Neurons are nerve cells that send messages throughout your body to help you do everything from breathing to speaking to eating to walking and thinking. Until recently, most neuroscientists (scientists who study the brain) believed that we are born with as many neurons as we will ever have. As children, we were able to grow new neurons to help build pathways — called neural circuits — that serve as information highways between different areas of the brain. However, the researchers believed that after the introduction of the neuron circuit, adding new neurons would alter the flow of information and disrupt the brain's communication system. neurons) in an area of ​​the adult rat brain called the hippocampus. He later reported that newborn neurons migrate from their birthplace in the hippocampus to other parts of the brain.In 1979, another scientist, Michael Kaplan, confirmed Altman's findings in the rat brain; and in 1983 he discovered special types of cells - called neural progenitor cells - in adult monkeys that can grow into brain cells such as neurons. These findings about neurogenesis in the adult brain surprised other researchers who thought they did not apply to humans. Fortunately, in the early 1980s, a scientist trying to understand how birds learn to sing began to understand neurogenesis in the adult brain. In a series of experiments, Fernando Nottebohm and his research team showed that the number of neurons in the forebrain (areas that control complex behavior) in male canaries increased significantly during the mating season in , when the birds learned new songs to attract females.Not All Brains Are Created Equal: Neuronal Scaling Principles Common Scaling Principles: Non-neuronal Cells Common Scaling Principles: Cortex and Cerebellum The Cerebral Cortex Expands, Transforms, and Connects The Human Brain as an Enlarged Primate Brain The Human Edge Scaling Glia-to-Neuron Ratio and Metabolism The Cost of Being Human Conclusions: Impressive but Not Exceptional Testimonials Information & Authors Metrics & Citations View Options References Average Share Summary Neuroscientists have become accustomed to many "facts" about the human brain: It has 100 billion neurons and 10 to 50 times more glial cells; It has the largest body among primates and mammals in general, and therefore has the greatest cognitive abilities. consumes up to 20% of the body's total energy balance while accounting for only 2% of body weight due to the increased metabolic demands of its neurons; and is blessed with an overdeveloped cerebral cortex, the largest in relation to brain size. These facts have led to the general view that the human brain is literally extraordinary: outliers of mammalian brains that defy evolutionary rules applicable to other species, with a seemingly necessary uniqueness to match the superior cognitive abilities of humans even greater to explain to brains. mammals. These facts, which have profound implications for neurophysiology and evolutionary biology, are not based on solid evidence or reasonable assumptions. Our recent development of a method for quickly and reliably quantifying the number of cells that make up the entire brain has confirmed these facts. Here I go through current evidence and argue that the human brain, with 86 billion neurons and the same number of non-neuronal cells, is an enlarged primate brain in terms of cellular composition and metabolic cost, with a relatively enlarged cerebral cortex that lacks a relatively larger die However, the number of neurons in the brain is remarkable simply because of the unusually large number of neurons in its cognition and metabolism