During pregnancy, a woman’s brain literally shrinks in volume. This remarkable structural change is the biological basis for the well-known phenomenon called “pregnancy brain” or “mom brain.”
Far from being harmful, this temporary reduction represents a sophisticated neural adaptation that prepares the mother for the demands of parenthood. Many expectant mothers notice subtle cognitive changes, such as forgetting items on a grocery list or struggling with prospective memory, because certain brain regions temporarily reduce in size. Importantly, the number of brain cells does not decrease; only the volume of gray matter shrinks, preserving overall neural density.
MRI studies show that this pruning primarily affects areas involved in social cognition and emotional processing. The result is a more streamlined, efficient brain that becomes highly attuned to reading nonverbal cues from infants, recognizing emotional needs, and detecting potential threats. Within six months after giving birth, the brain typically regains its original volume.
This natural reshaping is not a loss of mental capacity, but a purposeful biological refinement designed to strengthen the mother-child bond and enhance caregiving abilities. What feels like “brain fog” is actually the brain optimizing itself for one of life’s most important roles.
[Pritschet L, Taylor CM, et al. Neuroanatomical changes observed over the course of a human pregnancy. Nature Neuroscience. 2024. doi:10.1038/s41593-024-01741-0]
Video footage of the exact moment the BYD Yangwang u9 Xtreme reached a maximum speed of 496.22 km/h on the track in Papenburg,Germany, officially beating the Bugatti Chiron super sport’s record as the world’s fastest production car.
QatarEnergy’s Ras Laffan Industrial City to the north of Doha, Qatar's main site for the production of liquefied natural gas and gas-to-liquid, as well as the largest export terminal for LNG in the world, has been heavily targeted tonight by ballistic missiles fired by Iran. Extensive damage to the site and several facilities are being reported by QatarEnergy.
🚗 Le groupe Renault, qui présente son plan 2026-2030, mise sur l'électrique et l'hybride en prévoyant de cesser de vendre des voitures Renault uniquement à essence ou diesel d'ici 2030 en Europe, et veut se développer davantage à l'international.
➡️ https://t.co/zeqdSx9hBK
THE HUMAN BODY
1: Number of bones: 206
2: Number of bones of a newborn baby: 306
3: Number of muscles: 639
4: Number of kidneys: 2
5: Number of baby teeth: 20
6: Number of adult teeth: 32
7: Number of ribs: 24
8: Number of heart chambers: 4
9: Largest artery: aorta
10: Normal blood pressure: 120/80 Mm hg
11: Blood pH: 7.4
12: Number of vertebrae in the spine: 33
13: Number of neck vertebrae: 7
14: Number of bones in the middle ear: 6
15: Number of face bones: 14
16: Number of skull bones: 22
17: Number of chest bones: 25
18: Number of arm’s bones: 6
19: Number of arm’s muscles: 72
20: Smaller muscle: stapedius (6 mm)
21: Largest and most resistant bone: femur
22: Number of foot bones: 33
23: Number of bones in each wrist: 8
24: Number of bones in each hand: 27
25: Largest organ: skin
26: Heaviest internal organ and largest gland: liver
27: Largest cell: egg cell
28: Smallest cell: spermatozoon
29: Smallest bone: ossicle of the middle ear
30: Average length of the small intestine: 7 m
31: Average length of the large intestine: 1.5 m
32: Average heartbeat frequency: 72 bpm
33: Normal average body temperature: 37°C (98.4°F)
34: Average blood volume: 4.5 / 5.5 liters
35: Average life span of a red blood cell: 120 days
36: Average life span of a white blood cell: 10/15 days
37: Average life span of a platelet: 5/9 days
38: Average gestation period: 280 days (40 weeks)
39: Largest endocrine cell: thyroid
40: Largest lymphatic organ: spleen
41: Number of chromosomes: 46
42: Averagle blood viscosity: 3.5 / 5.5 cP
43: Universal donor blood type: O
44: Universal recipient blood type: AB
45: Largest white blood cell: monocyte
46: Smallest white blood cell: lymfocite
47: Number of cranial nerves: 12 pairs
48: Number of spinal nerves: 31 pairs
49: Approximate number of cells: ~ 30 trillions
50: Average number of neurons: ~ 86 billions
The human body is an amazing machine, but don’t forget that nature wants 5 of your 7 children dead. It wants you dead by 40. Everything better than that is brought to you by science.
A $ 100,000 missile, launched by a $ 20,000,000 plane, traveling at a cost of $ 6,000 per hour, to kill people living on less than $ 1 a day in the Gaza Strip.