The human body is a complex work of art with a range of things we have no clue about. Whether it’s your new morning height or the number of times your heart beats every day, here are a few interesting fun facts about the human body one should know about.
There are so many functionalities that most of us aren’t aware of. Read on to know secrets about internal organs, the human heart1, blood vessels, and a lot more.
Fun facts about the human body:
1. Functioning of the human brain
The brain is a complex organ that controls cognition, vision, respiration, memory, emotion, touch, motor skills, temperature, and hunger in our bodies. The brain and the spinal cord that radiates from it comprise the central nervous system or CNS2.
The Icy Tale team interviewed Khunshan Ahmad, CEO of InsideTechWorld, and tried to explore the human brain’s memory capacity in the contextual comparison with technological devices. Here is what he said:
“The comparison between human brain memory capacity and that of technological devices is intriguing. While technological devices like computers have vast storage capacities, they operate differently from the human brain.
Our brains excel at processing complex information, making connections, and storing memories in a highly interconnected network.
Understanding the types of memory, such as short-term memory, long-term memory, and working memory, can indeed illuminate how our brain’s storage system operates.
For example, studying how memories are encoded, stored, and retrieved can provide insights into cognitive processes and how to optimize learning and retention.
Regarding human memory, it’s fascinating how memories can be influenced by factors like emotion, context, and personal experiences.
Insights into human memory can inform memory enhancement techniques by highlighting the importance of strategies such as spaced repetition, visualization, and association.”
2. You’ll stand taller in the morning
Did you know that you are taller in the morning than at night? How is that possible? As the day progresses, the cartilage in our knees and spine gradually compresses, causing us to shrink somewhat. When we sleep, the cartilage gets a chance to relax and returns to normal size. We are around 1cm taller in the morning than at night. When astronauts return from space, they are more affected by this occurrence! Their cartilage has plenty of time to relax without gravity, causing them to “grow” a few inches during their stay in space.
3. Your kidneys have the most blood flow
Only a tiny amount of blood flow to the kidney is sent to the medulla, where sodium transport through the fat ascending limb of the loop of Henle accounts for significant oxygen consumption.
4. In a year, your mouth produces enough saliva to fill two swimming pools
Saliva production varies greatly across individuals, however, most people make 0.7 liters of saliva each day, which should be enough to fill two medium-size bathtubs in a year.
5. Your left and right lungs are not the same sizes
The left lung of your body has two lobes, whereas the lung on the right side has three. The left lung is somewhat smaller, giving your heart more room.
6. Goosebumps developed to make our ancestors’ hair stand up, making them look more dangerous to predators
Goosebumps are a physiological condition3 passed down from our animal ancestors that was beneficial to them but not so much to humans. Goosebumps are little bumps on the skin that mimic the skin of a chicken after the feathers have been picked.
As a result, we may name them “turkey bumps” or “duck bumps.” These bumps are created by the contraction of tiny muscles linked to each hair. Each muscle contraction forms a small depression on the skin’s surface4, causing the surrounding region to protrude.
When the body is chilly, the contraction causes the hair to stand up. This raising of hair extends the layer of air that serves as insulation in animals with thick hair coats.
The more heat is stored, the denser the hair layer. This response is pointless in humans because we lack a hair covering, but goosebumps remain.
7. The cornea is the only organ in the body without a blood supply
The cornea is the sole portion of the body with a blood supply. It is also the quickest healing human tissue, with any type of wound mending in 24-36 hours. It obtains oxygen straight from the atmosphere. It is the translucent front portion of the eye. Isn’t it fascinating?
8. The femur or the thigh bone is the body’s longest bone
The femur found in the human body is the longest bone. It is found in the thigh, which is the upper region of the body’s leg. The thigh bone or the Femur is the longest in the human body, measuring almost 19.9 inches, extending from the hip to just below the knee. As the longest bone in the human body, it is well protected in the skeletal remains.
9. If you lay flat all of your brain’s wrinkles, it would be equivalent to the surface area of a pillow cover
Imagine your brain as a roundish, two-lobed grey mass covered with “wrinkles.” Human brains grew in size as a species to accommodate all of the higher functions that separate us from other animals. The brain, however, folded in on itself as it evolved to fit within a skull comparable to the rest of our body size. The brain would be the size of a pillowcase if we unfurled all of those ridges and crevices. The ridges are known as gyri, while the fissures are known as sulci. Several of these ridges and fissures have names, and their formation differs.
10. The middle ear contains the smallest bone in the human body
The smallest bone in the human body, the stapes or stirrup, is situated in the middle ear. The stapes are the tiniest bone in the human body. The stapes are linked to the cochlea’s oval window.
11. Every month, the whole surface of your skin is replaced, which means you have around 1,000 distinct skins in your life
The cells of the epidermis, or superficial or higher layers of skin, are continually replenishing themselves. This rejuvenation process is essentially exfoliation (shedding) of the epidermis. However, the deeper layers of skin, known as the dermis, do not undergo this cellular turnover and so do not renew themselves. As a result, foreign entities inserted in the dermis, such as tattoo dyes, will persist.
12. You lose around 30,000 dead skin cells every minute
Your skin accounts for around 16% of your total weight, implying that you have approximately 1.6 trillion skin cells. Of fact, depending on a person’s size, this estimate might vary greatly. Every hour, between 30,000 and 40,000 skin cells are shed off from the billions. You shed about a million skin cells in 24 hours.
What happens to them all? The dust that accumulates on your tables, TV, windowsills, and those difficult-to-clean picture frames is largely composed of dead human skin cells. In other terms, your home is littered with relics of yourself. You’ll lose more than 3.6 kilos of dead skin in a year. It gets worse: your home is also infested with millions of microscopic living forms known as dust mites, which consume your old dead skin.
