"The human brain is the most fascinating three pounds of matter on this planet, maybe even in the universe."
Pam Schiller in Start Smart

Did you know that the human brain weighs only 3 pounds and is about the size of a large grapefruit? Other animals have different sized brains. A sperm whale's brain weighs only 4 pounds (think about the whale's size compared to the size of its brain), a dog's brain weighs 72 grams, and a gorilla's brain weighs about 1 pound. That means that compared to our size, humans have pretty large brains. Our brains are made mostly of water (78 percent), fat (10 percent), and protein (8 percent). A living brain is so soft that you could cut it with a butter knife.

We think that the brain is very interesting. To learn about the different parts of the brain and the four brain lobes, follow the links below:

Scientists divide the brain into four different sections which are called lobes. The lobes are responsible for many different things such as emotions, reasoning, hearing, vision, and more responsibilities. Read the chart below to learn lots of interesting facts about your brain lobes.

Frontal Lobe	Location	Characteristics
	The frontal lobe is found in the area around your forehead.	It is concerned with emotions, reasoning, planning, movement, and parts of speech. It is also involved in purposeful acts such as creativity, judgment, problem solving, and planning.
Parietal Lobe	Location	Characteristics
	The parietal lobes are found behind the frontal lobes, above the temporal lobes, and at the top back of the brain.	They are connected with the processing of nerve impulses related to the senses, such as touch, pain, taste, pressure, and temperature. They also have language functions.
Temporal Lobe	Location	Characteristics
	The temporal lobes are found on either side of the brain and just above the ears.	The temporal lobes are responsible for hearing, memory, meaning, and language. They also play a role in emotion and learning. The temporal lobes are concerned with interpreting and processing auditory stimuli.
Occipital Lobe	Location	Characteristics
	The occipital lobe is found in the back of the brain.	The occipital lobe is involved with the brain's ability to recognize objects. It is responsible for our vision.

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Your brain is full of billions of microscopic cells. Many of these cells are special messengers called neurons. Neuron means "nerve cell." We have about 100 billion neurons in our body. To picture the size of a neuron, think about the fact that 30,000 neurons can fit on the head of a pin! Neurons carry special signals back and forth throughout your body. Billions of neurons are chained together in a network of nerves. Nerves are a large amounts of neurons linked together in a small place. Your nerves send tiny electronic signals through your body to the brain stem and to the main brain.
The neurons inside your brain have three basic parts. Every tiny neuron consists of a cell body, an axon, and a dendrite. Neurons "talk" to each other by sending chemicals to each other across a very tiny space called a synapse. Learning happens when two neurons "talk" to each other. As the brain makes connections, it actually grows dendrites and makes stronger synapses. That means that the more you learn, the heavier your brain gets! So that means you really can "grow" a better brain.

Do people loose brain cells as they get older? Yes, you loose brain cells every day because of decay and disuse. Scientists aren't sure how many you loose each day but you don't need to worry. You have enough to last for your whole lifetime.

Some people think that your brain can never grow new neurons. That isn't true. Scientists have found that one area of the brain called the hippocampus can grow new neurons. They are doing more research to see if there are other areas of the brain that regrow neurons.

You've probably never heard of a glial cell. That's because when people talk about brain cells, they usually only think of neurons. But did you know that without glial cells your the neurons wouldn't work? So without glial cells we wouldn't have working neurons, and without neurons there would be no point of glial cells. About 90 percent of your brain cells are glial cells (the other 10 percent are neurons) which means that we have about 1,000 billion of them. Did you know that glial means "glue?" These cells are called glial or "glue" because they act like little ropes for neurons to hold on to when the brain is being formed. Otherwise, scientists think they act like housekeepers for neurons. Glial cells attach themselves to neurons and feed them. Unlike neurons, they are able to reproduce, so your brain can make as many as it needs.
Do you know what famous scientist had a whole lot of glial cells in his brain? The answer is Albert Einstein. The scientists who studied his brain found a huge number of glial cells in a specific area of his brain. The scientists think this means that this area of Einstein's brain showed more use than the same area in any other brain ever studied.

Here is a table of some other parts of the brain you might be interested in learning more about: