Weightlessness and Brainpower

Brainpower Contest Winner # 6

Here is the winning entry for the weekly brainpower contest:

(For rules and to see other winners, see the page Brainpower Tips Contest.)

Dear sir Steve!

I have a tip to enter in the contest to increase brain power which is this..

If we sit in a chamber in such a way that this chamber is floating in an epson-saltish water, then the effect of gravity on our mind will be minimum and we can solve even very difficult problems in no time. Your's truly.

Muhammad, from Pakistan

I don't don't know, Muhammad. I think that gravity would still affect the brain the same as when we are laying down. Your body would float, but within the body, everything would still be pulled downward. However, your idea does propose an interesting hypothesis.

Does weightlessness affect brain function?

Unfortunately, I don't think we have any astronauts among our subscribers. Their experiences might help answer this. However, we do know that pressure on certain parts of the brain has been shown to affect personality and brain function. This makes it seem plausible that removing all pressure created by gravity could effect some parts of the brain.

I guess we'll have to wait until they test this while up in the space shuttle or on the space station. Meanwhile, if any of you have had any interesting experiences while floating in an isolation tank, feel free to e-mail me and I may report on them in the newsletter. Thank you for the idea Muhammad, and I hope that you like the prize.

Note: In order to get the newsletter put together and have this page up before that, I have to pick a winner just two or three days after each newsletter. However, if you sent any ideas in later, I may use them for the following weeks.

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