13. Your brain generates enough electricity to power a lamp when you are awake
Our brain’s 100 billion tiny neurons generate enough electrical impulses to operate a modest light bulb. Read on here to know more about it.
14. In camera terms, the human naked eye has around 576 megapixels
The average human retina has 5 million cone receptors. Because the cones are in charge of color vision, you could think that this amounts to a five-megapixel equivalent for the human eye.
However, there are a hundred million rods that detect monochromatic contrast, which is vital in determining the clarity of the picture you perceive. Even 105MP is an understatement because the eye is not a static camera.
15. The brain consumes more than one-quarter of the oxygen used by the human body
It is commonly known that the brain consumes more energy than any other human organ5, accounting for up to 20% of total body energy expenditure. Until today, most scientists assumed that the majority of the energy was utilized to power electrical impulses that neurons use to communicate with one another.
16. Ever wondered why your stomach growls?
When you get a grumpy, growly feeling from hunger, it’s not your imagination. But why is it grumbling after you’ve finished your meal? It is most commonly caused by warm air traveling through the intestines. Normal swallowing allows air into your digestive system, especially if you’re drinking while working out or conversing while eating. So the rumbling might be caused by your stomach cleaning off food particles from your recent meal.
17. At night, the brain is far more active than during the day
You’d think that all the moving about, sophisticated computations and activities, and general interaction we perform during our working hours would require a lot more brain capacity than, say, resting in bed. The contrary stands true. When you turn off your computer, your brain activates. Scientists aren’t sure why this happens, but you can credit your brain’s hard work while you sleep for all those lovely dreams.
18. REM sleep accounts for around 25% of total sleep duration and is frequently associated with the most vivid dreams
People usually enter REM sleep during the first 90 minutes of falling asleep. REM sleep happens multiple times throughout a person’s slumber while the sleep cycle repeats. It accounts for 20–25 percent of an adult’s sleep cycle and more than half of an infant’s.
The majority of dreams occur during REM sleep. This is a developmental stage that may influence learning, memory, and mood.
19. The skeletal system is built to take a hammering
Learn about the skeletal system and some interesting facts about the bones, cartilage, and ligaments that comprise the skeletal system.
Yes, bones can fracture. They are, nevertheless, built to withstand regular wear and tear. Some bones, for example, must be able to absorb two to three times your body weight in force. They must also be tough. You walk 1 to 3 million steps every year, so your bones are made to withstand the wear and tear.
20. The tongue is covered with around 8,000 taste buds, each of which contains up to 100 cells that assist you in tasting your meal
The human tongue has 2,000–8,000 taste buds on average, meaning hundreds of thousands of receptor cells. The quantity of taste buds differs greatly. For example, some people may have only a few individual taste buds per square centimeter on the tip of the tongue, whilst others may have thousands; this variety adds to variances in the aromas and flavors experienced by different people.
Here are some 25 Facts About Human Body that are useless to Know.
21. The human body contains enough fat to make seven bars of soap
According to legend, the human body has enough fat to produce seven bars of soap. However, iron is used to manufacture a little nail, potassium is used to fire a toy cannon, sugar is used to fill a small pitcher, sulfur is used to clean a flea dog, and lime is used to whiten a small chicken nest.
22. All of the blood vessels in the human body would round the Earth four times if they were laid end to end
Even though blood arteries are very little, the network is astonishingly lengthy. If they were set out in a straight line, they would stretch for more than 60,000 miles, according to the National Institute on Aging (NIA). Given that the diameter of the Earth is 24,873.6 miles, your blood arteries could circle the planet more than twice, according to NASA.
23. The length of the small intestine is approximately 23 feet
The length of the small intestine can range from around 10 feet (3 meters) to more than 16 feet (5 meters). The lengths of the different segments of the small intestine also vary. The ileum is the longest portion of the digestive tract, whereas the duodenum is the shortest.
24. Your body has the same number of hairs per square inch as a chimp
Human skin contains the same number of hair follicles per square inch as chimp skin when magnified, albeit most of the hairs in humans stay immature. Humans, on the other hand, have around 10 times as many sweat glands as chimps.
25. An average person can withstand concentrated stomach acid without being corroded or damaged by it
The stomach has a lining that regenerates at regular intervals to retain the stomach acid maintained and the pH stable. To defend itself from the corrosive nature of hydrochloric acid, the stomach lining generates some goblet mucus cells.
The stomach’s principal digestive liquid, hydrochloric acid is capable to dissolve metal but plastic toys that go down the hatch will come out as good as new.
These were some of the amazing things that you should know about. Make sure to ask more strange facts about the human body to your science teacher.
Also check out, Interesting Facts about the Nervous System
- Clarke, JoanM, et al. “The rhythm of the normal human heart.” The Lancet 308.7984 (1976): 508-512. ↩︎
- Lucas, Sian‐Marie, Nancy J. Rothwell, and Rosemary M. Gibson. “The role of inflammation in CNS injury and disease.” British journal of pharmacology 147.S1 (2006): S232-S240. ↩︎
- Craig, Arthur D. “Interoception: the sense of the physiological condition of the body.” Current opinion in neurobiology 13.4 (2003): 500-505. ↩︎
- Watson, Deborah, et al. “Autologous fibroblasts for treatment of facial rhytids and dermal depressions.” Archives of facial plastic surgery (1999). ↩︎
- Baquero, Fernando, and Cesar Nombela. “The microbiome as a human organ.” Clinical Microbiology and Infection 18 (2012): 2-4. ↩︎
Last Updated on by Saket Kumar
