The noted neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandian calculated that the number of possible brain states exceeds the number of elementary particles in the universe. For context, a piece of your brain the size of a grain of sand would contain one hundred thousand neurons, two million axons, and one billion synapses, all talking to each other. So if you’re having trouble making up your mind which entrée to order at that pan-asian restaurant, or which major to declare at a four-year university, or which data entry job to send your resume to, give yourself a break. It’s amazing with all these brains in our head that we can put our socks on before our shoes. Here’s a taste of V.’s work on plumbing the wiring in our noodles and discovering what the hell’s going on up there:

 

Extra credit: solve this after you put on your shoes:

 

Answer: The above equation equals 5. Or so we’re told.

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