Unusual and Fascinating Facts About the Human Body
Dec 06
Have you ever wondered about the complex and amazing human body?
Our bodies are capable of so much, from self-healing to running long distances. To honor our incredible biology, we’ve put together a list of curious facts about the human body that you may not know. Read on to learn more about the surprises your body can hold!
Everyone has a unique “nose print” – just like fingerprints! The ridges in everyone’s noses are totally unique, meaning no two people have the same “nose print.”
Humans can detect more than 1 trillion smells. The average human nose has the capacity to sense over a trillion distinct odors.
Our tongues have taste receptors for all five tastes – sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami. Each of these receptors detects a different type of flavor and sends signals to the brain about what we’re tasting.
The human eye can distinguish up to 1 million colors! That’s an impressive range, and it explains why so many people love bright colors or complex patterns in art, clothing, and design.
The human body is made up of around 37 trillion cells, each with a specific job to do.
Our bodies are covered with around 5 million hairs! That includes head hair, of course.
The human heart pumps approximately 1 million barrels of blood throughout the body during an average lifetime – that’s enough to fill three supertankers!
We shed about 600,000 particles of skin every hour – that’s about 1.5 pounds in a year.
Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our noses and ears never stop growing throughout our lives.
Tasting and smelling are closely linked together – when you have a cold, it affects your sense of taste, too, as they both use the same receptors in the brain to interpret sensations.
Humans share 50% of their DNA with bananas.
You can’t tickle yourself because your brain knows what sensation to expect when it initiates movement on your body, so there’s no surprise or anticipation which is necessary for tickling to occur.
We all start out life with blue eyes until melanin production begins changing them at 3-6 months old – this determines whether they’ll stay blue, become brown or take on any other eye color.
Our brains process images we see within 13 milliseconds – faster than blinking an eye takes (which usually takes 100-400 milliseconds).
Humans actually breathe in more air per minute than most animals – 12 times more than elephants and 25 times more than mice!
