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9 Interesting Quirks About the Human Body
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How well do you know yourself? Think you only have 5 senses? Convinced that your 21-year-old brain is fully developed? How closely related are we to fruits? After you read this article of 9 facts about the human body that might surprise you, you’ll never think about yourself in the same way ever again!
1. Children grow faster in springtime
Flowers aren’t the only things that grow best in the springtime. Studies have found that compared to the other three seasons, spring is when children grow the fastest. Boys typically go through their major growth spurt between the ages of 10 and 15, while girls have theirs between 8 and 13.
2. Human hair is ridiculously strong
Just a single, long strand of hair has the ability to lift 100 grams (3.5oz) off the ground, while a full head of hair can withstand up to 8,400kg (18,500lb) of weight without sustaining any damage or being yanked out.
3. Your nostrils take turns breathing
You probably aren’t even aware of this, but at any given time as we breathe, one of the nostrils is doing most of the work while the other is congested. Around every 2 hours the roles become switched, with the second nostril doing most of the breathing while the other is congested. Also, right-handed folks generally use their left nostrils more often for breathing.
4. The small holes close to the edges of the eyelids serve an important purpose
Those little openings inside the edges of the eyelids are called puncta. These guys come in handy when you get tears in your eyes. Every time you blink, they pump some of the tear fluid out of your eyes. If the puncta gets blocked, it causes the tears to overflow.
5. Your liver is able to regenerate itself
Unlike the other organs in your body, your liver has superhero powers: when damaged it is able to regenerate itself. In fact, if up to 90% of your liver were to be removed, it would still grow back to its normal size!
6. Papillae on your tongue warn you about potential harm
See those little bumps all across your tongue that sort of look mushroom-shaped? Those are called papillae, and on average we have around 300 of them. Each of them contains around 3 to 5 taste buds. But their function isn’t exclusively to tell you if something tastes good or not, they also alert you when there are changes in temperature and can even help you avoid pain. For instance, they can even detect smoke, sort of like, well, your own internal smoke detector but without the annoying high-pitched chirping sound.
7. Your brain still isn’t fully developed in early adulthood
A newborn baby’s brain is around 25% of the size that it will eventually grow to once it reaches adulthood. The growth is significant at first: by the time the baby is one, their brain will have doubled in size, will have reached 80% of its adult size by 3, and 90% by 5. But it still takes a subsequent 20 years before it is fully developed.
8. Humans and bananas share 60% of common DNA
All living things share a certain amount of common DNA, and we aren’t just talking about animals either. While it’s well-known that we share 96% of the same DNA as chimpanzees, we are also 18.7% related to plants. But get this: we have about 60% of the same genes as bananas, which is the same percentage we share with chickens!
9. You actually have more than 5 senses
When talking about human senses, the ones that come to mind are taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing. But, in fact, there are several other senses that our body is capable of. Here are 6 more senses:
- Movement
- Balance
- Awareness of where all of your parts of your body are without having to look (scientifically known as proprioception)
- Sensing pain
- Sensing time
- Sensing temperature