Neuroscience For Kids

Treasure Trove of Brain Trivia

A collection of trivia about the brain and nervous system from the archives of the Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter. For more trivia about the brain, see brain facts and figures.

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January, 2026

A. Goats have horizontal pupils in their eyes.

B. Some birds including great frigatebirds (Fregata minor) and common swifts (Apus apus) can sleep while they fly (Source: Rattenborg, N.C., Sleeping on the wing, Interface Focus. 2017 Feb 6;7(1):20160082. doi: 10.1098/rsfs.2016.0082).

C. A German shepherd named "Buddy" is credited with being the first seeing-eye dog in the United States. Buddy arrived in New York from Switzerland in 1928.

D. Last month, Christie's auctioned a rare first edition of James Parkinson's "An Essay on the Shaking Palsy" (1817). Estimated cost: GBP 50,000 to GBP 70,000 (about $66,000 to $92,000).

E. The use of "Zzz" (the sound of snoring) to represent sleep was popularize in a 1903 Katzenjammer Kids comic strip.

February, 2026

A. Pigeons (Columba livia) can detect the Earth's magnetic field and likely use this ability to navigate their environment (Source: Nordmann, G.C. et al., A global screen for magnetically induced neuronal activity in the pigeon brain, Science 0, eaea6425DOI: 10.1126/science.aea6425).

B. An artificial tongue able to rate the spiciness of food has been invented (Source: Deng, W. et al., A soft and flexible artificial tongue for pungency perception, ACS Sensors, 10:8331-8341, 2025).

C. Horses can tell the difference between fear and joy based on the smell of human sweat (Source: Jardat, P. et al., Human emotional odours influence horses' behaviour and physiology, 2026, PLoS One 21(1): e0337948. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0337948).

D. The brains of astronauts move and change shape in outer space (Wang, T. et al., Brain displacement and nonlinear deformation following human spaceflight, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 123 (3) e2505682122, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2505682122, 2026).

E. The brain of the common shrew (Sorex araneus) shrinks up to 30% in size from the summer to the winter (Source: Lazaro, J. et al., Geographic patterns in seasonal changes of body mass, skull, and brain size of common shrews, Ecol. Evol., 11:2431-2448, 2021).

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2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998

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