Interesting tidbits of information ...

[Lin]

... about humans.

Read this in an email and a few of the facts surprised me. : )

The Human Body is a treasure trove of mysteries, one that still
confounds doctors and scientists about how it works. It's not an
overstatement to say that every part of your body is a miracle.

It's possible for your body to survive without large fractions of its
internal organs. Even if you lose your stomach, your spleen,75% of
your liver, 80% of your intestines, one kidney, one lung, and
virtually every organ from your pelvic and groin area, you wouldn't be
very healthy, but you would live.

During your lifetime, you will produce enough saliva to fill two
swimming pools. Actually, saliva is more important than you realize.
If your saliva cannot dissolve something, you cannot taste it.

The largest cell in the human body is the female egg and the smallest
is the male sperm. The egg is actually the only cell in the body that
is visible by the naked eye.

The strongest muscle in the human body is the tongue and the hardest
bone is the jawbone.

Human feet have 52 bones, accounting for one quarter of all the human
body's bones. Feet have 500,000 sweat glands and can produce more than
a pint of sweat a day.

The acid in your stomach is strong enough to dissolve razor blades.
The reason it doesn't eat away at your stomach is that the cells of
your stomach wall renew themselves so frequently that you get a new
stomach lining ever three to four days.

The human lungs contain approximately 2,400 kilometers (1,500 mi) of
airways and 300 to 500 million hollow cavities, having a total surface
area of about 70 square meters, roughly the same area as one side of a
tennis court. Furthermore, if all of the capillaries that surround the
lung cavities were unwound and laid end to end, they would extend for
about 992 kilometers. Also, your left lung is smaller than your right
lung to make room for your heart.

Sneezes regularly exceed 100 mph, while coughs clock in at about 60
mph. Your body gives off enough heat in 30 minutes to bring half a
gallon of water to a boil. Your body has enough iron in it to make a
nail 3 inches long.

Everyone has a unique smell, except for identical twins, who smell the same.

Your teeth start growing 6 months before you are born. This is why one
out of every 2,000 newborn infants has a tooth when they are born.

A baby's head is one-quarter of its total length, but by the age of 25
will only be one-eighth of its total length. This is because people's
heads grow at a much slower rate than the rest of their bodies.

Babies are born with 300 bones, but by adulthood the number is reduced
to 206. Some of the bones, like skull bones, get fused into each
other, bringing down the total number.

Your nose can remember 50,000 different scents. But if you are a
woman, you are a better smeller than men, and will remain a better
smeller throughout your life.

The human body is estimated to have 60,000 miles of blood vessels.

The three things pregnant women dream most of during their first
trimester are frogs, worms and potted plants. Scientists have no idea
why this is so, but attribute it to the growing imbalance of hormones
in the body during pregnancy.

The life span of a human hair is 3 to 7 years on average. Every day
the average person loses 60-100 strands of hair. But don't worry, you
must lose over 50% of your scalp hairs before it is apparent to
anyone.

The human brain cell can hold 5 times as much information as an
encyclopedia. Your brain uses 20% of the oxygen that enters your
bloodstream, and is itself made up of 80% water. Though it interprets
pain signals from the rest of the body, the brain itself cannot feel
pain.

The tooth is the only part of the human body that can't repair itself.

Your eyes are always the same size from birth but your nose and ears
never stop growing.
By 60 years of age, 60% of men and 40% of women will snore.

We are about 1 cm taller in the morning than in the evening, because
during normal activities during the day, the cartilage in our knees
and other areas slowly compress.

The brain operates on the same amount of power as 10-watt light bulb,
even while you are sleeping. In fact, the brain is much more active at
night than during the day.

Nerve impulses to and from the brain travel as fast as 170 miles per
hour. Neurons continue to grow throughout human life. Information
travels at different speeds within different types of neurons.

It is a fact that people who dream more often and more vividly, on an
average have a higher Intelligence Quotient.

The fastest growing nail is on the middle finger.

Facial hair grows faster than any other hair on the body. This is true
for men as well as women.

There are as many hairs per square inch on your body as a chimpanzee.

A human baby acquires fingerprints at the age of three months.

By the age of 60, most people will have lost about half their taste buds.

About 32 million bacteria call every inch of your skin home. But don't
worry, a majority of these are harmless or even helpful bacteria.

The colder the room you sleep in, the higher the chances are that
you'll have a bad dream.

Human lips have a reddish color because of the great concentration of
tiny capillaries just below the skin.

Three hundred million cells die in the human body every minute.

Like fingerprints, every individual has a unique tongue print that can
be used for identification.

It takes 17 muscles to smile and 43 to frown.

