50 HUMAN MYSTERIES (Part 1)

Science and medicine amaze me in the discoveries that unfold.  The amplify the mysteries God placed throughout His creation.  The psalmist declares that we are

Human anatomy still confounds doctors in the details of its working.  It's not an overstatement to say that every part of your body is a miracle.  This week and next I'll share 50 facts that leave me stunned.  Here are the first 25.

1. It's possible for your body to survive without a surprisingly large fraction 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. 

2. 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. 

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


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

5. Human feet have 52 bones, accounting for one quarter of all the human body's bones. 

6. Feet have 500,000 sweat glands and can produce more than a pint of sweat a day. 

7. 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 every three to four days. 

8. The human lungs contain approximately 2,400 kilometers (1,500 miles) 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. 

9. Sneezes regularly exceed 100 mph, while coughs clock in at about 60 mph. 
                                                                 
10. Your body gives off enough heat in 30 minutes to bring half a gallon of water to a boil. 

11. Your body has enough iron in it to make a nail 3 inches long. 

12. Earwax production is necessary for good ear health. It protects the delicate inner ear from bacteria, fungus, dirt and even insects. It also cleans and lubricates the ear canal. 

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

My husband, Doug and his twin

Don, are not identical.  Therefore they must have their own unique smell.
(So many things come to mind here that I'll not write another word, thus, resisting temptation!)

                                                                                                       
14. 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 

15. 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. 

16. 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. 

17. It's not possible to tickle yourself. This is because when you attempt to tickle yourself you are totally aware of the exact time and manner in which the tickling will occur, unlike when someone else tickles you. 

18. Less than one third of the human race has 20-20 vision. This means that two out of three people cannot see perfectly. 

19. 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. 

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

21. 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. 

22. 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. 

23. 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. 

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

25. Your eyes are always the same size from birth but your nose and ears never stop growing. 

This guy actually won the world championship for big noses.  I know his mama is proud of him!

                                                                                     
Next week we'll take a look at the second half!