The Expanding Brain meme, also known as Galaxy Brain, first appeared in early 2017 on Reddit. It typically features a series of images showing a human brain becoming increasingly luminous and cosmic as it progresses from a basic thought to a more complex, and usually more absurd, one. The 3-panel version is a popular condensed format used to highlight the hilarious contrast between logical common sense and 'enlightened' irony. It has become a staple of internet culture for satirizing pretentiousness or celebrating increasingly bizarre solutions to simple problems.