50 Mind-Blowing Facts About The Human Body

December 13, 2018 | Josh Mendelssohn

50 Mind-Blowing Facts About The Human Body


“The human body is the best work of art.” ― Jess C. Scott

Few things are as complex and interesting to us as our own bodies. We each only have one, and it’s supported by thousands of parts working in unison. Understanding the pieces that make us who we are and how they work together is cool! Here are our favourite 40 facts about the human body!


50. I'm Never Sleeping Again

Humans shed about 600,000 particles of skin every hour. That adds up to about 1.5 pounds every year.

In fact, most of the dust underneath your bed is probably your own dead skin.

Human Body FactsShutterstock

49. Baby Bones

A human baby has 99 more bones than an adult.

A baby's skeleton is mostly made up of cartilage. As a person grows up, most of this cartilage turns into adult bone through a process called ossification. This process results in the fusing of certain bones. Consequently, new born babies have around 305 bones, while an adult has just 206 bones.

Human Body FactsPixabay

48. A Few Small Pieces

An adult human being is made of approximately 7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms. (For reference, that's 7 Octillion, or more than 7 trillion trillion.)

Obviously, this varies based on the size of the person and their body composition.

Hands cupping a glowing atom in the studio.Getty Images

47. Born To Be Astronauts

We've all seen the movies: if you're ever thrown out into the vacuum of space, you can basically expect to disintegrate, right? Or your blood will boil, or something.

Not true! Turns out, we're made of tougher stuff than Hollywood seems to think. For example, although many liquids do boil in open space, our blood is kept in check by our circulatory system and would, therefore, be OK. Freezing isn't a concern either, as a vacuum actually acts as a pretty good insulator.

It's not all good news though: your death would still be pretty gruesome. The lack of air will render you unconscious in about 15 seconds... before you asphyxiate and die in about a minute. Then your body would float alone through the vast emptiness of space until... Look, it gets ugly. That's all we'll say about that.

Astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, Expedition 32 flight engineer, uses a digital still camera to make a photo of his helmet visorWikipedia

46. Noses > Eyes

Researchers estimate that the average human being can distinguish between 1 trillion different odors. This is much more acute than the human eye, which can distinguish only about 10 million different colors.

Noses truly are the vanilla of the human body: wildly underappreciated, and they smell great.

Beautiful woman with long hair standing in a perfumeryGetty Images

45. Humans Are Gross

Ready to get grossed out?

In a lifetime, an average person produces about 25,000 quarts of saliva—enough to fill two swimming pools. We also produce about a litre of mucus per day.

Interestingly enough, though, all that saliva plays an absolutely crucial role in keeping us clean. Consequently, people who have low levels of saliva are far more vulnerable to oral infections and cavities.

Close-up of cute baby boy drooling outsideGetty Images

44. Mining The Body

Your body has enough iron in it to forge a metal nail that is 3-inches long.

You also have enough sulfur to kill all fleas on an average dog, enough carbon to make 900 pencils, enough potassium to fire a toy cannon, enough fat to make 7 bars of soap, enough phosphorous to make 2,200 match heads, and enough water to fill a ten-gallon tank.

Shot of an attractive young woman supporting copy space with her handsGetty Images

43. Close Your Eyes

We all have tiny mites living in our eyelashes. These little mites actually aren't too choosey; they’ll live anywhere as long as they have access hair follicles. They’re found on other parts of the body and on a host of other mammals.

Macro photo of a human eyelashesFlickr

42. The Strongest Muscle In The Body

Pound for pound, the strongest muscle in the human body is the masseter (jaw muscle). It can clamp your chompers shut with 55 pounds of force on the incisors and 200 pounds of force on the molars.

Model wearing a red shirt holding a large jaw biting her hairGetty Images

41. Stinky Humans

Sweat itself is odorless. It's the bacteria on the skin that mingles with it and produces body odor. Bacteria that are naturally present on our skin thrive in sweaty regions.

Sweaty woman running on treadmill during sports training in a gymGetty Images

40. Growing Strong

Your ears and nose will never stop growing until the day you die.

