Here are some of the most fascinating things about our body!
Find out why exactly having a longer ring finger is actually a good thing!
10 - Okay Boomer For anyone that’s a bit older that’s watching…...please
don’t get mad at the messengers.
But apparently, there IS such a thing as “old person smell”!
It’s not confirmation of a bad smell, it’s just confirmation that there IS a distinct
smell!
Research from Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia confirmed that people are
able to distinctly distinguish between smells from younger people and smells from older
people.
Smell is a sense that many animals use to recognize other animals from their species,
and age seems to be related to particular scents.
John Lündstrom, a sensory neuroscientist, convinced 44 participants from 3 different
age groups to wear unscented t-shirts with nursing pads on their armpits for 5 nights
in a row.
Participants had to sleep in these t-shirts.
After this, a group of young people were presented with the samples and were asked to estimate
the age group of each sample.
They were often able to instantly identify the scents from old people!
However, contrary to popular belief, old people smell isn’t necessarily bad.
It was rated as less intense and less unpleasant than smells from younger people.
So who had the worst smell in the study?
Middle-aged men!
9 - Snap Crackle Pop What exactly is happening when you crack your
knuckles?
Or maybe your neck or your back?
Knuckle-cracking has been a source of confusion and debated by scientists for a long time!
The characteristic pop can be explained by three mathematical equations, according to
researchers from US and France.
Their model confirms the idea that the cracking sound is because of tiny bubbles collapsing
as a result of pressure changes in the fluid of the joint that’s being cracked!
When we're cracking our knuckles, we pull apart our joints, which generates a pressure
variation that makes the bubbles size fluctuate.
And when we do that, the pressure goes down.
Bubbles appear in synovial fluid, which is lubricating the joint.
However, it doesn’t take a complete collapse of the bubbles to produce a cracking sound.
Only a partial collapse of bubbles is needed!
Bubbles stay in the fluid long after knuckles have been cracked.
The research also confirms why some people aren’t able to crack their knuckles.
If you have a large space between the bones in your knuckles, the pressure in the fluid
doesn’t drop low enough to make a sound!
8 - Male and female brains Differences between men and women have had
a long history of debate.
And when it comes to the brain, it’s still a raging hot topic to this day!
The interesting thing is, not all scientists have the same view.
Apparently, the differences between the male and the female brain isn’t a certain thing.
Some scientists think that there are clear differences, while others believe there aren't.
How is that though?
It depends on what’s being measured.
One study in the United Kingdom found that while men seem to have larger brains than
women, women on average seem to have thicker cerebral cortices.
But what does that mean for how the brain works?
That’s unclear.
And although there MAY be noticeable physical differences between genders, brain structure
also differs from person to person.
The question is, is that necessarily linked to gender?
Many scientists believe that the quest for distinctions between men and women is greatly
influenced by the media.
Whenever a new study finds a minuscule difference between male and female brains, people go
nuts.
And, the thing is, sometimes scientists use this to their advantage to get another paper
published.
If they can find some sort of difference between genders, then it’s almost guaranteed interest
and publicity.
So yes, the jury is still out on what the physical differences actually mean, if anything!
7 - Yawning You may think you know why you yawn.
It’s because you’re tired, and that’s why right?
Nope!
That’s not true!
Surprisingly, this is a question that still doesn’t have an answer.
Hippocrates was the first of many to develop a theory regarding our uncontrollable urge
to yawn.
According to him, when there’s a rise in body temperature, we use yawns to expel noxious
air out through our mouths.
Yeah, obviously, that was wrong.
So, what exactly is the purpose of yawning?
Apparently, it might just be a primitive way of communicating.
Are you yawning while we’re talking about yawning yet?
Yep, yawning is contagious!
But that’s just another theory.
Another theory is that yawning might stop the brain from overheating by chilling it.
The movement of the jaws moves blood flow around the head helping to carry away excess
heat.
What’s more, the strenuous movements could also flex the membranes of the sinuses.
This would bring a soft breeze through the cavities that should cause mucus to evaporate,
chilling the head like air conditioning.
The fact is, we really don’t know why we yawn!
6 - Goose bumps What’s the point of getting goosebumps?
You get it sometimes when you’re cold, or because you all of a sudden get a strong feeling,
such as happiness or fear.
Back in prehistoric times, we got goosebumps when we needed extra insulation from our body
hair.
Nowadays, we’re a lot less hairy.
For other animals, it serves as a protection against predators, as goosebumps make the
animal look bigger and more threatening.
And why exactly are they called goosebumps?
Well, it’s because the skin of a goose looks bumpy when its feathers are pulled out.
But hold on, why exactly was the goose name chosen?
