After reading this post you will learn a very simple yet very effective memory technique which will  allow you to memorize 50 item shopping list  almost effortlessly. And you will be able to do it by reading the list only once!

Sounds unbelievable?

Better believe it – it’s not only easy but also very fun. Besides improving your memory dramatically it will even boost your creativity.

Interested? Ok! Read on..

(Image credits: eatmorechips)

Memorize This Shopping List

Let’s start with this 10 item list (read it once and go to your local shop):

• 2 apples
• 1 toothpaste
• 1 toilet paper
• 1 fish
• 1 chocolate
• 1 pack of Orbit chewing gum
• 1 pair of socks
• 1 loaf of bread
• 2 onions
• 1 carrot

How many items from this list did you bring? Not much I guess. Well, OK it’s just 10 items on the list, probably you memorized a lot, but that is not the case. I am using only 10 item list for explanatory purposes.

So how to remember this list in 100% accuracy (even in the same order) by reading it only once?

The Magic Memory Technique

The answer is – by vividly visualizing words. You just have to create a little but very vivid and very emotional crazy story from these words. Ok I’ll show you how..

This stupid crazy story could go like this:

2 apples felt from the tree on a pack of toothpaste,it erupted and stained everything around. A fish came with a toilet paper and cleaned the place. After cleaning the place it decided to have a rest and eat some chocolate. After eating it’s chocolate the fish remembered that she has to chew some Orbit for teeth health. There was a boy passing by who saw the fish and caught it with his sock. The boy brought the fish home and ate it with a loaf of bread. The fish turned out to be poisonous, so the boys eyes felt out of his eyelids into his hands and transformed into 2 onions. He put a carrot near these 2 onions, and it formed a male organ, but he was blind and couldn’t see that he has formed something bad from these vegetables.

(Image credits: Tiago • Ribeiro)

It is advised to use all kind of sexual references and even some violent things because they are emotionally very strong.

Some Final Thoughts

Well, you might say, why should I try to remember a shopping list, when I can take a little leaflet with the list written on it? The wonderful thing is that you can use this technique everywhere! It is especially  useful when preparing for your exams. I used this technique many times and it proved to be the most effective memory technique of all which I still use.

P.S. Did it work for you?

A couple days ago I was reading  “ The Myth of Sisyphus” by Albert Camus. I really liked his ideas,  maybe they are a little bit too dark, but still they are so true, though most of the people never think about that..

“ Likewise and during every day of an unillustrious life, time carries us. But a moment always comes when we have to carry it. We live on the future: ‘tomorrow’, ‘later on’, ‘when you have made your way’, ‘you will understand when you are old enough.’ Such irrelevancies are wonderful, for, after all, it’s a matter of dying. Yet a time comes when a man notices that he is thirty. Thus he asserts his youth. But simultaneously he situates himself in relation to time. He takes his place in it. He admits that he stands at a certain point on a curve that he acknowledges having to travel to its end. He belongs to time and, by the horror that seizes him, he recognizes his worst enemy. Tomorrow, he was longing for tomorrow, whereas everything in him ought to reject it. The revolt of the flesh is the absurd. “ – Albert Camus

This made me think – we often do not appreciate the presence. We are so busy – everyone is rushing, doing things, and it all then leads to stress, unhappiness and even depression.  We are just used to think that this someday of ultimate happiness will soon come and everything will be OK, we just have to wait a little bit more.  But the fact is,  that this day will never come and more or less everyone of us have reasons to be happy right at this moment. The most difficult thing is to appreciate this now.

So slow down and think about those things:

1. First of all remember that you live better than millions people around the world. If you ate breakfast this morning you are better off than the 800 million people worldwide who will go hungry today. And don’t think that it’s just happening in Africa. In the United States 9 million people “frequently skip meals or eat too little, sometimes going without food for a whole day.” (Source: bread.org) And check this site http://www.globalrichlist.com/ . Approximately 1% of world’s population has the computer – if you are reading our blog – smile – you are one of those lucky people !!!

(image credits: carf)

2. Appreciate people who are with you. Be happy with them today – you don’t know what is waiting for you in the future, but if today you are with those you love, no reason to feel unhappy..

