The Universe (or possibly Multiverse?)

More brain connections than stars in the universe? No, not even close.

In Reality Check on September 10, 2010 at 11:35 pm

Our observable universe is huge. Make that really huge. So if you have ever read that our brain connections outnumber the stars in the universe (perhaps here or from this book), I hope you frowned in skepticism.

Cosmic Microwave Background map of the universe

Here are the real numbers:

Neurons (rough overestimate for adults): 10^{^11}, or 100 billion

Synapses (based on 1000 per neuron estimate): 10^¹⁴, or 100 trillion

Stars (estimate for observable universe): 7 x 10^²²; that’s 70 sextillion!

For every brain synapse (“connection”) we have, there are (at least) 700 million(700,000,000) stars somewhere out there. In other words, the number of stars per human synapse is about the number of people in Europe. Only if we count up the synapses of all the people alive (10^{^21}) do we get a number comparable to the star count.

How could confusion arise on such a whopping difference? The mistake is clear in my first link above (“Cool Brain Facts”). The site assumes that most stars are in our galaxy, the Milky Way. That’s monumentally incorrect–our galaxy is unexceptional (star-wise or otherwise) among the approximately 100 billion galaxies within detectable range. On the bright side, this fact suggests an easy correction for our myth:

The number of synapses in the human brain is larger than the number of galaxies in the observable universe. Also, there are more synapses in an average human brain than there are stars in our Milky Way galaxy.

The core of the Milky Way. Our solar system is a microscopic spec of dust in there.

Let me clarify that the brain is a magnificent organ no matter how you spin the numbers. As early as two millenniums ago Hippocrates realized its importance: “from the brain, and from the brain only, arise our pleasures, joy, laughter and jests, as well as our sorrows, pains, griefs, and tears.” But no matter the intricacy of our brains, let’s not belittle the majestic scale of the cosmos.

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Recent advances in cosmology appear to demonstrate that about 70 percent of our Universe currently consists of Dark Energy, a mysterious force field which is causing it to expand ever more rapidly. About one quarter apparently consists of Cold Dark Matter, a new kind of elementary particle not yet directly detected on Earth. Only about 5 percent is made out of the ordinary atomic matter we are familiar with, most of that consisting of hydrogen and helium. Telescopes sensitive to microwaves have been able to image the Universe directly when it was only 400,000 years old. The only structure at that time was weak ripples in an otherwise uniform sea of matter and radiation. Gravitationally driven evolution later turned these ripples into the enormously rich structure we see today. It is this growth which the Millennium Run is designed to follow, with the twin goals of checking that this new paradigm for cosmic evolution is indeed consistent with what we see, and of exploring the complex physics which gave rise to galaxies and their central black holes.

http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/galform/press/

If you want to start a 

LAUGHTER YOGA group, here's a start:

Laughter warm-ups
10 things that are almost impossible to do:
1.  Raise both eyebrows.  Now raise just one.  Now raise the other one!
2.  Lick your elbow.  Not your neighbor’s, your own!
3.  Touch your tongue to your nose.
4.  Wiggle your ears.
5.  Twitch your nose like Samantha on Bewitched.
6.  Sneeze with your eyes open.
7.  Make clockwise circles with your foot and draw the number 6 in the air with your finger.
8.  Pat your head, rub your stomach and say “she sells seashells by the sea shore.”
9.  Say your first name backwards.  Now say your first and last name backwards!
10.  Tickle yourself.  (Now tickle someone else.)
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OMG. What is he saying at 22 seconds??

Laughter yoga exercises


Stop ticking me! Find a partner and pretend you’re going to tickle them.  Don’t stop tickling no matter how hard they beg you!

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No, not ice down my back!  Imagine someone is putting ice down your back, and it makes you laugh!
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Magilla Gorilla: Imagine you are a 400 lb. laughing gorilla…sporting a bow tie, shorts held up by suspenders, and an undersized derby hat.  …your arms hang down to your knees!  Now chase somebody.  Don’t catch them, just chase them.
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Santa Clause laugh: Shake your jelly-belly!
“His eyes--how they twinkled! His dimples, how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
and the beard on his chin was as white as the snow.
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
and the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
that shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.”
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Helium laugh: Imagine you have a tank of helium for filling party balloons.  Now take a big hit and laugh like a munchkin!
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Woody Woodpecker:  ha-ha-ha-HA-ha! Emphasis on the fourth Ha (louder and higher pitch) and first three ha's gradually go up in pitch. 
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Taunting laugh:  na na, na NA na!  Melodic childish taunting phrase, expressing a feeling of superiority or contempt for another.  Stick out your tongue and wiggle your fingers and your ears. Laughing gas laugh: Take a big hit of laughing gas….take another….now laugh!
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Evil laugh: Imagine you are Dick Dastardly or Snidely Whiplash.  You are the stereotypical villain from silent movies stage melodramas, wearing a black cape and top hat, and twirling your long handlebar moustache while you laugh your evil heart out!
Now give us your best evil laugh!
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Laughing Orgasm: Imagine you are laughing so hard that it’s giving you an orgasm!

How to opt-out of phone books:
https://www.yellowpagesoptout.com/
How to recycle plastics, electronics, paper, glass, metal, automotive, and household hazardous materials. It also lists state recycling guidelines throughout the US.
http://www.1-800-recycling.com/