Explodapedia: The Brain E-Book

Ben Martynoga

• Herausgeber: David Fickling Books
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Serie: Explodapedia
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 145

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

Every human brain is utterly unique, with 180 billion brain cells which keep us safe, curious and creative, whilst gifting us incredible powers of memory and bamboozling brilliant imaginations.Maximise your understanding of our miraculous minds!

Leseprobe

Welcome to

Explodapedia

, the indispensable guide to

everything you need to know!

This series is packed with in-depth knowledge you can trust;

it gives you the tools you need to understand the science

behind the wonders of our world. Read on to learn all about

our miraculous minds in

The Brain

. . .

‘

The Brain

is splendid - fun to read and really exciting.’

Henry Marsh CBE, neurosurgeon

‘Elegantly balanced between soaring possibility

and informative realism’

Guardian

‘Extraordinary discoveries are explained in this book in

a way everyone can understand.’

Sir Paul Nurse, Nobel Prize winner

‘The perfect balance between charm, quirkiness and

wonder . . . for kids and adults alike.’

Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize winner

‘A totally fascinating book, brimming with amazing scientific

knowledge and fab illustrations.’

Greg Jenner

BM: To Cal, whose love, wisdom, and support endlessly sculpt my

brain and enrich my mind. x

MA: For Karen, Connor and Spencer.

I’m so glad our universes overlapped.

Explodapedia: The Brain

First published in 2025

by David Fickling Books, 26 Beaumont Street, Oxford, OX1 2NP

This ebook edition first published in 2025

All rights reserved

Text © Ben Martynoga, 2025

Cover Illustration ©

Moose Allain, 2025

The right of Ben Martynoga and Moose Allain to be identified as author and illus-

trator of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright,

Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred,

distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as

specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and

conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable

copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct

infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be

liable in law accordingly.

ISBN 978–1–178845-275-5

Italic type is used in Explodapedia to highlight words that are defined

in the glossary when they first appear, to show quoted material and

the names of published works. Bold type is used for emphasis.

Contents

A Whole Universe Inside Your Skull

7

Chapter 1: How the Brain Works

15

Chapter 2: Brain Exploration

34

Chapter 3: What Brains Are ‘For’

54

Chapter 4: All an Illusion

70

Chapter 5: How Brains Change Themselves

83

Chapter 6: Me or We?

96

Chapter 7: How It Feels to Be You

108

Chapter 8: Mind Your Head

123

Chapter 9: All Kinds of Minds

140

Towards a Brain-Bending Future?

154

Glossary

166

Index

172

Acknowledgements

175

About the Author and Illustrator

176

7

A Whole Universe Inside Your Skull

Picture the scene: you’re finally knuckling down to finish the

project you’ve been putting off all week, it’s due in tomorrow,

and you’ve just about got time to do a decent piece of work.

You open your laptop and start tapping away when – ‘bing’–

a message arrives.

It’s from your friend Ash: ‘Amazing! Got returned tickets

for the gig tonight! Come with us!!!’

Oh wow! You tried everything to see this band, but tickets

sold out months ago.

. . . But . . . Why tonight?

It’s decision time. Do you play it safe, stay home and study,

or seize the moment and head to the concert?

Chances are you’ve now got a heated debate starting up

inside your head, with different ‘voices’ yelling things like:

Woohoo! Of course

you’re going!

No way! The deadline is

TOMORROW – and you

need a good grade.

Stay up late and write

the report after the gig!

Don’t be daft. You

need your sleep!

Hah! Imagine telling

everyone at school

tomorrow, though!

Yeah, but your parents

are going to flip out if

you get a bad report.

Besides, it’s Tuesday.

We never go out

midweek.

But it’ll be epic!

OK, OK, calm down

everyone! Let’s weigh up

all the pros and cons.

It’s noisy in there, right?! But where the heck do those vivid

sensations and yabbering voices actually come from?

