20 Fascinating Things You Never Knew About The Human Body

You might think you know all that you need to know about your body, but there are plenty of fun and strange little factoids that you may never have thought about. From all the things you can see to all that you can’t see, the human body is, to most people, an overwhelmingly weird and mysterious place. Here are a few things that may or may not surprise you about that astounding machine you live inside of.

Bugs, Bugs Everywhere!

Everyone gets that horribly annoying eye-twitch every once in a while, but one might shocked to know that a lot of the time those little muscle spasms occur because of the microscopic mites living on your eyelashes. They are easy enough to get rid of, but in truth, except for twitches and itches, they are completely harmless.

Step Into Liquid

Dwelling on bodily fluids is not something lots of people like to do even though they can actually prove to be quite amazing. For instance, a single person produces enough saliva in their lifetime to fill two whole swimming pools.

Your Belly Button Is Alive

Most people probably think that the belly button is a pretty innocuous place. And yet it has been recently discovered that the navel houses a collection of bacteria so varied that it rivals most rainforests for ecological diversity.

Jeepers Creepers, Where’d You Get Those Peepers?

Blue eyed are actually more coveted than they should be. Despite it being more uncommon gene, most babies are born with blue irises and eventually change color after exposure to ultraviolet light.

For Want Of A Nail

Losing a whole toenail or fingernail can be a scary thing the first time it happens, but it shouldn’t be. It only takes about six months for a nail to grow back from base to tip.

The Largest Organ

Do you know what the body’s largest organ is? Though it’s usually the last guess most would make, it’s actually your skin. If you could take it all off and stretch it out flat, it would cover about 20 square feet.

Sticks And Stones May Or May Not Break Your Bones

One of the most underestimated qualities of the human body is the strength of its parts. Even though people break all sorts of bones every single day, they are still four-times stronger than concrete.

Hey, Short Stuff

Ever worry that you’re getting shorter? Well, you actually get shorter every single day. Due to all of the physical strain your body experiences throughout the day, the spine gets compressed an average of one centimeter on a daily basis. But don’t worry – the compression is alleviated when you sleep at night.

That’s Bloody Amazing

Although the difference in size between a single red blood cell and the entire human body is astronomical, the blood cell is incredibly intrepid. Within one minute, blood cells complete an entire circuit of the body.

Strong Stomach

The acid inside your stomach is so strong that it can melt the metal zinc. Luckily the cells lining the stomach wall reproduce quickly enough so that the stomach acid cannot consume the stomach itself.

Heart Of Gold

The human heart is a more amazing organ that most people realize. It actually generates its own electrical impulse that allows it to continue beating, if only for a short time, after being removed from the body.

Won It By A Nose

Think your brain is the only thing that has memory? The special cells in your nose are so sensitive that it can remember up to 50,000 scents in a lifetime, capable of triggering even the earliest childhood experiences.

Long In The Tooth

If you might be thinking about fixing your crooked teeth, you are actually steering yourself towards a futile enterprise. Even if you do get braces or a retainer, because of all the things you use your teeth for they will inevitably shift in and out of place throughout your lifetime.

Taking Your Prints

Lots of people think that fingerprints are the sole mode of identifying a person. In fact, most parts of your body, like prints of your ear and tongue, are unique enough to identify someone.

Missing Pieces

Many might think that all organs are vital organs, but that technically is not true. You could be missing your stomach, spleen, one of your kidneys, 80% of your intestines, and 75% of your liver and still be alive.

Brains Of The Operation

Everyone knows that the brain is a very, very important part of the body, but many may not know how important. The brain uses up approximately 20% of the oxygen your body consumes as well as 20% of your entire caloric intake.

Babies Really Are Priceless

Although you may not immediately think of the foreskin of a newly circumcised baby is something you’d want to keep around, it’s actually a valued commodity in the medical world. Though it starts out the size of a postage stamp, the cell growth continues to make the skin grow in size, which makes it ideal for skin grafts on burn patients.

Feelin’ Hot, Hot, Hot!

If you are worried about whether or not you are hot stuff, you shouldn’t. Your body sustains high enough temperatures that its heat could boil half a gallon of water in thirty minutes.

I’ve Got My Eye On You

The muscles that control the focus of your eyes contract an average of 100,000 times a day. If you wanted to work out your leg muscles that much, you would have to walk 50 miles a day.

Tooting You Own Horn

Plenty of people like to think they are above passing gas. No matter how dignified you think you are, you experience flatulence an average of fourteen times a day.