Humans can make do longer without food than sleep. Provided there is
water, the average human could survive a month to two months without
food depending on their body fat and other factors.

Sleep deprived people, however, start experiencing radical personality
and psychological changes after only a few sleepless days. The longest
recorded time anyone has ever gone without sleep is 11 days, at the
end of which the experimenter was awake, but stumbled over words,
hallucinated and frequently forgot what he was doing.

Every human spent about half an hour after being conceived, as a
single cell. Shortly afterward, the cells begin rapidly dividing and
begin forming the components of a tiny embryo.

Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than
left-handed people do.

Humans are the only animals to produce emotional tears.

[SloopJonB]

Lots of neat info there Lin. The sweat glands on feet explains a lot.

Women smell better than men - I knew that.

[Tucky]

I love these kind of facts- my favorite from your list was the one about the brain using energy like a 10 watt bulb. The one of these that I always remember is that if you put all the economists on the earth end to end, they wouldn't reach a conclusion.

Without looking at a map, if you fly due south from Tampa, Florida, what is the first country in South America you pass over?

[Soñadora]

[Soñadora]

From my color analyst days...

The receptors in the eye are called 'rods' and 'cones'. Rods deal with light and cones deal with color. Men have more rods than women do and less cones than women do. That's why it's extremely rare for women to be colorblind and men can see in the dark much better than women.

[BeauV]

I love these kind of facts- my favorite from your list was the one about the brain using energy like a 10 watt bulb. The one of these that I always remember is that if you put all the economists on the earth end to end, they wouldn't reach a conclusion.

Without looking at a map, if you fly due south from Tampa, Florida, what is the first country in South America you pass over?

I'm not looking ahead, but don't you miss S. America entirely?

[BeauV]

From my color analyst days...

The receptors in the eye are called 'rods' and 'cones'. Rods deal with light and cones deal with color. Men have more rods than women do and less cones than women do. That's why it's extremely rare for women to be colorblind and men can see in the dark much better than women.

So, you're saying that "guys got rods" and "women got cones" Hmmmm, I think I knew that.

(I'll get my hat)

[kimbottles]

I love these kind of facts- my favorite from your list was the one about the brain using energy like a 10 watt bulb. The one of these that I always remember is that if you put all the economists on the earth end to end, they wouldn't reach a conclusion.

Without looking at a map, if you fly due south from Tampa, Florida, what is the first country in South America you pass over?

I'm not looking ahead, but don't you miss S. America entirely?

Well South America swings well east from us so I am guessing somewhere in Central America (maybe Panama?) Or does Central America not count? Maybe the trick is that you pass west of South America? OK, I give up where is my map?

[Ish]

Aha! (Looked at map).

[kimbottles]

rather be lucky than good.......(it helped that I had been to Panama......)

[SloopJonB]

Do left handed people die younger due to having more accidents in a right handed world?

[Soñadora]

From my color analyst days...

The receptors in the eye are called 'rods' and 'cones'. Rods deal with light and cones deal with color. Men have more rods than women do and less cones than women do. That's why it's extremely rare for women to be colorblind and men can see in the dark much better than women.

So, you're saying that "guys got rods" and "women got cones" Hmmmm, I think I knew that.

(I'll get my hat)

Well that didn't take long

[Orestes Munn]

Do left handed people die younger due to having more accidents in a right handed world?

Left handedness is associated with a range of of cognitive and health problems, so it's probably not the world's fault. Handedness isn't noted in most medical records or death certificates and I imagine there is a reporting bias in favor of noting left handedness vs. right. So, while the statistic is not surprising, it may not be accurate.

[BeauV]

Oops, I was wrong by just a tiny bit. It turns out that Equator and Peru, buy just a tiny bit, seem to protrude west of Miami.

Kim, I think Panama is central 'merica not south 'merica.

[kimbottles]

Oops, I was wrong by just a tiny bit. It turns out that Equator and Peru, buy just a tiny bit, seem to protrude west of Miami.

Kim, I think Panama is central 'merica not south 'merica.

I thought we were using Tampa Bay?

[Charlie]

Do left handed people die younger due to having more accidents in a right handed world?

Maybe latent effect damage from nuns' hitting them with rulers for writing with their left hands.

[Ish]

Oops, I was wrong by just a tiny bit. It turns out that Equator and Peru, buy just a tiny bit, seem to protrude west of Miami.

Kim, I think Panama is central 'merica not south 'merica.

I thought we were using Tampa Bay?

True. Beau loses 2 points for attempted obfuscation.

[BeauV]

Oops, I was wrong by just a tiny bit. It turns out that Equator and Peru, buy just a tiny bit, seem to protrude west of Miami.

Kim, I think Panama is central 'merica not south 'merica.

