Hey it’s Professor Dave, I wanna tell you about the human body.
There are many reasons why someone might want to learn science.
You could master physics and chemistry in order to make new materials and build useful
machines.
You could learn about astronomy and unravel the mysteries of the universe.
But one extremely practical application involves learning about the human body.
With some background knowledge in the physical sciences, it becomes possible to learn about
all the complex systems present in animal species, including humans.
And with that knowledge, one can truly begin to understand medicine, and nutrition, and
countless other areas of universal interest.
How is the human body organized, and how does it function?
What are its components, and what are those made of?
As complicated as the human body is, these questions have answers, and anyone can understand
them if they put in a little effort.
Of course, as we mentioned, the ability to understand the human body requires a significant
amount of background knowledge.
Everything inside of us, whether the heart, or the brain, or any other organ, is made
of certain kinds of tissue.
These tissues are made of cells, which we study in biology.
These cells are made of large biomolecules like proteins and DNA, which we study in biochemistry.
And these biomolecules are made of atoms, which we study in general chemistry.
So while it is certainly possible to memorize a lot of facts about the human anatomy without
any of this prerequisite knowledge, the only way to gain a deep understanding is to take
care of those subjects first.
Luckily I have you covered for all of those and more, so if you need some review, check
out my other playlists and get yourself up to speed.
If you’re all set regarding atoms and molecules and cells, then you’re ready to climb up
to the next rung on the ladder of complexity, and begin to learn about multicellular life.
There are millions of multicellular species on Earth, and perhaps in a future zoology
course, we can look at a whole bunch of them, but in this series we will focus on one particular
species, Homo sapiens, because that’s us.
We are part of the kingdom Animalia, which means we are animals.
We belong to the phylum Chordata, and specifically the subphylum Vertebrata, which means we have
a spinal column.
We are in the class Mammalia, which means we are mammals, with features such as hair
on our heads and skin.
We are part of the order Primates, which means we have big brains.
We belong to the family Hominidae, which are the great apes.
And finally, we are the last surviving members of the genus Homo, which means man, and our
species is called sapiens.
All the other animals on the tree are fascinating in their own way, but we spend lots of time
studying ourselves so that we can better understand the human body and the amazing things it can do.
In this series, we will move through the human body one component at a time, focusing on
anatomy, or biological form, as well as physiology, or biological function, and we will slowly
build towards a complete understanding of how these systems work together to produce
a viable human being.
That means examining the different types of tissue we all possess, and then bones and
muscles, as these are some of the basic structural components within us.
Then we will look at each major system, including nervous, endocrine, circulatory, respiratory,
digestive, immune, and others.
Each of these serves a critical function in maintaining our health, so we have to know
how they work, on both the cellular and molecular level.
Given that we talk about our bodies quite a bit on a day to day basis, when discussing
what to eat, or how to exercise, it is very likely that you will have heard about many
of these body parts before, some of them as early as childhood, but in this series we
will go beyond a casual memorization of facts.
We have to connect this information to the abstract world of atoms and molecules, so
that we can produce a seamless continuum of knowledge from the microscopic world all the
way to the macroscopic.
Once we are through here, you will be able to look at your own hands, and imagine all
the tiers of reality that operate within them.
This is the kind of holistic knowledge that allows for critical thinking.
Not just a memorization of facts, but the ability to take in new information and integrate
it with existing knowledge regarding biological systems.
So if you’re ready to change the way you see yourself in the mirror, let’s learn
some anatomy and physiology!