250 Amazing Facts: Dinosaurs, Maths, Money, Travel & the Mind

The idea that we only use 10% of our brains is a myth. Brain scans show we use virtually all of it, just not all at the same time.

Being "left-brained" or "right-brained" isn't really a thing. Both sides of the brain work together for almost everything we do.

Despite the popular claim, there's little evidence that listening to Mozart makes babies smarter.

The brain itself can't feel pain, because it has no pain receptors. Headaches come from the tissues and blood vessels around it.

Most people experience déjà vu, the strange feeling that a new moment has happened before.

The frustrating feeling of knowing a word but being unable to say it is called the "tip of the tongue" phenomenon.

After you learn a new word or notice a new car model, you suddenly seem to see it everywhere. This is called the frequency illusion.

Seeing faces in everyday objects, like clouds, plugs or the front of a car, is called pareidolia.

Your short-term memory can only hold a handful of items at once, usually somewhere between four and seven.

When you "multitask," your brain is usually switching rapidly between tasks, which can make you slower and more error-prone.

Studies suggest that taking notes by hand may help you understand and remember information better than typing.

Sleep plays a big role in turning the day's experiences into long-term memories.

Your brain physically changes as you learn new skills, an ability scientists call neuroplasticity.

A study of London taxi drivers, who memorise thousands of streets, found that part of their brain linked to navigation was larger than average.

Studying in short sessions spread over several days is far more effective than cramming everything the night before.

Testing yourself with quizzes or flashcards helps you remember information much better than simply rereading it.

Without review, we forget a large part of what we've learned within a day or two. Psychologists call this the forgetting curve.

A Harvard study found that people's minds wander almost half of the time they're awake.

The human brain is made up of around 60% fat.

The human brain keeps developing until around the mid-20s, with the area responsible for planning and decision-making maturing last.

Teenagers' body clocks naturally shift later, which is one reason many teens find it hard to fall asleep early and wake up early.

Studies suggest that regularly writing down things you're grateful for can boost happiness and wellbeing.

Spending time in nature, even a short walk in a park, can help lower stress.

People tend to value things more when they've built them themselves. Researchers nicknamed this the "IKEA effect."

People with limited knowledge of a subject sometimes overestimate how much they know, a bias known as the Dunning-Kruger effect.

The placebo effect is so powerful that some people feel better from a fake treatment even when they're told it's fake.

Laughter is contagious. We're much more likely to laugh when we're with other people.

People tend to remember unfinished tasks better than completed ones. This is called the Zeigarnik effect.

In 2015, a photo of a dress went viral because people strongly disagreed on whether it was blue and black or white and gold, showing that our brains can see the same colours differently.

Research suggests the average person can recognise around 5,000 faces.

Some people have face blindness, or prosopagnosia, which makes it very hard to recognise faces, even of family and friends.

People with synaesthesia experience senses crossing over. For example, they might see colours when they hear music or taste flavours when they read words.

Each of your eyes has a blind spot, but your brain fills in the gap so you never notice it.

Most children begin to recognise themselves in a mirror at around 18 months old.

Newborn babies can recognise their mother's voice, which they've been hearing from inside the womb.

Young children can pick up more than one language at the same time, especially when they hear them regularly at home.

Having too many options can make decisions harder. In a famous study, shoppers who saw 24 flavours of jam were less likely to buy than those who saw just 6.

People are less likely to help someone in trouble when there are lots of other bystanders around. This is called the bystander effect.

If we like one quality in a person, such as their looks or confidence, we often assume they have other good qualities too. This is called the halo effect.

People naturally tend to notice and remember information that supports what they already believe, a habit called confirmation bias.

The first number you hear can strongly influence your later guesses, even if it's random. This is called anchoring.

Many people feel "chills" or goosebumps when listening to music they find especially moving.

Some studies suggest that reading fiction can help people better understand the thoughts and feelings of others.

Feeling bored can sometimes spark creativity, because your mind starts searching for something interesting to think about.

A Stanford University study found that walking can boost creative thinking compared with sitting.