The brain is the hub of our central nervous system, controlling everything from automatic functions of the body like heartbeats and sneezes to more conscious movements, such as changing the channel on a television set. We owe it much thanks, and maybe occasional swear words when it refuses to function properly. Just like everything else, the brain has a few strange quirks of its own.

Here are a few strange facts you may or may not have known.

• The brain is the cleanest organ in the body, dead cells, or the brain’s waste is consumed by special glial cells.
• As we age, so does the brain. It is firm when young and gets squishy as we age.
• Most people think of the brain as gray, but its actual color ranges from blue, light brown, pink and even in some cases, green.
• You can, in some cases, lose a whole hemisphere of the brain and the remaining hemisphere will rearrange itself to take over the duties of the missing half.
• Your brain uses 15 percent of the body’s blood supply and 20 percent of all nutrients at any given moment.
• If you stretched out your cerebral cortex, it would cover a surface area the equivalent of two large pizzas.
• There has been at least one documented case of a person with three fully functional brains located inside her skull.