Every now and then, I can’t help but feel slightly taken aback by the fact that, despite inhabiting my body for 30 years, I cannot say that I know how it operates in its entirety. Human bodies are wild in what they’re able to do, and each and every time I read or learn something new about my own body, I feel slightly ashamed that I’m not as savvy with human biology as I might like to think.
I enjoy learning about the human body, arguably because the topic is relevant as hell, seeing as I have one, and I considered the fact that perhaps there are other people out there who, like me, could benefit from information about these carcasses we inhabit. The following information comes from purple.com.
“The average adult human has 206 bones.6
“On average, humans have 46 chromosomes or 23 pairs of chromosomes.7
“Over half of the human bones can be found in the upper and lower extremities.6
“A quarter of human bones (52 on average) are found in the feet.8
“In the average human adult body, there are at least 67 different species of bacteria residing in the belly button alone.9
“The human body is teeming with microbes. Our skin is said to have its own thriving ecosystem.10
“Most people shed up to 35 kilograms of skin in their lifetimes.11
“Your body produces enough heat in 30 minutes to boil half a gallon of water.12
“The average body temperature is 98.6 F, but humans can expend roughly 350,000 joules of energy per hour – the same amount of energy that a 100-watt light bulb gives off.13
“Identical twins have extremely similar scents due to their shared DNA.14
“Humans share 60% of their DNA with bananas, meaning we have some similar genes that perform basic cellular functions.5
“It’s common knowledge that humans share approximately 96% of their DNA with chimpanzees, but we’re also closely genetically related to bananas and slugs, sharing up to 70% of DNA.5
“Your height differs depending on the time of day because the cartilage between your bones compresses throughout the day.15
“The human brain operates on 12 to 25 watts of power.16
“Human noses can distinguish a vast number of scents, potentially up to 1 trillion13 — not nearly as powerful as a dog’s, whose sense of smell is 1,000 to 10,000 times better than ours.17
“We have pain receptors and process pain signals in our brains, but the brain itself does not feel pain.3
“While often thought to be the strongest muscle, the tongue is actually a group of muscles that are incredibly flexible and versatile. The jaw muscle is generally considered the strongest in terms of force.18
“Like fingerprints, our tongues have a unique tongue print.19
“Babies are born with around 300 bones, but adults only have 206.2
“Your stomach replaces its lining every 3-4 days. This is because the strong acids that help digest food would also digest the stomach itself20 ,” the web page states.
Check back tomorrow for part two.
Photo by Kira auf der Heide on Unsplash
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