A lot of other birds have bumpy skin when their feathers are plucked.
In many other languages, the goose was chosen too!
The most interesting phenomenon about goose bumps is the ability to control it!
Well, for some people that is.
An unknown proportion of people can consciously initiate goose bumps.
It’s almost like a super power!
People with this ability discover it spontaneously.
And it’s not known to be possible to learn this skill.
Interestingly enough, people who’re able to do this frequently aren’t aware that
not everyone can do it!
This kinda sounds like movies where people have REAL super powers!
Find out about the times movies got the science right in this video!
5 - Noses and ears Have you heard that our ears and noses never
stop growing?
Yep, it’s true, our ears and noses never stop growing!
Although our bodies do start shrinking in other ways, such as our height and weight,
our ears and noses don’t.
However, WHY it’s happening is up for debate.
Once our bones fully develop, they just stop getting bigger.
Our muscle and fat cells also stop dividing.
But research has proven that noses and ears get bigger for both men and women.
Noses may increase up to a couple of millimeters, but our ears can actually grow a full centimeter.
Ears and noses sag with age, thanks both to a loss of elasticity in our skin and to the
effects of gravity.
More controversially, it’s been suggested that because cartilage continues to grow and
ears are made of cartilage, that’s the reason why noses and ears get bigger.
But the evidence is sketchy, and some researchers argue that cartilage is only being replaced
and doesn’t account for the growth in ear size.
Whatever is causing it, the main thing is, you have to get ready for bigger ears and
a bigger nose!
4 - Dominant hand Have you ever wondered why most people are
right handed?
Wouldn’t it make much more sense that right and left-handed people occur at the same rate?
Actually, scientists still DON’T have an exact answer as to why this happens!
They even disagree on the percentage of people that are right-handed and left-handed!
The reason for that is because there’s no standard definition for measuring quote, “handedness”.
There’s evidence for genetic influence for handedness.
It’s just that geneticists can’t agree on the exact process!
However, one thing is clear.
Cultural and social influences play a big part in the development of someone's preference
for their right or left hand.
For example, teachers have been known to force kids to switch from using their left hand
to using their right hand for writing.
Also, some more restrictive societies show less left-handedness in their populations
than other more permissive societies.
We have a general idea of the causes of right-handedness in human populations, but there’s still
a lot we don’t know.
Such as why more people are right handed when it could have easily been the other way around!
3 - Belly button Fluff How do some belly buttons accumulate so much
lint?!
According to research done by scientists from the University of Sydney in Australia, belly
button lint, or what’s known as “navel fluff”, is a common situation for a lot
of middle-aged men!
It appears to be a trait middle-aged men who are a little overweight and a little hairy
around their bellies.
Scientists figured out that the hair surrounding the belly button served sort of like a hook.
Lint and strands of fibers would get caught and then find their way into the belly button!
Volunteers who shaved the hair around their bellies found much less lint and dirt in their
belly buttons.
But it isn’t just lint that researchers found!
They also found a lot of different types of bacteria that live in the belly button!
It’s basically a treasure trove of microscopic life forms!
2 - 2D:4D Is your ring finger longer than your index
finger?
The answer can give a lot of clues to your personality!
The ratio of these digits' lengths could hint at everything from personality to intellect
to physiology.
One of them seems to relate with kindness to women.
Research has found that men with shorter index fingers and longer ring fingers tend to be
nicer toward women.
The reason for the difference in digit ratio is related to the amount of testosterone men
have been exposed to in the womb.
The more testosterone, the longer the ring finger grows!
Longer ring fingers also seem to be related to how attractive a man may be perceived.
Men with a shorter index finger have more masculine faces, something that women prefer
more.
For both males and females, digit ratio was linked to higher scores on the SAT.
Researchers looked at boys' and girls' SAT performances separately and compared them
to finger-length ratio measurements.
They found a clear link longer ring fingers and higher scores on the math SAT.
But just like everything in life, there’s a trade off.
There’s a 33% higher risk of prostate cancer for men with longer ring fingers.
But hey, there’s one last benefit from getting extra testosterone in the womb we didn’t
mention.
Research has found that men with longer ring fingers have longer…..yeah we’re sure
you can guess what we’re talking about!
1 - Trillion smells Did you know that there are around one TRILLION
smells your nose can detect?!
How did scientists even count that high?!
It was previously thought that humans could detect only around 10,000 scents.
We detect smells by inhaling odor molecules from the air.
They then bind to receptors in the nose and that’s how we identify different odors.
So how did the number one trillion come up?
Simple math really.
Scientists extrapolated numbers depending on the different combinations of the 128 odorants
an average person can realistically tell apart.
Watch this next video to find out about the times Hollywood actually got the science right!