(image credits:  mohammadali)

3. See the beauty of the world. Every single detail. I always wonder how people can not notice such things like blooming trees in spring..

(image credits:  EJP Photo)

So if you are not hungry, you have your home, and even an internet connection feel happy now, enjoy this very second. Remeber that you live in the now,  so don’t wait for tomorrow.

So you wanna learn something unnecessary? Here is a list of top 15 unnecessary knowledge facts from http://www.unkno.com/ for you.  Have fun and don’t forget to comment!

(image credits: alumroot)

1. Every year approximately 2,500 left-handed people are killed by using object or machinery designed for right-handed people.

2. Turtles can actually breathe through their butts

3. It is estimated that at any given time around 0.7% of the world’s population is drunk.

4. 315 entries in Webster’s 1996 dictionary were misspelled.

5. More people are killed by falling coconuts every year than sharks attack

6. A giraffe can run faster than a horse, and can live without water longer than a camel.

7. The largest number of children born to one woman, who was a Russian peasant is 69.

8. According to suicide statistics, Monday is the favored day for self-destruction.

9. Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots

10. Bookkeeper” is the only word in the English language that has 3 letters that consecutively repeat.

11. Human hair is almost indestructible, only fire can destroy it

12. Dolphins and Humans are the only mammals that have sex for pleasure.

Update: actually there are five species that  engage in sexual intercourse for the pleasure as often or more often than for the purpose of procreation:  humans, dolphins, elephants, swans and various breeds of monkies. Of those five, humans, dolphins and swans engage in the act of rape with the female being just as likely to be the aggressor as the male.

13. A kangaroo can only jump if its tail is touching the ground.

14. Polar bears are left-handed.

15. The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable.

I was always sure, that mineral oil (also known as paraffinum liquidum, petrolatum) is a bad thing and I should avoid it. Why not – I thought – it is a by-product of petroleum, so it didn’t sound like something I would like to put on my face or body. Honestly, I wanted to write an article about the disadvantages of using products based on mineral oil, but while researching the topic I’ve  found completely opposite opinions. I don’t know whether they are true or false, but I want to share my discoveries with You.

(image credits:by Mr. T in DC)

So what I have heard before:

- Mineral oil dries the skin and causes premature aging.

- Mineral oil robs the skin of vitamins.

- Mineral oil causes acne.

Information I have found in the “ Toxic cosmetics ingredients “:

“Petroleum by-product that coats the skin like plastic, clogging the pores. Interferes with skin’s ability to eliminate toxins, promoting acne and other disorders. Slows down skin function and cell development, resulting in premature aging. Used in many products (baby oil is 100% mineral oil!) Any mineral oil derivative can be contaminated with cancer causing PAH’s (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons). Manufacturers use petrolatum because it is unbelievably cheap.”

But there is a different opinion, which claims, that this information was created by companies producing natural cosmetics to promote their products and make people buy it. Let’s think:

- Companies, which produce natural products are often small, because of the big manufacturing costs (we all know, that natural and ecologic ingredients are more expensive , less efficient cosmetics (natural things do not work as fast as a innovative chemical formulas), due to this, they have smaller markets and often higher prices. All in all, they want to attract people to buy it and the best way to do this may be to prove that natural cosmetic is better.

Moreover, according to mineral oil manufacturers, there are no scientific evidence which prove, that mineral oil causes cancer, acne or dries skin. I haven’t found any  scientific evidences  on the Internet either.

For the end, I don’t know whom to believe. In our capitalistic world where dollar means everything you can’t trust any information. Good marketing and PR can make us  believe whatever companies want. Still, no matter what, we can only be sure of the fact that natural oil isn’t harmful. So instead of taking the risk I choose natural oil based cosmetics. A bit more expensive, but it is pleasant to know, that I use something made from plants rather than something made from petroleum.

What do you choose?

Now very briefly about every step:

1. Create a blog: buy hosting services for ~6-7$ a month and a domain yourblogname.com (personally, I use hostmonster.com for this blog). In the cPanel find SimpleScripts and choose Wordpress. Few more clicks and blog platform installed. Or visit wordpress.org and get it here.

