Brain Cells Don't Regenerate
In its August 15th edition, the science journal The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported that researchers have discovered that the adult neocortex—that part of the brain that is required for higher thinking functions such as sensory and spatial perception, motor control, language and thought—does not generate new neurons also known as brain cells.
How did they determine that adults can't make new brain cells? The researchers employed a novel method for human analysis: using radioactive carbon-14 emitted from nuclear bomb testing during the Cold War (from 1955 to 1963) they determined the age of the DNA in people's brain cells. This method is similar to radiocarbon dating which is often used to determine the age of things like fossils.
Carbon-12 is what's normally found in nature. So by comparing the levels of these two carbon isotopes researchers could determine when the DNA of the brain cells was developed. And as it turns out, the age of the DNA in the brain cells matched the age of the person, which of course means that the neocortex is not producing new DNA and no new brain cells either.