In fact, your earlobes will also elongate from gravity.

Portrait of young boy wearing a blue shirt, outdoors, holding ears, smilingGetty Images

39. Don’t Lick The Gun

Similar to fingerprints, everyone also has a unique tongue print. It may be some time before your local police station starts taking tongue prints, but research on the required 3-D imaging technology is already being developed and tested.

Remember: if you're ever going to get involved in a million-dollar art heist, or some kind of grisly murder, absolutely do not lick the crime scene.

Cab Drivers Share Experience factsShutterstock

38. Steel Bones

Ounce for ounce, human bones are stronger than steel. A cubic inch of bone can bear a load of 19,000 lbs.—roughly the weight of five pickup trucks.

Reminder: this is not a dare. Do not (for example) ask your friends to drive 5 loaded pickup trucks over your forearm. It wont end well.

Human Body Facts

 

37. Booze and Blue

People with blue eyes have a higher alcohol tolerance. Interestingly, they also have higher rates of alcohol abuse and dependency.

Close up photo of a beautiful young woman with blue eyes and dark hairPixabay

36. Humans 1, Robots 0

If the human eye was a digital camera it would have 576 megapixels. Currently, the most expensive digital camera in the world has 200 megapixels.

Take that technology! The robot uprising might be inevitable but it's going to be so blurry.

Two hands holding a black video camera. On the camera monitor is a forest with fall tonesGetty Images

35. Bacteria: Man's Best Friend

All of the bacteria in our body collectively weighs about 4 pounds. That’s enough to fill a gigantic bowl of (truly disgusting) soup.

In fact, there are more bacteria in your mouth than there are people in the world.

Human Body FactsGetty Images

34. Music And The Body

In some cardiovascular units, slow and quiet music is used to relax the patients and lower their blood pressure and heart rate.

This new frontier in medical science actually harkens back to some of our most ancient ancestors. The Ancient Greeks, for example, liked to use music as a method of calming a patient and soothing pain. Native Africans and Native Americans also used chanting and singing as part of their healing rituals.

Once again, science is proving the logic behind some seemingly superstituous human behavior. Fasctinating stuff.

Cropped shot of a senior man wearing dark blue shirt listening to music with headphones on at homeGetty Images

33. Brain Power

Your brain accounts for only 2% of your body weight, yet it uses 20% of the total oxygen and blood in your body.

It's fascinating. That little grey blob weighs just about 4 pounds, and yet is quite possibly responsible for essentially all of our success as a species.

This also shows that, at least when it comes to brain power, bigger is not always better. Cows, whales, and elephants (in addition to many other creatures) all have much bigger brains than we do. And yet we eat steak like it's no big deal. Guess we're winning, right?

Human Body FactsGetty Images

32. Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA)

If uncoiled, the DNA in all of your body’s cells would stretch 10 billion miles.

That's long enough to reach from here to Pluto... and back!

Human Body FactsPixabay

31. The Ultimate Betrayal

Within three days of death, the enzymes that once digested your dinner begin to eat you. Ruptured cells will become food for the bacteria in your gut, which will release enough noxious gas to bloat your body and force your eyes to bulge outward.

Whatever happened to loyalty?

Creepiest Things Kids Have Ever Said or Done FactsGetty Images

30. Super Storage

In a lifetime, your brain's long-term memory can hold up to 1 quadrillion (1 million billion) bits of information.

And for such a powerful computer, it's also incredibly efficient. The entire apparatus of your brain is operated by roughly the same amount of power as a 10-Watt lightbulb.

Human Body FactsGetty Images

29. The Hot Dog's Journey

The gastrointestinal tract is a 30-foot tube that runs from your mouth to your anus.

There’s a few moving parts, but a long story short is that food comes in and poop goes out. There you go, now you're an expert on human digestion.

Medical student learning about large intestine and its pathologiesGetty Images

28. Where's the Hair?

It might not seem like it when you look around, but human beings actually have just as many hair follicles as a chimpanzee.

Here's the catch: our hairs are, for the most part, incredibly fine and light-colored. No one is quite sure why we lost our impressive fur coats, though. Some think it was an adaption to help us sweat more effeciently. Others say it was a method for avoiding fleas and ticks.

