Our Brains May Not Work the Way We Think! Recently a discovery has been made which indicates microbes might be inside our brains. We have believed our brains are like computers which control our bodies and our minds, but this new find, if validated, might prove something else. A few years ago, scientists started talking about our gut microbes and how they might have something to do with our decisions and brain power. It was food for thought, but I don’t think a lot of scientists were buying the premise, but now things are different. If there are microbes in our brains, they might be able to influence our thinking. They could do this just by interfering with some neurons, they don’t have to do it consciously, after all no one is saying these microbes are intelligent. What is the first thing you think of when you hear we might have microbes in our brains? I will tell you what I thought of, it was the television show “The Walking Dead.” That was a bit harsh on my part, but the thought just came to me when I heard what was being said. Obviously, we are not dead and there are probably no intelligent microbes, but if they are living in our brains it could account for some things no one has probably thought of before. One of those things is the number of microbes we each have in our brains if we do have them. I say if, since it has not been proved yet. We tended to think the folds of the brain had something to do with intelligence, and even preserved Einstein’s brain to try and figure out why he was so smart. Could the answer be he had less microbes influencing his brain than most people? Another question is could microbes in the brain be beneficial in some way? Take the case of the man who led an ordinary life and had no problems, but during an examination was found to have no brain just a piece of tissue above his spine. Scientists were shocked and couldn’t believe he was functioning. Could microbes have accounted for the man’s intelligence and ability to function? Could we be wrong in thinking we need brains to function? Perhaps we only need microbes and each microbe acts as some sort of brain cell. I have to wonder if this turns out to be true what would happen if all the microbes in someone’s brain could be killed, leaving the brain to function on its own. Would that brain become far more powerful? While I said the microbes might be beneficial, I also have to say they might be holding us back. They may stop the brain from using all of its computing ability. I am not big on animal trials, but it would be interesting if we find out if animals also have microbes in their brains. If we took a mouse for instance and eliminated those microbes, would he become smarter, dumber or perhaps live a longer or shorter life? Now for the unthinkable, could these microbes, if they exist turn out to be different from the microbes we have discovered so far? Scientists have estimated the earth might contain as many as over one trillion microbe species, and it is estimated we have only discovered about one tenth of one percent. Knowing this could there be intelligent microbes we haven’t found? I know this sounds preposterous, but we have been surprised before when we found things which we never expected to exist. We are finding new species of life all the time. One would think if we did find a new species it would be in some isolated place, but this is not always true. Let me give you an example. A new species of frog was found and in was discovered in a borough of New York City. This is probably the last place in the world this would be expected to happen. We have become very interested in the quantum universe. That is the tiniest part of our universe, the realm where atoms and particles rule, and have different laws of physics from our macro world. Many years ago, I saw a story about a tiny universe which existed in that world. It was science fiction, but science fiction makes one think sometimes, and that is not a bad thing. Could there be more to the quantum universe, and perhaps even smaller life than we expect which is yet to be discovered? It would probably never be discovered by an atom smasher, because that destroys matter by smashing particles together, and even with an electron microscope we don’t have enough power to get beyond a certain point. We are symbiotic beings. We know for sure we have gut bacteria living inside us which benefits us and it. This may not be all to the story however. There could be some sort of connection between our DNA and microbes which we never thought of. Could microbes have been placed inside us on purpose? There are always those who worry about disasters and I am sure there will be some who will come out with stories if microbes are found in our brains. You can bet these stories will have headlines like aliens put microbes into human brains to destroy them or some such thing. It is human nature and some people just have to worry about everything, so this will just give them more ammunition. For most of us it will probably just be another interesting fact if found to be true. It might even help us in the medical field, because keeping the microbes healthy might be a big advantage for us. It could also be tied in somehow with diseases and even aging. Perhaps scientists might find out aging is caused by microbes somehow. I don’t pretend to know the answers to these questions, but I do have a lot of questions I would like to see the answers to. For my final way out question, I would like to know if microbes are found in our brains and if they ever turned out to have some sort of intelligence would we ever be able to communicate with them on any level? Sounds crazy I know, but there are so many crazy things we are finding out lately, that this question is not as crazy today as it would have been a few years ago. So, as more brain research takes place, we are going to find out a lot more we never suspected.
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