NeuroNuggets

Welcome to NeuroNest’s Cool Facts Corner, your go-to spot for brainy bites that inform, surprise, and inspire. Whether you're here for quirky science, historical gems, or myth-busting clarity, we’ve got you covered:

NeuroNuggets deliver quick, captivating facts about the brain and behavior—bite-sized insights to spark your curiosity and expand your neuro-knowledge. Check back weekly for new nuggets!

This Month in Brain History takes you on a journey through time, spotlighting the breakthroughs, bizarre experiments, and brilliant minds that shaped psychology and neuroscience.

Myth vs. Fact clears up the confusion around popular brain and psych myths with evidence-based explanations. No more falling for “we only use 10% of our brain” nonsense.

This Month in Brain History: May 1952 — The Hodgkin-Huxley Model

In May 1952, British scientists Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley published a paper that fundamentally changed our understanding of how neurons communicate. By studying the squid giant axon using a voltage clamp technique, they developed a mathematical model that explained how neurons generate action potentials. Their model showed how the movement of sodium and potassium ions across the neuronal membrane creates these spikes in voltage. This work laid the foundation for modern electrophysiology and continues to influence neuroscience today. The Hodgkin-Huxley model is still used to simulate how neurons behave in both healthy and diseased states, to teach fundamental principles of ion channel dynamics, and as a basis for more complex models of brain circuits. Their contributions earned them the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1963 and remain one of the most enduring achievements in neuroscience.

Memory storage - 20,000 iPhones

Your brain is capable of storing up to 2.5 petabytes of information which is equivalent to about 20,000 iPhones with 128 GB of storage.

Myth vs. Fact: Does the Amygdala Only Process Fear?

Myth: The amygdala only processes fear.

Fact: While the amygdala is famously linked to fear, it's actually involved in evaluating the emotional salience of a wide range of stimuli, not just threats. It helps assign value to both positive and negative experiences, and plays a role in reward learning, social behavior, and decision-making. Oversimplifying it as the "fear center" ignores its broader role in emotional processing.

Brain Freeze 

A brain freeze (medical term: sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia) happens because cold temperatures hit the receptors in the meninges (the outer covering of the brain) and it causes a contraction and then a dilation of arteries which ultimately triggers a rapid-onset headache.

Tip: Get rid of a brain freeze quickly by putting your tongue or thumb on the roof of your mouth!

Myth vs. Fact: Do We Only Use 10% of Our Brain?

Myth: Humans use only 10% of their brains.

Fact: Brain imaging shows that we use virtually all parts of our brain, and most of it is active almost all the time even when we are resting or daydreaming. The 10% myth is catchy, but it's long been debunked by neuroscientists

The Brain Has Its Own "Internet"

The brain contains around 86 billion neurons, and each one can form thousands of synaptic connections with others, resulting in over 100 trillion connections. That’s more than the number of stars in our galaxy or webpages on the internet. Think of your brain as its own hyper-connected neural network, updating itself every millisecond.