The human brain breaks apart 10 times as easily as polystyrene foam

Karmela Padavic- Callaghan is a writer.

Human brains are softer and more squishy than rubber ones. Their ability to resist pressure is similar to that of a slab of gelatine, and they break apart more easily than polystyrene foam.

Nicholas Bennion and his colleagues set out to develop a method for measuring the brain's physical properties. Most of what we know about how brain tissue reacts to instruments touching it comes from organs that have been cut into or removed and preserved.

The researchers were able to work out different material characteristics of the brain and tissues that connect it to the skull with the help of machine learning and magnetic resonance images. The brain collapses when pressed on, how it reacts to being pushed sideways, and how springy the tissues are.

A brain that hasn't been preserved is very easy to break apart. It's probably a lot softer than people think.

Brain matter collapses up to 10 times more easily than polystyrene foam, and its resilience to being pushed sideways is about a thousandth of what it would be if it were made from rubber. The tissues connecting the brain to the skull may be soft to protect the brain from moving too quickly.

The new study makes it clear that brains are very soft and fragile, which will make it easier to inform surgical procedures.

According to Krystyn Van Vliet at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the new method may not be able to fully capture how the brain changes during violent motions. The brain's fluid flow can change its material properties.

The team hopes to use their model to predict brain shifts that will occur during surgery for each patient. The need to insert and re-insert instruments into the brain may be eliminated.

The journal of the Royal Society Interface has a reference.