(Image credits: Swamibu)

2. Write good content: – write about things you are most passionate about.

3. Add google Adsense: – Register on www.google.com/adsense/. Get the ad code and place it in your blog.

4. Get clicks: – just wait for the clicks, and tweak ad placement as much as possible. Experiment and see what works best for you.

5. Get paid: – google starts paying you $ when you reach 100$ limit.

My final advice for you is – stop reading about it and start doing it! You don’t have to wait a year to start doing that like I did – start doing it right now! And remember – you have to be patient, one little good post can change everything.

Let’s start with some simple questions and answers:

Q.: Is it possible to make money online?

A.: Yes, and you probably already heard a lot of about it.

Q.: Is it possible to earn for a living online and quit your daily job?

A.: Yes, of course. I have to admit it’s not as easy as 2+2, but it’s not harder than (2+2)/2+2

Q.: Can an ordinary mortal human being just like you do it?

A.: Yes. I do it all the time, even while I sleep, so can you.

Q.: Does it require a lot of technical skills and time?

A.: No. First spend few days learning how to install a blog and then half an hour everyday writing content, and it could bring you 132.994$ monthly revenue some day. (shomoney spends just half an hour everyday, I spend 1 day per week).

(Image credits: Steve Wampler)

The business formula of making money online is very simple and you can find it here, but first read some stories for inspiration.

2 Old but Very Inspirational Examples

How did I start blogging? I got my inspiration from these 2 guys: Steve Pavlina and Jeremy Schoemaker.

I was just a simple internet surfer just like you, who likes to read blogs online. I never even noticed that almost every blog was made for money making. Before I started making money myself, I’ve never even noticed those ads around the content of almost every website. Now I see the internet completely differently – it’s a huge business machine, a big opportunity for everyone, so I hoped in the train too. But first, lets talk a bit about those two inspirational examples of making big money online.

Shoemoney.com

Launched: October, 2005

Revenue: 132.994$ for just one month of clicks on Adsense ads in the same year 2005

Blogger Shoemoney became famous when he posted his picture with a Google $132,994.97 check for one month of clicks.

“This was the bigest paper check I have ever recieved. It was way back in August of 2005. 100% of this income was earned with organic seo . I had not heard of search engine arbitrage at the time and did not buy traffic from MSN Yahoo or Google itself. I did that about 1.5 years later ”

What better way to make money online than to write a blog about making money online? Jeremy Schoemaker, a 35-year-old Web entrepreneur, did just that. The half hour he spends each day writing ShoeMoney was enough to make enormous amount of money.

Half an hour? Everybody can afford it! You don’t even have to quit your job to do it. Just imagine how much would you be earning today if you wrote a blog instead of watching TV.

StevePavlina.com

In 2004, Steve Pavlina began a a web site and blog dedicated to personal development, StevePavlina.com (“Personal Development for Smart People”). Steve even closed his company “Dexterity Software” in order to focus full-time on the website and blog. And no wonder why he did it!

Here’s the graph showing Steve’s traffic growth from Feb 2005 to Jan 2006. The numbers on the left represent number of visitors.

And here’s his Adsense income from the same period:

Pretty nice growth? At the end of 2009 he was making around $100K per year from Adsense ads.

Me and Money Making from Blogging

It struck me like thunder when I saw these numbers. Something started burning inside me and I knew I just had to start blogging. But I just never did it. A year later, I was talking to my colleague from my college, and he told me that he was interested in blogging and something clicked in my mind. We talked and talked and it led to the creation of our first blog themilliondollarplan.com (it is closed now).

After 3 months of work, we made only something like 10$. It was getting more and more frustrating and I thought it might just never work out. The funniest thing about it was, that this blog was about money making.

But just 1 good post and everything changed. My colleague wrote about google’s inovative office interiors, and it started driving around 10K of unique visitors everyday.The adsense money counter started running!!!

At first, 1-2$ a day, then 5$, some time later 10$. Inspired by this, we created another blog villageofjoy.com, and the revenue reached 30$, 40$ a day and kept growing. Villageofjoy.com was even featured on BBC “Click” – we got enormous amounts of direct traffic.

