Well, this is a question that an international collaboration of researchers coordinated by the University of Cambridge set out to answer. They analysed over 125,000 brain scans from over 100 studies and have built brain charts form a 15-week old foetus to a hundred year-old. This gives new unprecedented insight into the changes in the human brain over a lifetime. Some key milestones in brain development are:
-
- The volume of grey matter (brain cells) increases rapidly from mid-gestation onwards, peaking just before we are six years old. It then begins to decrease slowly.
- Grey matter volume in the subcortex (which controls bodily functions and basic behaviour) peaks in adolescence at 14-and-a-half years old.
- The volume of white matter (brain connections) also increased rapidly from mid-gestation through early childhood and peaks just before we are 29 years old.
- The decline in white matter volume begins to accelerate after 50 years.
This is an amazing technical feat and is an incredibly useful clinical tool but also just gives us fascinating insights into the brain and what happens to our own brains over our lifetime.
I now know I need to look after my white matter, gulp!
Reference:
R. A. I. Bethlehem, J. Seidlitz, S. R. White, et al.
Brain charts for the human lifespan.
Nature, 2022
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04554-y
More Quick Hits
The “drunken monkey” hypothesis – proven
This had to be a story I covered – monkeys and alcohol sounds too good to pass up. But this is also linked to the “drunken monkey” hypothesis: that humans developed their love for alcohol in earlier primitive times accidentally, and then intentionally, eating fruit...
The Newly Discovered Bias That Makes Us Think We Are More Diverse Than We Are
A few weeks ago I reported on some newly discovered ways we are biased namely that we consider generic terms such as “people” as equivalent to “men” rather than men and women. This was specifically focused on gender bias but this latest piece recently published shows...
Self-awareness of autism leads to better quality of life
Autism has become a well-known diagnosis in recent years. Though some people seem to be against this sort of labelling, and the general increase in different label of mental conditions, a study out of the University of Portsmouth shows why this is actually a good...
Optimal sleep improves your brain, mental, and physical health - and it’s not as much as you think
I’ve reported multiple times on sleep and how it affects just about everything form cognitive performance, to brain plasticity, to physical performance, to mental health, and to metabolism. The question...
No change for a century – children’s backgrounds still predict the same educational outcomes
Educational opportunities have changed dramatically for children over the last century – schools have changed, and college and university admissions have grown. Or so we might think at least. But according to a study out of the University of York, that is not the...
Behaviour at eight helps predict midlife health behaviours
A long-term study in Finland has tracked children from the age of eight until the age of 50 and a new analysis of the data, just published, has looked at some of the correlations between socioemotional behaviour in childhood and later life achievement and health...
Psychedelics and consciousness
Psychedelics change our conscious experience of the world – that is part of their attraction. Now a new study out of John Hopkins Medicine has analysed data on attributions of consciousness to other animals and innate objects by those using psychedelics and how this...
Lower smartphone usage increases wellbeing
So much has been said about smartphone usage in modern times. This ranges from some who say that they are destroying our brain to others who see they benefit our cognition by outsourcing cognitive heavy tasks like remembering lists of phone numbers – thereby freeing...
Modesty preferred for cooperative teams
In an age where it appears that many people are vying for self-esteem especially through social media, this research is interesting. Particularly in business contexts where cooperation is king. Research has previously shown that appearing to be wealthy increases...
Poverty shrinks babies’ brains
Quick HitsDaily brief research updates from the cognitive sciences couple of studies have just been released which look at the brains of newborns and young babies. The results are worrying for any society. Brain scans of newborn babies from...