Advantages of having bigger brain - Bigger brain the smarter you are?

The brain is the center of our nervous system, and a highly complex organ that generates our behavior. Brain still remains a great mystery to scientists despite different studies, and nobody knows the limits of human brain. We only know that we use very small part of our brains, and who knows perhaps the only real difference between humans and gods is in how much of their brain do they use. But since we are getting into the philosophical sphere I will get back to the main topic of this article, namely the size of the brain. What does it mean to have big brain? Does having bigger brain means that you are smarter than the ones with smaller brains or what?

Some studies have discovered that brain size matters for intellectual ability and having bigger brain means having better intellectual ability. The most interesting study that confirmed this took part in 2005 McMaster University researchers have found that brain size really matters. They also found that there are differences between women and men when it comes down to brain size. In women, verbal intelligence is correlated with brain size, accounting for 36 percent of the verbal IQ score. In men, this was true for right-handers only, indicating that brain asymmetry is a factor in men.

But on the other hand lets look at Albert Einstein's brain. Albert Einstein is undisputedly one of the biggest geniuses in our history but his brain was of average size. However his brain did have unusual brain anatomy and many scientist believe this is the main reason why Einstein had different flow of thoughts compared to all other. In fact one part of the Einstein's brain was missing and according to some scientists this enabled neurons in this part of his brain to communicate better resulting in one of the greatest mind in human history.

Lets go a little bit to animal world to see size of their brains. For instance the average adult human brain weighs around 3 pounds (1,361 grams) which is close to average brain weight of dolphin. We consider dolphin to be very intelligent animals, right? Well how about sperm whale, nobody considers this whale to be genius among animals and yet it has brain that weighs around 17 pounds (7,800 grams). We consider dogs to be smart but they only have average brain of around 2.5 ounces (72 grams). Of course we should also take into account the size of the total body, and it is not the same to compare brain of sperm whale that weighs more than ten tons to brain of dolphin that weighs only around 350 pounds (158.8 kilograms). Having bigger body usually means having larger skull, and therefore having bigger brain.

What we should focus here is brain to weight ratio, if we focus on this then we'll see that we are the smartest ones on planet since our brain to weight ratio is about 1-to-50. For most other mammals, it's around 1-to-180, and for birds, it's around 1-to-220. As you can see the brain takes up more weight in a human than it does in other animals, and makes us smarter than animals.

So size does really matter when it comes to brain, but since we only know so little about brain who knows what else our brain is capable of. Perhaps size isn't that important for making us smart as we now think. Well, it's up to future to tell us more. For now the size does matter.

How close is the nearest black hole to Earth?

Until recently it was impossible to give an exact answer on bow close is the nearest black hole to Earth but an international team of astronomers has for the first time accurately measured the distance from Earth to a black hole, and this distance is 7800 light years, which is much closer that many scientists assumed it is.

How did they measure this distance? The breakthrough discovery was in this case the result of measuring the radio emissions from the black hole and its associated dying star. An exact distance from black hole is important from two different reasons. First of all astronomers can now gain a better picture of how black holes evolve, and what is even more important an exact distance is important for measurements of the black hole´s spin.

This nearest black hole was the result of supernova explosion, and it moves through space at a rate of about 40 km per second.

Scientists hope that with the help of this new measuring method they'll be able "to answer the question as to whether there is a difference between black holes that evolve directly from the collapse of a star without a supernova and black holes that evolve via a supernova and a temporary intermediate star, a proto-neutron star. We expect that the black holes in the last group can get a kick. Black holes formed in this way could then move through space faster", as Peter Jonker from SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research said in his interview.

Energy drinks - Good or bad for you?

Energy drinks are becoming more and more popular worldwide, for instance 1.5 billion cans of Red Bull were sold in the United States in 2004. This is because many young people, especially students consume these energy drinks in order to increase their concentration during long study through the night. But are these popular energy drinks good or bad for you?

These energy drinks are made up of caffeine and sugar, and according to scientists they have negative impact on human body because they don't hydrate the body efficiently simply because they have too much sugar in it. And caffeine on the other hand doesn't always improve physical performance, especially in large quantities when it can even significantly increase the risks of fatigue and dehydration.

Consumption of Vodka Red Bull could lead to all sorts of trouble since it gives you the feeling you're not drunk though you very much are drunk.

And not only these as several different studies showed how strong doses of caffeine can increase hypertension, cause heart palpitations, provoke irritability and anxiety as well as cause headaches and insomnia. So it is definitely not wise to consume more than two cans a day.

However many young people consume lot more than two cans a day, and what is even worse almost 50 % of young people in US between 18-24 have admitted that they consume these energy drinks mixed with alcohol, and especially popular are Vodkas Red Bull. Consumption of Vodkas Red Bull is dangerous because it cancels the warning signs that the person is actually drunk. In many cases when someone consumes too much alcohol, their head spins and they feel tired but energy drinks cancel this effect so person thinks it is sober but in fact it is very much drunk. This can of course lead to all sorts of troubles.