Then unusual-architecture.com. Then tastyhuman.com (the one you are reading right now). I don’t want to disclose, how much do we earn now, but I can tell it is roughly as much as our peers get in their usual jobs. But the biggest difference is, that we spent only 1 day per week blogging, so only 1/5 of the time they spend at their jobs.

Ok, ok – you convinced me! But How to Start Making Money? Read our other article: 5 Simple Steps to Start Making Money Online.

In order to help you, I want to share some tips, which are very simple and easy to follow and don’t need much effort.

Follow these tips for a few weeks and they insensibly will become your habits. Healthy habits!

1. Cold shower in the morning! Ok, too brave, lets start with lukewarm

Cold water increases blood circulation throughout the body. You will become more coldproof – that means,  you’ll have less chances to catch a cold or a flu. Moreover, it is good for your hair and skin – cold water closes pores, and makes skin more resilient.

(image credits: petar_c)

2. Drink a glass of water in the morning, about a half an hour before breakfast. It will help you waken up your organism and prepare your stomach for food.

(image credits: abolotnov)

3. Walk by feet as much as possible. Start with longer walk with your dog, or just reject elevator, when you need to go only a few floors upper. Most of us have really passive lifestyles, so use every chance to be more physically active.

(image credits: Gret@Lorenz)

4. Get enough sleep . I think it is not necessary to explain the importance of the good sleep. We all know that sleep is one of the most important factors of our health – both physical and psychological.

(image credits : Miss Gong & The )

5. Drink natural drinks such as water, green tea and fresh-squeezed juice. Carbonated drinks and juices from stores are often full of sugar , preservatives and have no nutritive value.

(image credits: helter-skelter)

6. Have you ever noticed, that cats are stretching up after every nap? Incorporating morning stretches into your daily routine is a positive way to begin each day. Stretching in the morning is a great way to waken up your muscles, and get them ready for the day by increasing blood flow to your muscles. Moreover, researches have demonstrated that exercise increases mental acuity. On average it lasts four to ten hours after exercise!

(image credits: Malingering)

7. Wash your hands regularly. During the day we are touching a lot of surfaces, things, other people and animals. Hand washing is a simple habit that can help you stay healthy and avoid infections, starting with simple ones like flu,  and  ending with such disgusting ones like warms..  Read more here.

(image credits: Kuw_Son)

8. Reject salty and fatty snacks. They are full of calories, fats, salt, preservatives and have low nutritive value. If you like eating while  watching TV, choose fruits or raw nuts instead.

(image credits: The Wandering Angel)

9. Take time for food. When you have your dinner break go to a little cozy restaurant and order some well prepared warm food (not fast food of course). First of all, you will relax and have a rest while eating, second, eating slowly and calmly is healthy for your stomach as your body is able to absorb more nutrients.

(image credits: w00kie)

10. Relax! Don’t get nervous and angry because of trivial things. Don’t be too serious. Smile, love others, and always try to see the bright side of life – your mental health is as important as your physical health.

(image credits: Swamibu)

Good luck!

It’s such an incredible emotional boost. Moreover, it requires so much multitasking that I can’t even think of such  difficult situations in the real world.

Leading your army to the battlefield and at the same time not forgetting to manage your economy, do researches and even defend your walls from the enemies – try this.  I was sure it had to be very beneficial for my mind.

(image credits: coba)

However my girlfriend says it’s stupid and that I should stop playing it. Well, I won’t give up so easily! I did a little research and found 10 arguments for her. So, if you find yourself in a similar situation like mines, where you have to proof that gaming is GOOD here is a list of 10 benefits of playing video games:

Empathy

Chicago-based psychologist Dr. Kourosh Dini argues that video games can teach us empathy. “One of the big things about many games is you’re interacting with other people in such a way that you have to actively think about what the other people are doing or thinking in order to either play against them or play them cooperatively. Either way you’ve got to be engaged in trying to think of how is this person learning and what’s this person going to be doing next.”

