skull. The brain is so complex that science has just barely scraped the surface in understanding this organ and it’s capabilities.

4. It accepts a flood of information about the world around us from various senses (seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, etc.).

5. It handles physical movement when walking, talking, standing or sitting.

7. Parts of the Brain: Cerebrum The cerebrum fills up most of your skull. It takes up about 2/3 of the brain. It is involved in remembering, problem solving, thinking, and feeling. It also controls movement.

8. Parts of the Brain: Cerebellum The cerebellum sits at the back of your head, under the cerebrum. It controls coordination and balance.

9. Parts of the Brain: Brain Stem The brain stem sits beneath your cerebrum in front of your cerebellum. It connects the brain to the spinal cord and controls automatic functions such as breathing, digestion, heart rate and blood pressure.

10. Fun Facts About the Human Brain Results from cognitive tests show 30% of 80-year-olds perform as well as young adults. Your brain is about 2% of your total body weight but uses 20% of your body's energy. The energy used by the brain is enough to light a 25 watt bulb. More electrical impulses are generated in one day by a single human brain than by all the telephones in the world. How much does human brain think? 70,000 is the number of thoughts that it is estimated the human brain produces on an average day. After age 30, the brain shrinks a quarter of a percent (0.25%) in mass each year. Albert Einsteins brain weighed 1,230 grams (2.71 lbs), significantly less then the human average of 1,300g to 1,400g (3 lbs). 89.06 is the percentage of people who report normally writing with their right hand, 10.6% with their left and 0.34% with either hand.

11. As I mentioned in the introduction of this presentation, the study of the brain is just in it’s infancy. I chose this organ as it is fascinating to see the amount of information that is being uncovered through advanced technology at such a fast pace. For centuries, scientists have fascinated about the brain, but until recently they viewed the brain as nearly incomprehensible. Now, however, the brain is starting to relinquish its secrets. Scientists have learned more about the brain in the past 20 years than they have in the last 20 centuries. As a result, Congress named the 1990’s the Decade of the Brain. Science and Research