Whatever the reason, it's a fun thought.

Photo of a Black howler monkey on a tree in Cleveland Metroparks ZooWikimedia Commons

27. Can't Stop the Beat

Your heart has its own electrical impulse. This means that as long as it has an oxygen supply, your heart can keep beating even if it’s separated from the body.

Your heart will also pump about 1.5 million barrels of blood during your lifetime. That’s enough to fill 200 train tank cars.

Oxygen mask and tube used in the medical profession for those who need assistance with breathingGetty Images

26. Brain Age

Your brain keeps developing until your late 40s.

 

Human Body FactsGetty Images

25. Sweet Cilia

Our lungs and nasal passages have exquisitely tiny hairs called cilia that can "taste" bitter flavors. They also serve to remove dust and foreign particles from the respiratory tract.

Human Body FactsGetty Images

24. You Feel Me?

Human fingers can feel objects as small as 13 nanometers. This means that if your finger was the size of the Earth, you would feel the difference between houses and cars.

Close-up photo of a white feather on fingerGetty Images

23. Hot Body

The highest recorded body temperature in a human being was a fever of 115.7°F. A fever over 107.5°F is enough to damage the brain and, if untreated, cause death.

Human Body FactsGetty Images

22. Touch Your Heart

The human heart is not on the left-hand side of the body. It’s in middle of your chest, in between your right and left lung. It is, however, tilted very slightly to the left.

Closeup shot of an unidentifiable woman wearing a light colored clothing holding her chest in painGetty Images

21. Brain Genes

Half of your genes describe the complex design of your brain, with the other half describing the organization of the other 98% of your body.

Human Body FactsGetty Images

20. Human Cell Replacement

Your taste buds are replaced every 10 days. Conversely, the average age of a human fat cell is 10 years.

Close-up photo of a kid eating ice creamPixabay

19. To Shave or Not to Shave?

There is no scientific evidence that shaving or waxing will make your hair come back thicker. There are believed to be two reasons that the myth continues to flourish. First, humans just aren’t the best observers. Second, hair often does grow back thicker when people first start to shave, but this isn’t caused by shaving. When an adolescent boy shaves his mustache for the first time, it’s likely to grow back thicker. This isn’t because shaving caused this; it’s because the hormonal changes in his body (which occur regardless of shaving) are encouraging new and thicker facial hair growth.

Close-up photo of a Barber hands shaving other man beardPixabay

18. Human Differences

1 in 10,000 people has their internal organs reversed or "mirrored" from their normal positions. The condition is called situs inversus.

1 person out of every 200 people has an extra rib.

It's always sunny in Philadelphia factsPixabay

17. The Pinky Is The Powerhouse Of The Hand

Without your pinky finger, you would lose about 50% of your hand strength. While the index and middle fingers function with the thumb in pinching and grabbing, it’s the pinkie that teams up with the ring finger to provide grip power.

Human Body FactsMax Pixel

16. Keeping Cool Down There

Men's testicles hang between the legs to keep cool because sperm dies at body temperature. Keeping those baby-makers cool is a top priority, so make sure to keep your laptop off those bad boys!

bullet frozen frosted bubble on an icy surfacePixabay

15. Underappreciated

You've probably heard that the appendix is essentially a waste of space. Just a leftover from our earlier, less-evolved ancestors... right?

That’s turned out not to be the case. Scientists have discovered it had an essential evolutionary function: the appendix functions as a “safe house” for the beneficial bacteria that live in the human gut. Bacteria which, by the way, scientists are beginning to believe has an unbelievably positive influence on physical and mental health.

Thanks appendix... sorry for the bad rap.

Human Body FactsPexels

14. Well...

Your mouth is made of the same skin cells as a woman's reproductive organ. Flattened epithelial cells are well suited to areas in the body subject to constant abrasion, as layers can be sloughed off and replaced before quickly.

Human Body FactsMax Pixel

13. Cute Little Muscles

Muscle comes from the Latin “musculus.” Musculus means "little mouse,” and this was used to describe muscles because biceps were thought to look like mice.

