Column Chronicles: Brain works - Frank Cotolo on 148.ca

Brain works

Frank Cotolo
July 8, 2021

Do you ever wonder about the power and prowess of your brain? If you do, it is in that brain that you do such wondering and keeping your brain active when you are conscious is the best exercise for a brain.

Although some physical exercise helps your brain stay fit, mental exercise and usage are the best activities. Why? We misunderstand the human brain.

"So many of us never give our brains enough to do," said Professor Bickford Underlance, brain expert. "Ninety or more percent of our body’s most complex and important part is left unused."

"Not so," says Professor Ignorus Bifocal. "The brain is always working. It never sleeps and that is not a pun, though it may appear in the brain's pun generator."

Research by scientists reveals much of what both of those professors claim.

"And that research is wrong," says Underlance. "You must separate brain usage in two categories - conscious and unconscious."

"Three categories for you," says Bifocal. "Conscious, unconscious and stupid."

For decades, these two professors have knocked heads over the human brain.

"Bifocal thinks a brain can be stupid but he is wrong," says Underlance.

"Then how do you explain your stupidity?" says Bifocal. "Does it come from your elbow?"

In 1996, these two professors actually got into a physical altercation over their conflicting opinions. Underlance threw six-straight punches to Bifocal’s jaw and Bifocal was still conscious enough to drive his knee into Underlance's groin.

"My brain immediately sent pain signals while it fought to keep me conscious," said Underlance. "If pain becomes too strong, the brain shuts off consciousness."

"Then you must be in pain all the time," says Bifocal.

In 2010, the pair produced a volume of brain puzzles. Here are a few:

The central area is surrounded by four other areas, each facing a different way. If you exchange one of the surrounding areas with another, the shape of the central changes into that of a _______.

Sleep changes the contours of a _______ only when there is a charge of atoms heavier than the mass of a solid object.

On the surface of the brain, two neurons next to one another are called the silver _______.

Brain waves with no concentration of matter will always unify in three particles of _______.

Frank Cotolo can be found hosting the talk and interview programme Cotolo Chronicles. You can send him an e-mail at this address: frank@148.ca.