If I Only Had A Brain It may have been a line from the Wizard of Oz, but it turned out to be true in some instances. Years ago, we never could have believed creatures could live without a brain than we began to discover there were some and they seem to be able to function perfectly. This turned out to be true for humans also. An example of some creatures without brains are jellyfish, sea cucumber, coral, sea anemone, sponge, crinoids, starfish, sea urchins and others. How can they possibly function? We thought the brain controlled all the functions of a body which in turn kept the animal alive, but apparently in some cases we were wrong. Recently we found out more about jellyfish and what we found out was very surprising. One would think to take certain actions under different circumstances would require a brain. It turns out this is not required for the Box Jellyfish. They are able to round up fish sending them where they want so they can catch them. They have many eyes all over their body and how these eyes work is still a mystery. The thought of not having a brain and still being able to function still seems impossible especially if decision making is involved. A few years ago, scientists started to wonder if our consciousness actually comes from outside our bodies and not inside our brains. Perhaps they hit upon something we had not given much thought to since we were so sure it came from inside us. They found out something which they could not believe and this led them to this conclusion. I mentioned this before but it is worth mentioning again. A man went to his doctor and needed a head scan. What the doctors found was so incredible they couldn’t believe their eyes. The man was of average intelligence and this was proven when he took I.Q. tests. The scan revealed his skull was empty. All this guy had was a piece of tissue over the end of his brain stem. The seemingly impossible had happened, a man without a brain had no problem living a normal life. This man should have not existed by any manner of medical theory and yet there he was and he was fine. It sounds like a Halloween story, but it wasn’t, it was true. It makes one wonder how many other people are on this planet who are living normal lives and are brainless, politicians don’t count. Think of the billions of people between China and India who have never had a brain scan, could there be at least a few who have this condition and yet live normal lives? The sea cumber is often used for food in some parts of the world. It exists in the oceans. The animal has no brain but has a nerve ring. Scientists wondered if the nerve ring served as a brain replacement so they performed an experiment and removed it in a few animals and the animals still function proving it was not a brain replacement. The animal has a refined sense of touch and is very sensitive to light. Members of the Apodida order possess statocysts, sensors used for balance and acceleration, and they also have eye-spots near their tentacles. While this has not been mentioned as far as I know, could there be another race of aliens living on this planet who do not have the traditional brain? This brings into question some of the suppositions we have made over the years. Take for example how we have compared the Neanderthal brain to the human brain because we found skulls which had a bigger brain area. Perhaps Neanderthals had no brain and the skull area was empty. I know, probably not, but how can we be sure now that we know we have found humans without a brain? The Portuguese Man o’ War is not a jellyfish which is a single organism. It has no brain, head, gills or skeleton. It floats on the water grabbing fish with its tentacles. It is a colony of animals which get attached to each other in such a way they cannot unattach and they become part of the whole. The Portuguese Man o’ War even without a brain is one of the most feared creatures in the ocean even though they just float and use tides and winds to move. Just about everyone knows what a starfish is. It is not a fish, can’t swim and has no brain. It can still do incredible things like grow new limbs when they are lost. They have tiny eyes at the ends of each arm and can tell when something is moving. A starfish is able to move because it has hundreds of tiny feet at the end of each arm and it can move quicker than one would expect. A sea sponge is another creature without a brain. If they take in something, they shouldn’t they squirt it out. Some scientists equate this with a sneeze. Somehow even though it has no brain it is aware, which makes this a great mystery. When we look at television programs about nature and the ocean, many times we will see sea anemones. One might think they are looking at a plant, because there is no denying they look like one. I guess you could say they might be similar in the fact neither has a brain. This makes me wonder since we now know there are animals in the sea without brains, might we some day find a plant or plants which have brains? Anyway, it is capable of finding food on its own. It uses its tentacles for this purpose. It can also change its shape. All this brings us back to the question is there something else controlling us and even these animals which we are not yet aware of? Some have thought bacteria play some part in control. Scientists are still wondering what part the bacteria in the human gut play. Wouldn’t it be something if they were the true brains and that was where our thoughts come from? I would imagine sea creatures also have bacteria of some type associated with them. Others think there is something paranormal about us which we don’t realize and when we die, we still continue to think the same way, but our bodies are now in a different form which is more like energy. Would this also be true for other creatures? I guess we won’t know the answer to this one and if we find out we won’t be able to tell others.
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