Close-up photo of Tiny mice eating in natureFlickr

12. Liar, Liar

Are you surrounded by pathalogical liars? Here's how to find out...

While a person is telling a lie, they tend to blink far less frequently than normal. Think of a TV murderer with a shark-like stare.

Later, though, after the lie is told, a person will immediately make up for all that staring by blinking about 8 times faster than normal.

Clearly our eyelids are incredibly honest, and are doing everything in their power to signal the truth—whether we want to or not.

Creepiest Things Kids Have Ever Said or Done FactsPixabay

11. Who Said That?

More than 3% of people are born with phonagnosia: they can't recognize the voices of familiar people. People suffering from phonagnosia do not suffer from aphasia (an inability to comprehend and formulate language), which suggests that separate areas of the brain govern linguistic comprehension and voice recognition.

Parents Never Admit FactsPixabay

10. Annoying? Yes. Unhealthy? Maybe Not

A scientist cracked his knuckles on one hand for over 50 years to prove it did not cause Arthritis. After 50 years, he concluded that there was no arthritis in either hand, and no apparent differences between the two hands. This is, of course, a rather small data set, but it’s interesting none the less!

Hats off to the brave man who risked arthritis (as well as dirty looks from all his friends) in the name of science.

Human Body FactsMax Pixel

9. Starting Your Morning Off Right

You can burn 20% more fat by exercising in the morning on an empty stomach. Physical romance burns 3.6 calories a minute, so fifteen minutes of morning sex should burn off 130 calories.

young woman wearing a sports outfit with headphones joggingPixabay

8. It's Complicated

Humans have no more genes than worms. We have less genes than a tomato. How could this be, given that the all-powerful homo sapiens are clearly a more complex species? We’re not sure, but scientist have noted that the number of genes in the genome may be less linked to complexity than we thought.

Human Body FactsPixabay

7. Coughing At The Speed Of Sound

A strong cough forces air out of the airways at speeds up to 620 mph, which is almost as fast as the speed of sound.

Human Body FactsPixabay

6. Hear That?

Hearing is the fastest human sense.

Your brain can recognize a sound 10 times faster than the blink of an eye. That's as little as 0.05 seconds.

You heard it here first: the most effecient way to get someone's attention from across the room is not to wave at them— it's to scream at the top of your lungs.

Human Body FactsPixabay

5. Controversial Bras

Bras make breasts sag. They also do not reduce back pain.

A leading study found that women who never wore bras had nipples an average of seven millimeters higher each year than regular bra users. Before you go throwing away your bras, note that the benefits of not wearing a bra will only be seen in younger women who are not obese, according to those managing the study.

Close-up photo of bras with different shades of redPixabay

4. Recovering From The Miracle Of Birth

After child birth, a woman's vaginal muscles can take up to 6 months to get back to their normal shape and size.

Human Evolution QuizPixabay

3. A Green Diet

We can't digest grass because our bodies don't have what it takes to break down the cellulose found in the plant. Grass also contains a lot of silica, an abrasive that quickly wears down teeth, so your dentist wouldn’t be thrilled about a grass diet. Grazing animals have teeth that continually grow to replace worn tooth surfaces.

Close-up photo of a Morning Dew on Green GrassPixabay

2. Toe to Toe

Your big toe carries more weight than any other toe, bearing about 40% of your body weight. To enlist in the United States army, you need to have all ten toes intact.

Close-up photo of a baby big toeFlickr

1. Evolution Stinks!

One prevailing theory as to why butt hair exists is that there's simply no significant evolutionary pressure against butt hair. I.e. it doesn’t affect our ability to mate, so the random mutations that caused butt hair persisted.

Other theories take a smellier view of things, suggesting that butt hair helps scent communication. We have body hair in the same areas where we produce odors. The hair is there to hold onto oily secretions that have their own smell and are consumed by bacteria that produces even more smells. Early human ancestors used their personal smell to actually help them with everything from broadcasting territorial rights to attracting mates.

Human Body FactsPixabay

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10


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