Humans are amazing: 22 inspiring facts about the human body
Smithsonian
- We are the only animals with chins because it makes our faces look more attractive and symmetrical, which is important to facial recognition and social being.
- We are taller in the morning since our cartilage and discs are squished by gravity while standing upright through the day.
- Our jaw is our strongest muscle. Our eyes are the fastest muscle.
- Our intestines are always moving. The 20 foot long small intestine digests our food and absorbs all nutrients and most of our water. The five foot long large intestine absorbs vitamins and remaining water before pooping out waste.
- We convert any excess nutrients that our body doesn’t immediately need into fat within 4-8 hours of chewing. We can convert any nutrient, including protein and sugars or carbs, into fat for latter survival.
- Our intestines absorb water and send it to the bloodstream in as little as five minutes. Excess fluid in our blood is then filtered by the kidneys, which produce the urine that is sent to our bladders.
- The brain runs almost entirely on sugar. While it needs fat and protein to maintain healthy tissues and cells, it runs mostly on sugar.
- The brain uses 20% of our energy, oxygen and blood supply, despite accounting for only 2% of our total weight.
- The brain sends information to our bodies at a rate of 250 miles per hour.
- The brain feels no pain but tells you when other parts of your body feel it. Brain freeze is actually mouth roof pain.
- The human heart beats more than three billion times in an average lifespan. It is the only muscle that never fatigues.
- Our noses can detect a trillion different smells.
- Our tongues have 8,000 taste buds, which is partly why our food tastes so amazing. (Our nose is the other part of amazing.)
- Our football sized liver detoxes more in a minute than a lifetime of “juice cleanses.” It filters harmful things from our blood, stores immediate (non fatty) fuel, produces bile to help us digest food, and hundred more things. Never mind the brain or human eye. Many scientists argue the liver is the most amazing human organ. So take good care of it (no alcohol!).
- Our bodies have 100,000 miles of blood vessels!
- Human babies only see in black and white until five months of age, after which their color receptors have devolved.
- Our metabolism (the speed at which we convert energy from food) works much faster if we: 1) Build muscle (gym or body weight exercises); 2) Sleep 7-8 hours (10+ for teenagers); 3) Eat fiber rich plants; and 4) Drink lots of water.
- Our body is 60% water—so keep drinking a ton of it and you’ll feel and run a whole lot better.
- Our bodies produce 25 million new cells (the building blocks of life)… EVERY SECOND!!
- More than half of our 200 total bones are located in our hands and feet.
- Pound for pound, human bones are stronger than steel!
- Over our lifespans, we sit on toilets for an entire year. Make the most of it by reading cool stuff.