Page 117 - The Miracle of Electricity in the Body

115

The World’s Most Complex Network

Is in Our Brains
The Internet, which may be regarded as the communications miracle of the 20 th
century, permits countless users to connect to one another by computers and
communicate instantaneously. After the message you send from your comput-
er has been encoded in a separate language, it is transmitted electrically along
the cables to the receiver’s computer. You can examine information reaching
you from all over the world without leaving your chair, and can forward every
single piece of it.
Your brain uses your body’s more than 100 billion nerve cells, which cover an
area of 250,000 square millimeters (2.691 square feet), just like computers in
constant communication over the Internet. However, as John Horgan stated in
his book The End of Science, “Even a system like the Internet is absolutely trivia
1
compared to a brain.” That is because every one of these more than 100 bil-
2
lion nerve cells possesses around 100,000 connections. Every second, trillions
of electrical signals are transmitted between neurons at a speed of 400 kilome-
ters/hour (248 miles/hour), traveling along pathways reminiscent of a labyrinth. 3
1. John Horgan, The End of Science, Broadway; Reprint edition (May 5,
1997) p. 180.
2 & 3. Dr. Sue Davidson, Ben Morgan, Human Body Revealed,
2002, p. 10.