I thought we were using Tampa Bay?

True. Beau loses 2 points for attempted obfuscation.

HEY! Yup, leave it to me to get the darn city in Florida wrong! OK, Tampa Bay is at 82.4650 west. Salinas, Ecuador is at 80.9501, so Tampa Bay is further west! Talara, Peru is at 81.2719, so Tampa Bay is further west again! Geeesh. But wait!! The Galapagos are part of Ecuador and they are at about 90 West!!! Do they count? They are part of Ecuador and that's S. 'Merica!! Probably not.

OK OK OK, I got the wrong part of Florida, so my original hunch was right. There is no part of South 'Merica that is west of Tampa Bay!

To keep this game going. Without looking at a map, which is further north Madrid Spain or New York City, NY? Careful - it's obviously a "trick question"

BV

[kimbottles]

Oops, I was wrong by just a tiny bit. It turns out that Equator and Peru, buy just a tiny bit, seem to protrude west of Miami.

Kim, I think Panama is central 'merica not south 'merica.

I thought we were using Tampa Bay?

True. Beau loses 2 points for attempted obfuscation.

HEY! Yup, leave it to me to get the darn city in Florida wrong! OK, Tampa Bay is at 82.4650 west. Salinas, Ecuador is at 80.9501, so Tampa Bay is further west! Talara, Peru is at 81.2719, so Tampa Bay is further west again! Geeesh. But wait!! The Galapagos are part of Ecuador and they are at about 90 West!!! Do they count? They are part of Ecuador and that's S. 'Merica!! Probably not.

OK OK OK, I got the wrong part of Florida, so my original hunch was right. There is no part of South 'Merica that is west of Tampa Bay!

To keep this game going. Without looking at a map, which is further north Madrid Spain or New York City, NY? Careful - it's obviously a "trick question"

BV

I thought they were about the same??
(Where did I put that map, oh hell I am going to look at Google Earth....)

[SloopJonB]

Which is farther North - London England or Prince Rupert B.C.?

[SloopJonB]

Which is farther North - the California/Oregon border or the southernmost point in Canada?

[cap10ed]

Which is farther North - the California/Oregon border or the southernmost point in Canada?

Southernest point in Canada. Is in Ontario.

[Tucky]

The trick of the Tampa Bay flight (and you can't use Miami) is that you are completely west of South America and this trips up a lot of people who don't realize how shifted over the continents are.

I have a great puzzle- it never takes anyone more than 30 seconds to recognize what the pieces are, and only one person has ever put it together in less than ten minutes (and she is a master puzzler who often does puzzles upside down). All it is is the 38 states in red plastic with no indicated right side up and no framed border. People start where they live and quickly get a portion of the country done, but it is surprising how hard it is to get each state right side up and there are portions of the country where almost everyone struggles (those damn Virginias or damn Colorado Wyoming or who cares about Alabama anyways)

Just remember there is only one state with a one syllable name and only one state that only touches one other. I was raised on this stuff.

[Tim OConnell]

Did you know that it takes a man in a tweed suit five and a half seconds to fall from the top of Big Ben to the ground?

[BeauV]

Did you know that it takes a man in a tweed suit five and a half seconds to fall from the top of Big Ben to the ground?

I supposed he'd be a bit faster in worsted wool.

[kimbottles]

Why don't we give Point Roberts to the Canadians?

[Rasp]

Do left handed people die younger due to having more accidents in a right handed world?

Left handedness is associated with a range of of cognitive and health problems, so it's probably not the world's fault. Handedness isn't noted in most medical records or death certificates and I imagine there is a reporting bias in favor of noting left handedness vs. right. So, while the statistic is not surprising, it may not be accurate.

The reason for higher rates of death in lefthanders is that their hearts are closer to their enemies weapons (club, sharp stick, sword, spear, pistol, ect) when engaged in combat. Think of a pistol duel.

[Rasp]

Seems like there may be more to it than that. Lefties in combat or one on one sports seem to get help from the element of surprise due to their opponents not being accustomed to confronting the lefties unconventional stance.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=498707

[Tim OConnell]

Why don't we give Point Roberts to the Canadians?

A brilliant idea

The US and Cdn govt's would save millions in border control costs and those of us that sail out of there wouldn't have to get up an hour earlier than needed just to pass through some of the most miserable and surly border staff.

[kimbottles]

Why don't we give Point Roberts to the Canadians?

A brilliant idea

The US and Cdn govt's would save millions in border control costs and those of us that sail out of there wouldn't have to get up an hour earlier than needed just to pass through some of the most miserable and surly border staff.

It really makes no sense for us to keep it, most of it is owned by Canadians anyway.