Welcome to Top10Archive! The human body is a marvelous thing; it's almost a shame that
we don't know all that it's capable of. From our bones being stronger than concrete, from
having enough iron in our bodies to make a 2 1/2 inch long nail, here are ten lesser
known facts about your body. 10. 200 Muscles Per Step
Depending on how you divide up the muscle groups and the individual, taking a single step can use somewhere in the neighborhood of around two hundred muscles. That
seems like a lot of work considering that most people average around ten thousand steps per day. The hip region consists of four main muscle groups, the gluteal, adductor,iliopsoas, and lateral, while the thigh region houses three main groups, the anterior,
posterior, and adductors. These two regions contain the majority of the two hundred muscles, which help with the many health benefits associated
with walking, including improved stamina and weight control, reduction of coronary heart
disease and high blood pressure, and improved memory skills and learning abilities.
9. Bones Are Four Times As Strong As Concrete Bone is extraordinarily strong. Ounce per
ounce, bone is stronger than steel, with a cubic inch, in principle, able to tolerate
a load of nineteen thousand pounds or more, which equates to the weight of five standard
pickup trucks, also making it about four times as strong as concrete. Whether or not bone
actually withstands such loads depends heavily on how quickly force is delivered to that
area. Bone tissue is a composite of fibrous collagen strands that resemble the steel rebar
in concrete, with a hardened mineralized matrix that contains large amounts of calcium, also
like concrete. Bone is also a living tissue that is continually breaking down and forming
new bone to adapt to mechanical stresses. 8. 13 Nanometers
Swedish scientists have shown that people can detect nano-scale wrinkles while running
their fingers upon a seemingly smooth surface. Their findings could lead to advances in touch
screens for the visually impaired and other products. Mark Rutland, Professor of Surface
Chemistry, states that the human finger can differentiate between surfaces patterned with
ridges as small as thirteen nanometers. Comparatively, this means that if our finger was the size
of Earth, we would be able to feel the difference between houses and cars. The study highlights
the importance of surface friction and wrinkle wavelength, or wrinkle width, in the tactile
perception of fine textures. When a finger traverses over a surface, vibrations occur
in the finger, for which people interpret these vibrations differently on different
surfaces. This research could also advance the sense of touch in robotics and virtual
reality. 7. Enough Iron To Make A Nail
Those of us who have ever tasted blood know that it has a slight metallic taste; this
is due to the high levels of iron in the blood. Iron is an important mineral, as it helps
to transport oxygen throughout the body, and helps maintain healthy cells, skin, hair,
and nails. Males of average height have approximately four grams of iron in their body, while females
have about three and a half grams, and children usually have three grams or less. These grams
of iron are distributed throughout the body in hemoglobin, tissues, muscles, bone marrow,
blood proteins, enzymes, ferritin, hemosiderin, and transport in plasma. Among these, the
greatest portion of iron residing in humans is in hemoglobin. Our bodies tend to lose
1-1.5 milligrams of iron per day, with the loss excreting through urine, sweat, feces
and tears. If you were able to take out all the iron in the body, the weight in grams
could create a nail approximately two and a half inches long.
6. The Brain Is More Active At Night Thinking logically, you would assume that
with all the moving around, complicated calculations, various tasks and general interactions we
do on a daily basis, that our brain would use more power with these tasks than it does
when we turn in for the night; however, the opposite is true. When REM sleep or Rapid
Eye Movement was discovered, it was the first clue that sleep didn't just help keep our
bodies healthy, but also our minds. In 2000, researchers discovered that people who received
more than 6 hours of sleep improved their performance on tasks designed to tax the memory
and that the participants didn't just require REM sleep, but also slow-wave sleep. They
also discovered that sleep helps stabilize and process memories, process information
of the day and solve problems. 5. Your Brain Itself Can't Feel Pain
While the brain may interpret pain when you cut your finger or burn yourself, the brain
itself does not have pain receptors and cannot feel pain. The pain experience for all of
us begins when unpleasant stimuli activate sensory nerve fibers, called nociceptors,
which are located in the skin, muscles, joints, and some organs, then transmit these pain
signals from the periphery to the brain where the message of pain is perceived. Our brains
do not contain these nociceptors, which explains why neurosurgeons can operate on brain tissue
without causing the patient discomfort, and even sometimes while they are awake. However,
this doesn't mean your head can't hurt, as it is surrounded by loads of tissues, nerves
and blood vessels that contain nociceptors, and are receptive to pain, which is why you
can get pounding headaches from time to time. 4. Every Tongue Print is Unique
All those tiny bumps and ridges on your tongue have its own distribution of sizes and shapes
just like fingerprints, making it unique to you and no one else. Those bumps contain more
than ten thousand taste buds, each filled with microscopic hairs called microvilli.
Microvilli are the tiny food critics of your mouth, sensing if your meal is sweet or sour,
salty or bitter, while sending all the reviews up to the brain. The tongue is also used for
crushing food against the hard palate during mastication. The tongue also serves as a natural
means of cleaning your teeth, acting similarly to fine sandpaper - although we don't suggest
you give up your toothbrush. 3. A Single Strand Of Human Hair Can Hold
3 Oz. Up to one hundred fifty thousand strands of
hair sprout from each human head, where each then grows roughly one centimeter a month,
and sheds within four to seven years. Hair is very strong, with each strand able to hold
one hundred grams or three ounces of weight. The combined head of one's hair could support
twelve tons or the equivalent of two elephants. Although not as strong as steel, it can be
compared to aluminum, reinforced glass fibers or even Kevlar. Aside from its flammability,
human hair decays at such a slow rate that it is virtually non-disintegrative. Our hair
cannot be destroyed by the cold, change in climate, water, or other natural forces, and
it is resistant to many types of acids and corrosive chemicals. Hair follicles contain
specialized cells called melanocytes, which make melanin, the sun-protecting pigment that
keeps all our hair lustrous and colored. 2. Stomach Acid Can Dissolve Razorblades
While it isn't recommended for you to test the fortitude of your stomach by consuming
a razor blade or any other metal object for that matter, the acids that break down our
food aren't to be taken lightly. The acid plays a key role in the digestion of proteins
by activating digestive enzymes and making ingested proteins unravel so that the digestive
enzymes break down the chains of amino acids. Stomach acid is produced by cells lining the
stomach, which are connected in feedback systems to increase acid production when needed. The
acid is composed of hydrochloric acid, potassium chloride, and sodium chloride. Hydrochloric
acid is highly corrosive and used in industrial settings for removal of rust and scale from
metals. 1. You Can Remove Many Internal Organs And
Survive The human body is often depicted as frail
and delicate, but it's actually possible to survive even with the removal of the spleen,
stomach, colon, appendix, reproductive organs, gall bladder, the sensory organs, eighty percent
of the intestines, seventy-five percent of the liver, half a brain, one kidney, and one
lung. Other glands, such as the pituitary gland, thyroid, parathyroid, pineal gland,
adrenal glands, and pancreas can also be removed. Granted, you may not feel too great and these
situations are never ideal, but the missing organs wouldn't kill you. While never done
lightly, the removing of an organ is always a last resort procedure and often results
in the use of medication for life-long treatments and possibly carefully controlled diets, and
a diminished quality of life. People with preexisting conditions will have a harder
time adapting to the lack of an organ, and your chances of adapting go down as you age,
but nevertheless, we're pretty durable!