And Happy St. Patrick's Day!!
My uncle sent these to me in an e-mail, some are really interesting if you can get through the list of 50!
The Human Body is a treasure trove of mysteries, one that still
confounds doctors and scientists about the details of its working.
It's not an overstatement to say that every part of your body is
a miracle. Here are fifty facts about your body, some of which will leave you
stunned...or...
1.
It's possible for your body to survive without a surprisingly
large
fraction of its internal organs.
Even if you lose your stomach, your spleen, 75% of your liver, 80%
of your intestines,
one kidney, one lung, and virtually every organ from your pelvic and groin area, you wouldn't be very healthy, but you would live.
2. During
your lifetime, you will produce enough saliva to fill two swimming
pools.
Actually, Saliva is more important than you realize. If your saliva
cannot dissolve something, you cannot taste it.
3.
The
largest cell in the human body is the female egg and the smallest is
the male sperm. The egg is actually the only cell in the body that
is visible by the naked eye.
4. The
strongest muscle in the human body is the tongue and the hardest bone
is the jawbone.
5. Human
feet have 52 bones, accounting for one quarter of all the human
body's bones.
6. Feet
have 500,000 sweat glands and can produce more than a pint of sweat a
day.
7. The
acid in your stomach is strong enough to dissolve razor blades. The
reason it doesn't eat away at your stomach is that the cells of your
stomach wall renew themselves so frequently that you get a new
stomach lining every three to four days.
8. The human lungs contain approximately 2,400 kilometers (1,500
mi) of airways and 300 to 500 million hollow cavities, having a total surface area of
about 70 square meters, roughly the same area as one side of a tennis court.
Furthermore, if all of the capillaries that surround the lung cavities were
unwound and laid end to end, they would extend for about 992 kilometers.
Also, your left lung is smaller than your right lung to make room for
your heart.
9. Sneezes
regularly exceed 100 mph, while coughs clock in at about 60 mph.
10.
Your body gives off enough heat in 30 minutes to bring half
a gallon of water to a boil.
11.
Your body has enough iron in it to make a nail 3 inches
long.
12. Earwax production is necessary for good ear health. It
protects the delicate inner ear from bacteria, fungus, dirt and even
insects. It also cleans and lubricates the ear canal.
13. Everyone has a unique smell, except for identical twins, who
smell the same.
14. Your teeth start growing 6 months before you are born. This is why
one out of every 2,000 newborn infants has a tooth when they are born
15. A baby's head is one-quarter of its total length, but by
the age of 25 will only be one-eighth of its total length. This is because
people's heads grow at a much slower rate than the rest of their bodies.
16.
Babies are born with 300 bones, but by adulthood the number
is reduced to
206. Some of the bones, like skull bones, get fused
into each other,
bringing down the total number.
17.
It's not possible to tickle yourself. This is because when
you attempt to tickle yourself you are totally aware of the exact time and
manner in which the tickling will occur, unlike when someone else
tickles you.
18.
Less than one third of the human race has 20-20
vision. This means that
two out of three people cannot see perfectly.
19.
Your nose can remember 50,000 different scents. But if
you are a woman, you are a better "smeller" than men, and will
remain a better "smeller" throughout your life.
20.
The human body is estimated to have 60,000 miles of blood
vessels.
21.
The three things pregnant women dream most of during their first
trimester are frogs, worms and potted plants. Scientists have no
idea why this is so, but attribute it to the growing imbalance of hormones in the
body during pregnancy.
22.
The life span of a human hair is 3 to 7 years on
average. Every day the average person loses 60-100 strands of hair. But
don't worry, you must
lose over 50% of your scalp hairs before it is apparent to
anyone.
23.
The human brain cell can hold 5 times as much information as
an encyclopedia. Your brain uses 20% of the oxygen that
enters your bloodstream, and is itself made up of 80% water.
Though it interprets pain signals from the rest of the body, the brain itself
cannot feel pain.
24.
The tooth is the only part of the human body that can't
repair itself.
25.
Your eyes are always the same size from birth but your nose
and ears never stop growing.
26.
By 60 years of age, 60% of men and 40% of women will snore.
27.
We are about 1 cm taller in the morning than in the evening,
because during normal activities during the day, the cartilage in our knees
and other areas slowly compress.
28.
The brain operates on the same amount of power as 10-watt
light bulb, even while you are sleeping. In fact, the brain is much
more active at night than during the day.
29.
Nerve impulses to and from the brain travel as fast as 170
miles per hour. Neurons continue to grow throughout human life.
Information travels at different speeds within different types of neurons.
30.
It is a fact that people who dream more often and more
vividly, on an average have a higher Intelligence Quotient.
31.
The fastest growing nail is on the middle finger.
32.
Facial hair grows faster than any other hair on the body.
This is true for men as well as women.
33.
There are as many hairs per square inch on your body as a
chimpanzee.
34.
A human fetus acquires fingerprints at the age of three
months.
35.
By the age of 60, most people will have lost about half
their taste buds.
36.
About 32 million bacteria call every inch of your skin home. But
don't worry, a majority of these are harmless or even helpful bacteria.
37.
The colder the room you sleep in, the higher the chances are
that you'll have a bad dream.
38.
Human lips have a reddish color because of the great
concentration of tiny capillaries just below the skin.
39.
Three hundred million cells die in the human body every
minute.
40.
Like fingerprints, every individual has an unique tongue print
that can be used for identification.
41.
A human head remains conscious for about 15 to 20 seconds
after it has been decapitated.
42.
It takes 17 muscles to smile and 43 to frown.
43.
Humans can make do longer without food than sleep. Provided
there is water, the average human could survive a month to two months without
food depending on their body fat and other factors. Sleep deprived people,
however, start experiencing radical personality and psychological changes after only a
few sleepless days. The longest recorded time anyone has ever gone without sleep
is 11 days, at the end of which the experimenter was awake, but stumbled over
words, hallucinated and frequently forgot what he was doing.
44.The most common blood type in the world is Type O. The rarest
blood type, A-H or Bombay blood, due to the location of its discovery,
has been found in less than hundred people since it was discovered
45.
Every human spent about half an hour after being conceived,
as a single cell. Shortly afterward, the cells begin rapidly
dividing and begin forming the components of a tiny embryo.
46.
Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than
left-handed people do.
47.
Your ears secrete more earwax when you are afraid than when
you aren't.
48.
Koalas and primates are the only animals with unique
fingerprints.
49.
Humans are the only animals to produce emotional tears.
50.
The human heart creates enough pressure to squirt blood 30
feet in the air.