(image credits: schaaflicht)

Better Cognitive Health

Playing video games have shown to have positive effects on cognitive health. It is no wonder why, because the majority of games require players to follow rules, think tactically, make fast decisions and fulfill numerous objectives to win. In one study, psychology professor  Arthur Kramer from University of Illinois recently found that Big Huge Games’ Rise of Nations strategy game improved specific cognitive skills (such as short-term memory) in adults in their 60s and 70s under lab conditions.

Another study, by Sony Online Entertainment and Yahoo! who had a huge parent survey in June 2008 and found out that 70% of the parents surveyed  have seen their children’s problem-solving skills improve since they started playing video games.

Of course gamers aren’t automatically guaranteed to have better cognitive health than their grandparents because cognitive fitness mostly depend on four major pillars: nutrition, physical exercise, stress management and mental exercise. Although gaming is a good mental exercise, but just sitting in front of your computer doesn’t serve for better nutrition and physical health.

(image credits: darkmatter)

Better than TV

The biggest difference between time spent playing video games versus times spent watching television is that watching television is a completely passive experience. The majority of TV viewers just tune in and start swallowing whatever is presented.

Gamers, on the other hand, are active while playing games and have to solve many problems, use analytical thinking skills and react to fast changing situations. So over time, the difference between spending leisure time in the active experience of video gaming over the passive experience of television watching could be significant.

“Video gamers present as brighter, livelier and more interesting people than the average “couch potato.””- says Russel Dawson, who is a teacher and a parent also.

Better Mood and Post-traumatic Gaming

Studies have shown, that games  help alleviate common stress that we feel every day. PopCap-endorsed study by East Carolina University’s Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies in 2008 found that casual games can improve players’ moods.

Scientists utilized positron emission tomography in order to show that levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine increased while playing video games (dopamine is believed to mediate several behaviors, one of which is the experience of pleasure).

Moreover, there was a study at Oxford University which found out that Tetris can help subjects deal with post-traumatic stress. “Tetris may work by competing for the brain’s resources for sensory information,” Dr. Emily Holmes recently told the BBC. “We suggest it specifically interferes with the way sensory memories are laid down in the period after trauma and thus reduces the number of flashbacks that are experienced afterwards.”

(Image credits: sean dreilinger)

Improves Hand-Eye Coordination

There was one interesting but small study by doctors at Beth Israel Medical Center, New York noticed a link between gaming and improved performance in laparoscopic surgery. A study of 303 laparoscopic surgeons (82 percent men; 18 percent women)  showed that surgeons who played video games requiring spatial skills and hand dexterity and then performed a drill testing these skills were significantly faster at their first attempt and across all 10 trials than the surgeons who did not the play video games first. It’s hard to believe, but not playing games could even lead to someone’s death!

(image credits: interplast)

A Remedy for Intense Pain

Medical News Today in one of their 2007 year reports said Nationwide Children’s Hospital Burn Center had begun using video games to help kids suffering from intense pain. How does it help? Well, the best natural remedy from pain is probably distraction, and what other thing could be so fun and involving as video games?

Dr. Catherine Butz told the publication, “Research shows a very strong connection between anxiety and pain. Distraction does a great job in decreasing any kind of anxiety that might be associated with the anticipated procedures, so by distracting patients and keeping anxiety at a minimum, procedures tend to go much more smoothly and be much less painful for the child.”
There are also media reports about hospitals using video games to help patients undergoing chemotherapy.

(image credits: ★ spunkinator)

Sharper Image

According to a 2006 study at the University of Rochester , “…Avid action video game players were found to localize a peripheral target in a field of distracting objects more accurately than non-action video game players, as well as to process a visual stream of briefly presented objects more efficiently and to track more objects at once than [non-action video game players].”

(image credits: Opo Terser)

Distraction from Snacking or Overeating

RealGames after questioning 2,700 respondents found that playing video games was  a positive distraction from snacking or overeating for 59 percent of respondents, while 42 percent of smokers among the group said casual gaming helped them light up less frequently.

A New Way of Teaching

Games could be the best type of learning material because they keep you at the edge of your abilities.  At first everything begins at a very slow pace and it starts getting faster and harder the higher level you advance. So the better you are at some particular game the more demanding it becomes. Remember Tetris? In the 1st level it’s a peace of cake, and it trains you for the upcoming fast speeds, whereas common lecture could be too hard, so eventually it gets frustrating and too hard to learn, or just too easy and soon gets boring too.

