Limitless: What your Brain and the Universe have in Common

Limitless:  What your Brain and the Universe have in Common

Just like the concept of the Universe as an entity, the entirety of its vastness, and all it comprises still remain a mystery, so does the capacity and potential of the human brain. The extent of what the human brain is capable of is yet to be known probably because it takes a cosmic intellect, a brain with towering intellectual prowess such as man is yet to attain to completely unravel the intricacies of the activities of billions of neurons which are connected each to about a thousand others in the complex matter called brain. Whatever the case may be, according to researchers in these fields, the cosmic and human brain both has one thing in common and that is the fact that their capacities are limitless

It’s difficult to study human brain. Since the whole activity of the body is controlled by this crucial organ, it could be quite a challenge for researchers to take out the brain of a living human to study it. This is why some works of research done were on brains of non-living persons and generous people every year donate their brains and other organs to be used for research when they are gone. But a donated brain for research has lost all activities and functions making what could be discovered by researchers limited.

Research works in this area (brain) is as limited as what has been discovered about the universe by astronomers. Since man is yet to invent a means to travel through galaxies in the speed of light, many things remain unknown about our undiscovered, and unending universe, where our tiny little world sits, far smaller than a mere speck of dust.

 Perhaps, one of the greatest discoveries man could make (or maybe man deduced) about the cosmos is that the universe is so vast there is simply no end to it. This is greater than the discovery of black hole and wormholes, or some obscure planets man may someday migrate to as an extension of our world.             It is probably this simple truth about the limitless property of the universe that will lead to more discoveries in the future. The knowledge of the fact that there is no limit to what can be discovered out there in space is enough to make the brilliant brain keep going to work. It shows that the works of Einstein’s or Hawking’s are just the beginning, there are more to tap into. And to do just that, more discoveries has to be made about the capacity and potential of the organ required to do just right that: The brain.

By far, consuming energy more than other organs in the body, the brain goes to work all the days of a man’s life that even while asleep, a significant amount of activities still goes on. And when it shuts down, man can be certified (legally) dead. The simply stopping of the rhythmical heartbeat and that of oxygenation of blood in the lungs are not enough to declare a man dead, except those things are irreversible. When a man’s brain dies, he is truly dead.

It is a fact that once in a while, just likes every other organ in the body some brain cells die (apoptosis), and new ones are generated. Out of the numerous things like free radicals, drug abuse, exposure to environmental pollutants and chemicals, stress, is probably one of the common things that could lead to some brain cells dying. When you are stressed, anxious and don’t get enough sleep, you release cortisol (which is also known to break collagen in the skin) and epinephrine into your system. When there is an increase in these substances in the body over a long period of time, it could lead to some brain cells dying. But this is no big deal. It doesn’t mean there is a permanent damage to your cognitive functions.

Many things about the brain still remain a mystery, just like the intricacies of the interstellar bodies, the universe at large. What makes it so intriguing is the exciting truth that man cannot use the full capacity of his brain. If that happens, we would have no use of this brain no more and some form of device that would not just substitute the organ would be required. It won’t be anything like artificial intelligence that is too limiting; it would be beyond extra-terrestrial intelligence.

What the brain and the universe have in common brought to mind the quality of human spirit: life unending. It is another inexplicable topic the human brain cannot unravel. Yet, one thing is sure, and the words are boundless, unending, and limitless. Man is a spirit that has a physical body with a brain so limitless and he interacts with earth through this body. He is eternal, his life, unending even when his brain has shuts down in deep darkness to this part of the cosmos forever.

‘Teju duru is a freelance journalist. She devouted her heart to Jesus sometimes ago.