Your brain, of course. We’ll return to this conversation

later, to find out exactly how – and why – your brain can end

up arguing with

itself

. But right now, the key thing you need to

know is that your skull contains one of the most complicated,

creative, awe-inspiring and bamboozlingly powerful objects in

the universe!

That said, to be honest, the human brain is kind of

unimpressive to look at. Roughly the size and shape of a large

cauliflower, it’s a dull greyish pink in colour. And if you jabbed

it with your finger, it’d be like prodding a massive soft-boiled

egg.

But, somehow, that fleshy-pink, bulging, slightly wibbly

cauliflower is the most essential, irreplaceable part of your

entire being! As we’ll see, it’s in control of almost every part of

your body and practically everything you

think

,

feel

and

do

. It

can make your mouth water at the thought of a biscuit. And,

at the same time, thanks to its amazing powers of memory and

imagination, your brain can turn itself into the best time-travel

machine ever invented.

Brain

Cauliflower

9

So if, for any reason, you’re feeling a bit stupid or down,

or you’re just having a rubbish day, try to hang on to this fact:

your brain is one of the brightest stars in the universe. In a way,

it actually

contains

the entire the universe.

In fact, it was a poet

called Emily Dickinson,

not a brain scientist, who first pointed

this out, way

back in 1862:

What she meant was that absolutely

anything

and

everything

that you can sense, feel or even just

imagine

must,

somehow, exist

inside

your brain. And that includes the

universe itself! Since you can

think

of it as a ‘thing’ – an almost

unbelievably massive one, sure – it must be able to fit inside

your skull.

Eh?

The Brain—is wider than the Sky—

For—put them side by side—

The one the other will contain

With ease—and You—beside

Wow!

Not bad for a wibbly, greyish-pink cauliflower, huh?

Um . . . hi, Octopus. Didn’t realize you could, er, talk . . .

We-ell, we do have the most complicated brains in the

animal kingdom.

Hmm. Got to admit, that does all fit with the latest brain

science discoveries about octopuses. So, since you’re such a

smart creature, could you stick around and help us figure out

how brains actually work?

Great.

11

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Blah, blah,

blah. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

You lot aren’t the only intelligent

beings on this planet, you know.

Whatevs. You’ve only got one

brain, though. We’ve got nine.

Really?!

We use our brains for learning,

communicating, using tools,

cracking puzzles and generally

having a blast, just like you.

Sure . . . always happy to lend a hand –

or eight – to a friend in need.

OK folks, before we plunge on in, there are two things you

should know about brain science, or

neuroscience

– best to use

its proper name since you’re going to hear a lot about it in this

book:

Number 1

: Despite centuries of research, nobody truly

understands how a human brain works. In fact, nobody’s even

figured out precisely how the tiny, much simpler, worm brain

works.

It’s not that

neuroscientists

are clueless. Far from it; they’ve

made all kinds of amazing discoveries over the years – and

more are coming thick and fast today. It’s just that the things

we ‘know’ about the brain are still massively outnumbered by

all the ‘unknowns’. But that’s exciting – much of the brain is a

huge, mysterious world, just waiting to be explored.

Human brain: made

from

180 billion

cells

Worm brain: made

from just

300

cells

So what on earth are you doing

writing a book called

The Brain

?

13

Number 2

: Some of the neuroscience discoveries you’re going

to encounter in this book might sound plain daft – for example:

• Your brain is stuck in the future.

• Your toes don’t feel pain.

• A newborn baby has more brain

cells

than you do.

• Everyone might see the colour

blue differently.

• Bees can play football.

Ahem. Sure, we’ll definitely be looking at some of our

brains’ weaknesses, as well as the astonishing powers of other

kinds of brain – including yours, Octopus.

But if any of you find yourselves doubting anything you

read in this book, that’s great! You’re thinking like a scientist.

Because science isn’t really about proving ‘facts’. Doubts and

mistakes are massively important – as we’ll find out when we

look at how brain research has progressed over the centuries.

