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Giant Brain Candy: 86 Billion Neurons. Your brain holds about 86 billion neurons. Scientists counted them by dissolving brain tissue into a ‘soup’ of cell nuclei and tallying samples of it. Source: Counting the brain’s cells.
Strong evidenceThe research
  1. Azevedo, F. A. C., Carvalho, L. R. B., Grinberg, L. T., Farfel, J. M., Ferretti, R. E. L., Leite, R. E. P., Jacob Filho, W., Lent, R., & Herculano-Houzel, S. (2009). Equal numbers of neuronal and nonneuronal cells make the human brain an isometrically scaled-up primate brain. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 513(5), 532–541.

Journey 1 · Non-Consciousness

86 Billion Neurons

Your brain holds about 86 billion neurons. Scientists counted them by dissolving brain tissue into a ‘soup’ of cell nuclei and tallying samples of it.

Source: Counting the brain’s cells · Strong evidence

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Giant Brain Candy: The Other 85 Billion. Neurons have partners: about 85 billion other cells, mostly glia — astrocytes, oligodendrocytes and microglia. The old claim of ten glia for every neuron turned out to be a myth. Source: Neurons and glia, counted.
Giant Brain Candy: A 20-Watt Supercomputer. Your brain runs on about 20 watts, roughly a dim light bulb. It is only 2% of your body weight, yet it uses about 20% of your body’s energy. Source: The brain’s energy budget.
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