Why is the brain made of soft tissue?

Question

A 4 year old just asked "why are our brains so soft?" -- the only answer I can come up with is "because it is." Can anyone provide an explanaton as to why the brain tissue is soft?

Answer 1

Our brains are made up only of nerve tissue and blood vessels, just like other squishy parts of your body that do not contain (or need) hard components like bone, ligament, or muscles that can stiffen up.

There's a lot of water in these cells to carry the electrochemical signals between the neurons (the brain cells) which helps to make it soft. But they are also very densely interconnected, which means that the cells themselves aren't packed up together as closely as in other organs -- there needs to be room for the many connecting pathways (axons, for instance, which you can think of as telephone cables between the cells that signal to each other) to get between the different cells and reach to distant parts of the brain. This creates a more open structure that is more sponge-like, just like how a wet sponge is soft and squishy because it contains lots of holes inside.

Answer 2

Because a medium is used in chemical message transfers from nerve endings, and so our brains need to have some liquid in them to facilitate the transfer of chemical messengers. It helps to make them squishy.

Answer 3

It is still a mystery to me but you can go to the website below to help you figure it out:

Answer 4

i would say something but nothing would match what ippus said, jus give him the best answer
i gave ippus a thumbs up on almost all of his answers sicne they rock!

Answer 5

Not sure what to say

Answer 6

Thanks to each and everyone of you for the answers.