• Question: How come in all the pictures of brains they are pink and wrinkly?

    Asked by gandalfthegrey to Fiona, Jane, Joanna, Michelle, William on 21 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Fiona Randall

      Fiona Randall answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      Hi, the wrinkly appearance is the folding of the cortex. Look in my other answers as I wrote all about the job of the cortex. The brain only looks pink when there is blood still in there. When the brain is pink there is blood left in it.

    • Photo: Joanna Brooks

      Joanna Brooks answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      Hello, good question. Usually pictures show the brain as wrinkly because the brain IS wrinkly. The brain is covered in grooves and ridges and these are involved in protecting the brain and also help with certain brain functions like laughter. The brain cortex is actually grey in colour but because there are lots of blood vessels covering the brain it sometimes looks pink!

    • Photo: William Davies

      William Davies answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      Basically the brain is a big ball of fat (white) with some blood (red) mixed in, hence why they are pink. Brains are wrinkly because in order to fit in the skull their surface has to be folded many times

    • Photo: Michelle Murphy

      Michelle Murphy answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      Hey
      Good question and the real answer is because that is what they look like. The pink is associated with a combination of blood and CSF (a salty liquid in the brain and spine) and wrinkly because it has bumps and grooves to increase surface area helping it to get as much energy (glucose and oxygen) from the blood around it.

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