Thinking hard weighs heavy on the brain
Balance measures tiny changes in force due to blood flow behind thoughts
When the mind is at work, the brain literally gets heavier.
That fact may be surprising, but it isn’t new: In the 1880s, Italian scientist Angelo Mosso built an intricate full-body balance and reported that mental activity tips the scales. Now, a modern-day version of Mosso’s “human circulation balance” backs him up. Compared with a brain at rest, a brain listening to music and watching a video is indeed heavier, David Field and Laura Inman of the University of Reading in England report January 9 in Brain.