And brain researchers all have one thing in common:

intense curiosity. A characteristic it seems you share too. After

all, your brain is curious enough to want to understand

itself

.

Why else would it have instructed you to pick up this book?

And what could be dafter than

the idea that human brains are

always best at everything!?

All human brains have a raging hunger for learning and

thinking. Each day your brain gorges, non-stop, on memories,

feelings and ideas – and, believe it or not, every single one of

them leaves a lasting imprint inside your head. And that means

– just like faces and fingerprints – every human brain is truly,

utterly, wonderfully unique.

You say that like it’s bad thing, Octopus! And, it’s true,

our brains can cause us strife when we get anxious, depressed

or suffer other

mental-health

challenges (we’ll tackle these in

Chapter 8). But maybe our brains’ quirks and sudden shifts of

emotion are part of what makes life worth living?!

OK, if we need to get to grips with the massive, mysterious

cauliflowers inside our heads, we’ve got a lot to cover. First up,

we’re going to get our hands on an actual brain, to see what it’s

made up of and how it all fits together. Then we’ll get an even

closer view of the nitty-gritty details by venturing inside it.

14

Uniquely weird and

unpredictable, you mean!

So, let’s get on with it!

Catch me if you can!

15

CHAPTER 1

How the Brain Works

PART 1: G

eTTinG

To

K

now

B

RiAn

’

s

B

RAin

So, your brain looks a bit like a cauliflower. But what is it made

from and how does it work? Anyone willing to let us take out

their brain so we can have a proper look?

Great! And don’t worry, you’ll hardly notice it’s gone.

I volunteer my

fearless friend Brian!

Er, okaay . . . all in

the name of

science, I guess.

Really?

16

Absolutely. Because, weirdly, the brain itself can’t sense

pain – you won’t even feel us lifting it out.

Well, you’re holding Brian’s entire world! Be gentle – it’s

fragile.

The contents of Brian’s brain may be unique, but the basic

parts work the same way in practically all human brains. Let’s

see what we’ve got.

Left hemisphere

Here, hold this.

I’d say it looks more

like a jellyfish than a

cauliflower!

Euggh. It feels like

jelly too . . . but

really heavy . . .

Right

hemisphere

Brainstem

See the line dividing Brian’s brain into two halves, or

‘hemispheres’? The hemispheres are mirror images of each

other, so everything on the left side of the brain has a nearly

identical partner on the right side. Brain scientists still don’t

know why, but the left hemisphere is mainly

in charge of the right side of the body and vice

versa.

Yep – that’s the

brainstem

. And Brian

wouldn’t last a second without it. It takes charge of:

The ‘cauliflower’

even has a ‘stalk’!

keeping his

heart beating

coughing and sneezing

breathing

digestion

chewing

sleeping

telling him when

he needs to pee

18

That’s the

cerebellum

. It’s all about controlling movement

and balance. Whenever Brian’s walking, dancing, riding a bike,

etc. his cerebellum will be working hard to keep him upright

and co-ordinated.

Cerebellum

Brainstems are brilliant!

Ooh, and what’s this weird

lump at the back?

Cerebral cortex

Come on, cerebellum,

we can do this!

Above the cerebellum, the brain’s outer layer is called the

cerebral cortex

(or ‘cortex’ for short). It’s so big it only fits inside

Brian’s skull because it’s scrumpled up – hence all those bulges

and crevices. If we stretch it out flat, the cortex is as big as a

pillow!

It needs to be big because it has huge amounts of work to do.

And, more than any other part of the brain, the cortex makes

Brian the unique person he is. It takes charge of language,

deliberate movements, planning, imagination and personality,

as well as stuff that other animals can’t do, like algebra and

navigating social media. On top of all that, it makes sense of

almost everything Brian can see, hear, feel, taste and smell.

There’s a heck of a lot going on in the cortex and, like most

brain regions, it’s always multi-tasking – with lots of different

processes happening at once. Some parts of the cortex are

mainly concerned with very specific tasks, though.

