Health The Human Brain Runs Way Hotter Than We Ever Realized, Scientists Find

[The Helper]

From the engine in your car to the components in your laptop, mechanical systems tend to heat up when they're working harder. Now new research has revealed that the same can be said of the brain – and it runs hotter than was previously thought.

Some parts of the deep brain can get up to 40 °C (104 °F), a new study shows, though this varies by sex, time of day, and various other factors. Compare that with the average oral temperature in human bodies, which is typically under 37 °C (98.6 °F).

This isn't a sign of malfunctioning though, researchers think, and may actually be evidence that the brain is operating healthily. Unusual heat signatures could potentially be used in the future to look for signs of brain damage or disorder.

"To me, the most surprising finding from our study is that the healthy human brain can reach temperatures that would be diagnosed as fever anywhere else in the body," says biologist John O'Neill from the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology in the UK.

The Human Brain Runs Way Hotter Than We Ever Realized, Scientists Find

From the engine in your car to the components in your laptop, mechanical systems tend to heat up when they're working harder.

www.sciencealert.com