(image credits: Brian Hathcock)

“The learning processes behind play, I think, are undervalued,” says psychologist Dr. Kourosh Dini . “When a person is engaged in play, they seem to learn better. … There’s this feeling of mastery that can happen that sometimes kids don’t get to achieve otherwise.”

In 2007, the MacArthur Foundation said it would be contributing $1.1 million in funding towards a new middle and high school in New York whose curriculum would draw inspiration from video games. It doesn’t mean of course that students will be killing each other in Counter-strike game, however.

Imagination Boost

Do you want to get into the shoes of an army general and lead your warriors intro the battlefields? Maybe fly a Jet plane or become a zombie slayer and save the world? The possibilities are infinite. Doing these mind blowing things puts you into situations that you’ve never been to and forces your mind to think in a completely new and different way.

Sims creator Will Wright once wrote, “…The gamers’ mindset—the fact that they are learning in a totally new way—means they’ll treat the world as a place for creation, not consumption. This is the true impact video games will have on our culture.”

(Image credits: h.koppdelaney)

Very easy – not drinking prevents from hangovers. Still want to drink and feel good the other day?  Ok, read on!

(image credits : ortizmj12)

Preventing Hangovers

Don’t drink Alcohol on an Empty Stomach.

Eat some meal before party. Eating little and often while drinking alcohol is also beneficial.

Stick to One Kind of Drink

Mixing a lot of types of alcohol is not a good idea.

Avoid Carbonation

The bubbles speed up the rate of absorption, so better mix alcohol with juices and try to avoid carbonated drinks while drinking alcohol.

Drink lots of Fluids

Drink a lot of water or juice during the party. Drink  few glasses of water before you go to sleep and you’ll fell much better in the morning. It is also good to drink a cup of green tea.

Be Physically Active

As for me, I feel much better after dancing all night rather than just sitting and drinking in the pub.

Know your Limits

You should know your approximate tolerance level for alcohol. Set a maximum number of drinks for the evening, and once you reach it, drink only water or juice.

Drinks

Of course, as I mentioned, knowing your limits is always important, but there are some drinks, which should be consumed only in a small portions. Red wine, dark rum, sherry, brandy are high in congeners ( Congeners are toxic chemicals that are formed during fermentation, they are widely responsible for headaches. ) Beer is in between, mostly depending on how dark it is.

It may help..

-Your mood. If you are depressed while drinking you may have really bad morning..

- Chew 5 to 6 raw almonds before you start drinking. It’s the American Indians way to prevent intoxication.

- Put a teaspoon of bifidus powder in a glass of water and drink before going to bed. Bifidus is the “friendly” bacteria that detoxifies acetaldehyde, a digestive byproduct of alcohol that is a major cause of hangovers.

- Eating peanut butter before drinking is an African remedy.

- Take one tablet of activated charcoal per drink while you are drinking. The charcoal absorbs the impurities in the alcohol which are the cause of the hangover.

Curing Hangovers

If you didn’t succeed in preventing it..

- Eat chicken soup.

- One of the quickest ways to cure a hangover is to make a banana milkshake sweetened with honey. The banana helps calm the stomach, and with the honey, builds up the depleted blood sugar levels.

- Apples eaten on an empty stomach the day after drinking is an effective remedy.

- A cup of tea with lemon.

- Vitamin C stimulates the liver to break down the alcohol. So eat fresh fruits, which contains much of it.

- Drink Thyme, Ginger or Peppermint tea.

- Go for a walk in a fresh air. Physical activity also works.

Best tip

Don’t drink.

(image credits: jepoirrier)

1) There are no pain receptors in the brain, so the brain can feel no pain.

2) The human brain is the fattest organ in the body and may consists of at least 60% fat.

3) Neurons develop at the rate of 250,000 neurons per minute during early pregnancy.

4) Humans continue to make new neurons throughout life in response to mental activity.

5) Alcohol interferes with brain processes by weakening connections between neurons.

