• Question: Why is your brain so fragile?

    Asked by Steven to Andy, Dwaine, Natt, Priya, Tatiana on 25 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Andrew Scott

      Andrew Scott answered on 25 Jun 2015:

      I think it’s connected with the ability of your brain to repair itself when it’s damaged, or more accurately the inability of your brain to recover. Many other parts of your body can be repaired after they are injured, but your brain isn’t very good at this. I think this is connected with a lack of fibroblasts which form scar in other body tissues before they are repaired. The other problem is that most of organs like your liver and kidneys is doing the same thing and if part of it is damaged, then the rest of it can cope with doing all of the work. Different bits of your brain look after different things that you do, so if one bit gets damaged then you might have trouble doing the activity related to that brain area.

      Thankfully we have a thick skull to protect our brains from many injuries.

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