Neuroscience For Kids

Treasure Trove of Brain Trivia

A collection of trivia about the brain and nervous system from the archives of the Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter. For more trivia about the brain, see brain facts and figures.

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January, 2024

A. Eating strawberries may reduce the risk of dementia for middle-aged people (Source: Krikorian, R., Early intervention in cognitive aging with strawberry supplementation, Nutrients, 2023; 15(20): 4431 DOI: 10.3390/nu15204431).

B. Chinstrap penguins (Pygoscelis antarcticus) take about 10,000 very short naps of around 4 seconds each day (Source: Libourel, P-A. et al., Nesting chinstrap penguins accrue large quantities of sleep through seconds-long microsleeps, Science, 382:1026-1031, 2023, DOI:10.1126/science.adh0771).

C. The 2023 Collins Dictionary word of the year is "AI."

D. There are approximately 49,940 neurosurgeons in the world (Source: Mukhopadhyay, S., et al., The global neurosurgical workforce: a mixed-methods assessment of density and growth, J. Neurosurg., 130:1142-1148, 2019).

E. Approximately 1 in 4,000 people are born with a partially or completely missing corpus callosum. The corpus callosum is the large nerve fiber tract that connects the left and right hemispheres of the brain (Source: NINDS).

February, 2024

A. Reindeer may be able to sleep and eat at the same time (Source: Furrer, M., et al., Reindeer in the Arctic reduce sleep need during rumination, Current Biology, 2023, https://doi.org/1 0.1016/j.cub.2023.12.01).

B. Focused ultrasound may open the blood-brain barrier and allow more efficient delivery of drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease (Source: Rezai, A.R., et al., Ultrasound blood-brain barrier opening and Aducanumab in Alzheimer's disease, N. Engl. J. Med. 390:55-62, 2024).

C. A diet that includes Kiwi fruit may be able to improve mood in as little as four days (Source: Fletcher, B.D., et al., Smartphone survey data reveals the timecourse of changes in mood outcomes following vitamin C or kiwifruit intervention in adults with low vitamin C, British J. Nutrition, 2023; 1 DOI: 10.1017/S0007114523002787).

D. Proteins make up about 60% of the total mass of the lens of the eye (Source: Wistow, G.J. and, Piatigorsky J. Lens crystallins: the evolution and expression of proteins for a highly specialized tissue, Annu. Rev. Biochem., 57:479-504, 1988).

E. A Nile crocodile with a body mass of 90 kg has only 83 million neurons in its brain (Source: Kverková, K., et al., The evolution of brain neuron numbers in amniotes. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U S A., Mar 15;119(11):e2121624119, 2022).

March, 2024

A. 25,808 neuroscientists from 76 countries attended the 2023 Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting (Source: Society for Neuroscience, https://www.sfn.org/publications/neuroscience-quarterly/winter-2024/).

B. Researchers have 3D-printed brain tissue that works in a way similar to that of real brain tissue (Source: Yan, Y. et al., 3D bioprinting of human neural tissues with functional connectivity, Cell Stem Cell, 31: 260-274, 2024).

C. Scientists have developed a blood test that could help diagnose brain cancer (Source: O'Neill K, et al., Profiling of circulating glial cells for accurate blood-based diagnosis of glial malignancies. Int. J. Cancer, 154(7):1298-1308, 2024.

D. Think you have a good memory? Try out for the USA Memory Championship on July 27, 2024. See details at: https://www.usamemorychampionship.com/.

E. Artist-scientist Leonardo da Vinci (born: 1452; died: 1519) may have had a form of strabismus, a misalignment of the eyes. This misalignment may have benefited his artistic abilities (Source: Tyler, C.W., Evidence that Leonardo da Vinci had strabismus, JAMA Ophthalmol., 137:82-86, 2019.

April, 2024

A. Artist Georgia O'Keeffe (born: 1887; died: 1986) suffered from macular degeneration and failing vision later in her life. Even with diminishing eyesight, O'Keeffe, with the help of assistants, continued to paint using her memory (Source: https://www.okeeffemuseum.org/about-georgia-okeeffe).

B. Yoga may help preserve cognitive function in older adult (Source: Grzenda, A. et al., Cognitive and immunological effects of yoga compared to memory training in older women at risk for Alzheimer's disease, Transl Psychiatry, 14, 96, 2024).

C. Surface area of the human cerebellar cortex = 1,590 square cm (Source: Sereno et al., The human cerebellum has almost 80% of the surface area of the neocortex, PNAS, 117:19538-19543, 2020).

D. Length of the optic nerve = 50 mm (Source: Kanski, J.J., Clinical Ophthalmology, 6th ed., Edinburgh: Elsevier, 2007).

E. Astronauts with no prior history of headaches sometimes experience migraine and tension-type headaches during space flights (Source: Willebrordus P.J., et al., Frequency and clinical features of space headache experienced by astronauts during long-haul space flights. Neurology, 2024; 102 (7) DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000209224/).

More trivia from other years:

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2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998

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