Do People Only Use 10% of Their Brains?

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=people-only-use-10-percent-of-brain&page=2

The brain is very complexed and very little is known about how it functions. Over the years however a myth has been out there that the humans use only 10% of the brain. Scientists accepted the fact that we used only that 10% for a while but after recent research, scientists have discovered that this is infact a myth and probably not accurate. Neurologist Barry Gordon was out to prove that we do use more that just 10 percent of the brain. One thing that helped him prove that it was infact a myth is that the brain, which weighs about three percent of the body weight, uses over 20 percent of the body's energy. The energy used by the brain is for all kinds of functions and more than 10% of the brain is needed for these functions. The brain coordinates body movements and balance, breathing, conscious activities such as driving a car and firing millions of neurons communicating with eachother. John Henley, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn, says that by using brain imaging technologies they can prove that most of the brain is continually active over a 24 hour period. Even at night the brain is still controlling high levels of thinking, self awarness and somatosensory area that help people sense their surroundings. The article gives the example of all the ways the brain is working in the morning. In just seconds the occipital, parietal lobes, motor sensory, basal ganglia, cerebellum and the frontal lobes are all active. What is interesting however is that if a part of the brain is severely damaged , you can still perform daily duties. People who have partial or even severe brain damage are still able to live fairly normal lives. The brain takes over for the missing part of the brain and other parts of the brain compensate for the part that is damaged. Scientists have concluded that it's not that we use only 10% of our brains but that we only understand 10% of how it functions.



Response
I really liked the article because it was a really clear reponse to the question. It was really interested to think that some people thought we used only 10% of our brains. I thought it was also pretty cool to think that even though the brain weighs only three pounds that it takes up over 20% of the energy of the body. That just goes to prove how important and how much work our brain does for us eben though we don'e even realize it. I also think it was cool how when part of the brain is damages how other parts of the brain compensate for that missing part and how we can go on living relatively normal lives even if part of the brain is damaged. The brain shows us how we can only be made by one masterful creator, God, because of its complexity.