Human beings are given a great gift - cerebral capacity. However, the question is, how has it evolved?
Cerebral capacity is the ability of a species to use its brain power. It is one of the most debated topics among scientists.
For many years people have believed that human beings can use only 10 per cent of their brain. Due to lack of evidence to support this, many scientists have debunked this theory as a myth.
But the saying, ‘use it or lose it’ seems to apply to the nervous system. During development many new synapses are formed. Studies show that some synapses are eliminated later on in development. The nervous system undergoes a “fine tuning” phase of synaptic development and elimination. Research has shown that if the input to a particular neural system is eliminated, then neurons in this system stop function properly. This is quite apparent in the visual system - complete loss of vision can occur if visual information is prevented from stimulating the eyes (and brain) early in development.
Though this observation may not seem important, our outlook about our brain will change after taking a closer look at the potential it has.
Humans have done a lot using their cerebral capacity. From the use of ‘one’ as a unit of measure to the laws of physics, we engineered substantial inventions like planes and ships, we even took biology and evolution to new heights. Our cerebral capacity has codified the world and processed it into human sizes to make it easily conceivable. In short, we have managed to scale it down so much that we have forgotten that it is an unfathomable scale.
Our brain has great power, we just fail to realise it.
- The reader is a 17-year-old student based in Dubai