19

Gently now . . .

Let’s scrumple Brian’s cortex back up and see which bits

do what:

Believe it or not, any brain is mostly water. Even the ‘solid’

parts aren’t all that solid. They’re mainly made of fat – oily

molecules

that scientists call

lipids

. All your best ideas and

fiercest feelings emerge from as much fat as you’d get in a pack

and a half of butter!

Brian’s brain is so

slippery and soft I nearly

dropped it! What’s it

actually made of?

Oops! . . .

Planning

movements

Controlling

speech (see p. 43)

Planning and

self-control

Social

awareness

Sense

of smell

Processing

hearing

Recognizing

faces

Vision

(‘visual cortex’,

see p. 77)

Understanding

speech

Processing

numbers

Sense

of touch

Controlling muscles

(

motor cortex

)

20

Most brain regions can

‘multi-task’, taking part in

various processes. Also,

different regions often link

up to get jobs done. These

labels just show the key

roles certain areas play.

And the crucial working parts at the centre of

your brain’s structure are its microscopic cells. All

living things are made of cells.

Yes, partly. All cells have a kind of ‘skin’, called

a

cell membrane

, which is the bit that’s made from

lipids. Cells are life’s building blocks.* And it takes

180 billion of them to build a brain.

Not yet! There’s another bunch of brain parts you need to

know about. It’s called the

limbic system

, and life would be dull,

short and (literally) forgettable without it, because it mainly

handles memories and emotions – as well as keeping the body

*

Find out more in Explodapedia:

The Cell.

21

So it’s the cells in the brain

that are made of fat?

Crikey.

Can Brian have his 180

billion brain cells back now?

If each one of these

180 billion cells was

a penny, this stack would

reach two-thirds of

the way to the moon

Brain cell

(x1000)

up and running. But the limbic system is buried deep inside

Brian’s brain. Let’s peel back his cortex to take a look:

You don’t need to! For now, just hold on

to the fact that your limbic system is vital for

Hippocampus

: Means ‘sea-

horse’ in Latin, (it’s meant to look

like one!). Essential for making

and recalling memories. And

for finding your way around –

Brian’d be lost without it

If that’s a seahorse, I’m a lobster!

Amygdala

: Smaller than a

jelly bean, but plays a huge

part in Brian’s emotional life.

Sounds the alarm if he’s scared

or anxious and helps him figure

out other people’s feelings

I’ll never remember

all these fancy

brain-part names!

Basal ganglia

: Helps control

movements, learn new skills,

form habits and process

emotions

Hypothalamus

: Controls

Brian’s body temperature,

thirst, hunger, sleepiness and

emotions

22

memories, emotions and some basic bodily functions.

Right. Brian can have his brain back now . . .

Now Brian can think, feel, see, move, eat, drink, breathe

and remember again. His brain – like all our brains – is essential

to pretty much every aspect of being human.

It’s a bit complicated. Maybe the best way to show you is by

taking a (guaranteed, pain-free) trip inside Brian’s brain. OK

with you Brian?

Have you taken it out yet?

Er . . . Ye-es . . .

We’ve actually just

popped it back in!

Really?

But

how

do our brains do all that?

Er . . .

PART 2: W

IRING

U

P

B

RIAN

’

S

G

IANT

‘S

UPERCOMPUTER

’ B

RAIN

Prepare yourself: we’re about to shrink down to just one

hundredth of a millimetre tall. Then we’ll climb into this

tiny, remote-controlled transport capsule ready to be fired up

Brian’s left nostril and into his brain.

Sure. But it’s going to be

pretty weird in there – a bit

like entering the heart of a

massive

supercomputer

. That’s

roughly what a human brain

is: a huge ‘warehouse’, packed

with powerful computers.

*

The ‘warehouse’ is the main

‘control centre’ for your entire

nervous system

– the gigantic

‘communications network’