6) Altitude makes the brain see strange visions – Many religions involve special visions that occurred at great heights. For example, Moses encountered a voice emanating from a burning bush on Mount Sinai and Muhammad was visited by an angel on Mount Hira. Similar phenomena are reported by mountain climbers, but they don’t think it’s very mystical. Many of the effects are attributable to the reduced supply of oxygen to the brain. At 8,000ft or higher, some mountaineers report perceiving unseen companions, seeing light emanating from themselves or others, seeing a second body like their own, and suddenly feeling emotions such as fear. Oxygen deprivation is likely to interfere with brain regions active in visual and face processing, and in emotional events.

7) Reading aloud and talking often to a young child promotes brain development.

8 ) Information travels at different speeds within different types of neurons. Not all neurons are the same. There are a few different types within the body and transmission along these different kinds can be as slow as 0.5 meters/sec or as fast as 120 meters/sec.

9) The capacity for such emotions as joy, happiness, fear, and shyness are already developed at birth. The specific type of nurturing a child receives shapes how these emotions are developed.

10) The left side of your brain (left hemisphere) controls the right side of your body; and, the right side of your brain (right hemisphere) controls the left side of your body.

11) Children who learn two languages before the age of five alters the brain structure and adults have a much denser gray matter.

12) Information can be processed as slowly as 0.5 meters/sec or as fast as 120 meters/sec (about 268 miles/hr).

13) While awake, your brain generates between 10 and 23 watts of power–or enough energy to power a light bulb.

14) The old adage of humans only using 10% of their brain is not true. Every part of the brain has a known function.

15) A study of one million students in New York showed that students who ate lunches that did not include artificial flavors, preservatives, and dyes did 14% better on IQ tests than students who ate lunches with these additives.

16) For years, scientists believed that tinnitus was due to a function within the mechanics of the ear, but newer evidence shows that it is actually a function of the brain.

17) Every time you recall a memory or have a new thought, you are creating a new connection in your brain.

18) Memories triggered by scent have a stronger emotional connection, therefore appear more intense than other memory triggers.

19) Each time we blink, our brain kicks in and keeps things illuminated so the whole world doesn’t go dark each time we blink (about 20,000 times a day).

20) Laughing at a joke is no simple task as it requires activity in five different areas of the brain.

21) The average number of thoughts that humans are believed to experience each day is 70,000.

22) There are two different schools of thought as to why we dream: the physiological school, and the psychological school. While many theories have been proposed, not single consensus has emerged as to why we dream. Some researchers suggest that dreams serve no real purpose, while other believe that dreaming is essential to mental, emotional and physical well-being. One theory for dreaming suggests dreams serve to clean up clutter from the mind.

23) The Hypothalamus part of the brain regulates body temperature much like a thermostat. The hypothalamus knows what temperature your body should be (about 98.6 Fahrenheit or 37 Celsius), and if your body is too hot, the hypothalamus tells it to sweat. If you’re too cold, the hypothalamus makes you start shivering. Shivering and sweating helps get your body’s temperature back to normal.

24) Approximately 85,000 neocortical neurons are lost each day in your brain. Fortunately, his goes unnoticed due to the built-in redundancies and the fact that even after three years this loss adds up to less than 1% of the total.

25) Differences in brain weight and size do not equal differences in mental ability. The weight of Albert Einstein’s brain was 1,230 grams that is less than an average weight of the human brain.

26) A living brain is so soft you could cut it with a table knife.

27) There are about 100,000 miles of blood vessels in the brain.

28) London taxi drivers ,famous for knowing all the London streets by heart, have a larger than normal hippocampus, especially the drivers who have been on the job longest. The study suggests that as people memorize more and more information, this part of their brain continues to grow.

29) The brain can live for 4 to 6 minutes without oxygen, and then it begins to die. No oxygen for 5 to 10 minutes will result in permanent brain damage.

30) Our brain often fools us. It often perceives things differently from the reality. Look at those pictures. Square A and B are actually the same shade of gray.

Image credits: jurvetson ,Bill Glover,  miss_blackbutterfly, sonicwalker, wikipedia.