What matters is the gray and white matter inside your noggin.

Anyone who's watched the Wizard of Oz knows the scarecrow was short on shingles; all the bulbs were not lit in his chandelier; the elevator didn't go to the top floor... poor guy needed a brain.

There are a lot of people in political office, at all levels of government, who remind me of the scarecrow, and while I'm at it, let me add this, many also need a heart. But that is my expressed opinion, and I'll stop there and tell you about a time I held a human brain.

When I was in grade school, the science teacher posed a question: You cannot move from seats,  speak or do anything without (______?)  Of course, we all had the same answer: teacher's permission. In reality, the answer was without our brain, which is command central for our entire bodies. That was mind boggling to me when I was eight-years-old.

Twenty years ago when my granddaughter, who had a keen interest in science, was about eight, we visited a fascinating exhibit at the Science Center on the human brain. We were instructed to put on latex gloves and prepare for a once in a lifetime experience. It certainly was! We explored a real brain, held it, examined the areas, learned the speech area and so much more.

Here are some interesting facts about the white and gray matter that matters in your own noggin.

 Albert Einstein. Einstein’s brain was similar in size to other humans except in the region that is responsible for math and spatial perception. In that region, his brain was 35% wider than average.

London taxi drivers. Famous for knowing all the London streets by heart, have a larger than normal hippocampus, especially the drivers who have been on the job longest. The study suggests that as people memorize more and more information, this part of their brain continues to grow.

Music. Music lessons have shown to considerably boost brain organization and ability in both children and adults.

      Thoughts. The average number of thoughts that humans are believed to experience each
      day is 70,000.

Ambidexterity. Those who are left-handed or ambidextrous have a corpus collosum (the part of the brain that bridges the two halves) that is about 11% larger than those who are right-handed.

      Weight. The weight of the human brain is about 3 lbs.        

      
      Cerebrum. The cerebrum is the largest part of the brain and makes up 85% of the brain’s

      weight.

     

      Skin. Your skin weighs twice as much as your brain.

      

      Gray matter. The brain’s gray matter, made up of neurons, gather and transmit signals.

White matter. The white matter is made up of dendrites and axons, which create the network by which neurons send their signals.

Gray and white. Your brain is 60% white matter and 40% gray matter.

Water. The brain is made up of about 75% water.

Neurons. Your brain consists of about 100 billion neurons.

Synapses. There are anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 synapses for each neuron.

No pain. There are no pain receptors in the brain, so the brain can feel no pain. My friend's brain surgery was painless.

Largest brain. While an elephant’s brain is physically larger than a human brain, the human brain is 2% of total body weight (compared to 0.15% of an elephant’s brain), meaning humans have the largest brain to body size.

Blood vessels. There are 100,000 miles of blood vessels in the brain.

Fat. The human brain is the fattest organ in the body and may consists of at least 60% fat.

And all the while I thought it was my belly!

I read an article about a woman who knows her unborn child has no brain development. She is carrying her child to term so she can donate the organs. What a priceless and precious gift.

When my grandson was born, there was a mother who gave birth to a little boy who had no brain stem. It was so very sad. 

I am thankful for my brain. I am forgetful at times, but I can write an essay. In fact, one of my stories has made first round selection for Listen to Your Mother, St. Louis. I will audition along with the other 29 folks selected (three of which are my critique group members) and then judges will whittle their selections down to 15. I am thrilled to even be considered.

Just a question: are you better at math or language/ words or numbers?