The human body is utterly fascinating. But just when you think you’ve got a grip on everything there is to know, science progresses and throws you a curveball. What you may have learned in biology class at school is just the tip of the iceberg and might have already changed over the years.
The members of the r/AskReddit online community shared the creepiest and most bizarre facts they know about the human body, and we’ve collected some of the most intriguing ones to share with you. Scroll down, have a read, and you might just see your perspective change.
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If you have severe mental illness like anxiety and depression, you feel like there’s an entire universe within your brain. The amount of thoughts, pain, feelings, sensations, imaginations and perceptions about everything, and it’s complexity, is just too much to handle. You literally feel like time has stopped and are living in an alternate reality.
What I’m trying to say is, when you are mentally ill, you have no control over what your brain is feeding your mind, already considering that the brain has high affinity towards negativity (thoughts, pain, etc). Your brain can/will turn against you.
Mental illness is no joke, please take care.
Mine did. I tried. I failed. I failed a lot. I got meds & therapy. I decided that I was bad at finishing myself off so I should accept that I’m also a failure at that and move on. Be kind to yourself and hang around a bit longer, you are valuable and loved. If no one has told you that you are loved then I’ll tell you, I love you being on this planet, you can be and do amazing stuff. Stick around and you’ll see. Be more kind.
Our brain filters out a lot of what we see along with just straight making s**t up based on extrapolation.
There’s a nerve that has the nerve of not knowing what its purpose is.
Specifically the ulnar nerve aka the Funny Bone.
-rest taken from tumblr post
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The reason it feels so weird to hit it is that it's not designed to deliver pain signals, so when you hit it it just wiggs out and sends Garbage signals to the brain, and the brain is just like "uh, dude- Ulnar, what the hell is this garbage?? You're supposed to curl a finger and a half, and move some muscles in the forearm, why are you sending me this c**p? How am I supposed to make this into sensory output?"
And the Ulnar nerve is just like "dude dude dude, brain- what the hell is going on?!?"
And the brain goes- "idiot. Fine. You're on fire, freezing and being electrocuted. Happy?"
And the Ulnar goes "holy c**p brain!! I'm on fire, freezing and being electrocuted! What am I going to do!!??!"
And the brain says "You're an idiot ulnar. A damn idiot.”.
You can find a similar nerve slightly behind and under the inside ankle bone, shots out in your big toe if you hit it. Not as bad tho. Over 15 years ago when i was skateboarding i smacked my board up on the perfect spot on my elbow and hit that Ulnar nerve so good. Had sand in my arm for a couple weeks then. I still have reduced pain sensory in that whole area affected when you hit the nerve. And i easily get that tingly feeling just by having my arm bent, starts in my pinky/ring finger goes up the outside of my lower arm, you all know the feeling. Funny how one little thing like that can damage a nerve and never make it normal again.
If you ever plan on working as a doctor, nutritionist, sports scientist, chiropractor, etc., then you’ve got to have a firm understanding of human anatomy, biology, and biochemistry. However, like with anything science-related, this body of knowledge is constantly evolving.
This means that as a professional, you have to put in the time and effort to stay up to date with the latest developments in your area: reading science journals, attending conferences, and engaging in debates with your fellow researchers. If you’re not active enough, you might soon find that what you know is outdated and you’re not as competitive as your colleagues.
Your intestines "know" what shape they're supposed to be in, and can move themselves, which means gut surgeons can just stuff them back into you when they're done and they'll sort themselves out.
That must feel weird. I wonder if it is fast enough that the patient is still anesthesised or high on pain killer, or if it is slow and they get to feel their inside moving.
When you get laser tattoo removal the ink doesn’t disappear, you pee it out.
Your body’s immune system breaks down the pigments of ink and it flows in your blood stream, gets processed through your kidneys, then you pee out the ink.
Your tongue has **incredible** tactile capabilities. So much so, that if you look at any object, you can vividly imagine what it would feel like to lick it. Go ahead, look at the wall, your shirt, your shoe—the tongue knows.
I had my wife in front of me while reading this. I know what you mean.
One of the most intriguing things about the human body, at least for us, is our brain’s capacity for neuroplasticity—the ability to change and adapt throughout our entire lifetime. Though neuroplasticity is very active when we’re kids, we have the ability to mold our brains even when we’re older.
To put it simply, neuroplasticity means that our brains are slowly shifting and adapting as we learn new skills and things about our environments. New connections get formed, and some existing ones get stronger, while weaker ones end up being lost.
The liver can grow parts of itself back.
If you get a splinter or foreign object stuck in your skin you can hold a flashlight against your skin and shine the light through your flesh, and the foreign object will be a dark spot. Light actually passes through our flesh quite well. Also, if you shine a bright enough light into your mouth you can see the light in your own eyes.
Edit: I’m really glad that so many people have gotten out their flashlights and had some fun with them! Never stop exploring and being curious and trying to discover new things! The world is amazing and has so much crazy stuff to uncover! Y’all keep having fun now, and thank you everyone for all the wonderful replies and absolutely making my day!
People keep saying "your brain" in these comments. I think one of the creepiest things is that you are the brain and the brain is you, but for some reason we brains really don't like to acknowledge this.
Incident number 1: I had a bad enough broken bone when I was 9 that it almost killed me. Apparently the marrow that makes blood can't exist in your bloodstream, fun fact lol.
Incident number 2: My orthopedic surgeon and my neurologist still don't have a good explanation as to how I have full range of motion in my legs (ie: the ability to walk/run even) I've never seen a super smart guy like my neurologist just go "I don't really know?" after I had broken my back and had nerve damage and partial paralysis in both legs. My neurologist says that sometimes cerebrospinal fluid can act as a bridge for major nerve damage so MAYBE that. Otherwise? He wrote some published stuff about it that was more question than answer haha.
All I know is that when I get x-rays done or switch doctors, the response is "how did you walk in here??" it visibly unsettles them. Like I'm playing a prank and my wheel chair is hidden somewhere lol. I don't really care, if I'm being honest. It hurts a lot sometimes, and people get really weird sometimes when I remind them that I can't do some things but, *shrugs* I can walk so it doesn't matter much to me.
Long story short, sometimes your body can do some weird and creepy s**t that even the professionals go....."ehhhh?" about lol.
I had a very complicated case when it came to my oral health. Because of a weird combination of genes, 5 of my permanent teeth didn’t erupt until proper surgery was done. The fifth tooth that didn’t erupt was so deep inside my skull that the surgeon had to take care not to cut into my nasal cavity when removing it from inside. I’m a topic of gossip at my local dentist because of this
Meanwhile, our capacity for neuroplasticity depends a lot on our lifestyles. Someone who’s constantly stressed, sleeps poorly, and is underfed will have a harder time rewiring their brain than someone who is very fit, active, social, and constantly engages in new and interesting tasks.
Of course, neuroplasticity isn’t a panacea. It still requires a massive amount of effort for us to learn new skills, languages, and information. That being said, it means that we never lose the ability to learn as we grow older, which is a very optimistic thought.
Food that was consumed can sometimes take up to 5 days to fully pass through your intestines into your colon. So when people say that you are full of s**t, they ain't lying.
Or in my case, a month or more. I literally only poop 1 or 2 times a month...at best. I generally wake up in pain, sweats and nausea as my boddy attempts to pass the hard stool. I have literally passed out on the toilet from this. Its horrible every time and I'm certain my colon will explode and kill me someday. Yes, I'm being treated by a doctor.
Bodies will move as they’re coming out of rigor. I’ve been bumped by a few (I’m a coroner). Bodies can also make sounds as the remaining air/ gas leaves… 2am in the morgue and I thought I was in COD zombies.
This list is making me want to NEVER work in a morgue. Respect to those who do, it's just not for me. I scare way too easily.
The placebo effect is one of the biggest superpowers of the human body, showing how strong and weak it is at the same time and how easy is to trick any mind. Modern day science can't still fully understand it.
It even works on rats. If a rat has had painkillers and believes it got them again, it will act as if the painkillers had worked.
The pain you feel from a sunburn is your skin cells effectively killing themselves before they mutate into cancer.
No. I mean I could twist reality into knots trying to make this fit reality. But the pain you feel is, like all pain, damage to nerve cells' endings. Cell death around them doesn't help. And yeah, the cells are sorta designed to die rather than allow mutation go unrepaired.
I’m pretty sure it was here I read something along the lines of “People might quit sunbathing if we called sunburns by their real name: radiation burns.” I can’t tell you how much that impacted me! I quit sunbathing decades ago, but prior to that, I loooved being tanned. Once I decided I wanted to stop before I wrinkled, I never did it again, but I still fervently wish I’d never done it! And I think children should be taught about “radiation burns.” Do they really wanna get THAT on their largest organ? (Not THAT, you dope; I’m talking about your SKIN!)
I recently learned of the cell corruption, and I really wanna make that a whole novel idea but now we have the Suicell Squad and I'm definitely putting that somewhere
I like the idea of skin "taking one for the team", whether it's scientifically accurate, or not.
I like the idea of the pain being nature's way of telling us not to do it again, but do we ever listen?
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Just once I got a sunburn that bad, on my legs. When a fly sat down on one, it burned like hell
Just because it does happen it doesn't stop skin cancer there is always the few.
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Hardly. We evolved with hair on open plains with high grasses. Uprightness is a function of using our eyesight. Lost of hair is a function of keeping us cool over long distances traveled in hot climates. Like the female pelvis hasn't resolved itself to childbirth (until the 20th century it was the number one way for women to cash it in), our human bodies haven't quite evolved to tackle the loss of melanin that occurred as we moved out of Africa. Not to be rude, but we are completely perfectly evolved to fill the niche we occupy. We are outcompeting virtually every living creature on the planet, affecting their habitats and replacing them with our domesticated animals in exponential amounts. Read science, not science fiction. Please.
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...the exact opposite of what the OP wrote. impressive, really...
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A dead body will often move as its being cremated. Muscles contract as they cook, after all. Sometimes this means a body will sit up in the crematory machine.
I wonder if this is on the orientation for funeral home workers. "Oh, and by the way the bodies might move when you're cremating them." I feel like that's something you should know in advance.
The first time a scientist discovered the existence and function of the brain, what really happened was a brain discovering the existence of itself.
The front of your tongue is curious, constantly patrolling, and autonomous. It chases the dentist around your mouth and you aren’t even aware of it. So embarrassing and weird/creepy.
Human skin is overlaid with a pattern called Blaschko’s Lines, stripes covering the body from head to toe. The stripes run up and down your arms and legs and hug your torso. They wrap around the back of your head like a hood and across your face. You just can’t see them.
Those are so awesome, I hoped to see this here. I recommend googling them
Heard a story of this guy who got an axe or something to his head. Destroyed most of his brain, except the part that processes routines. He got up from the bed beside his dead wife, got dressed started brushing his teeth, (what was left of them), casually checked the mirror and wiped his skin of some blood with tissue. Walked round the house and collected newspaper from the doorstep, eventually he just collapsed. he was like a zombie , unaware of anything but for his routine. really freaky.
Reminds me of the headless chicken that lived because the stem of its brain was still there.
In really bad cases of endometriosis, uterine tissue (the lining of the uterus, i.e. the blood and ‘stuff’ shed during a period) can grow throughout the *entire* body. Colon, bladder, chest, even the head/brain in rare cases. It’s incredibly painful, since it still tries to ‘shed’ like a normal period but has nowhere to go.
It can only be confirmed via surgery, since it doesn’t show up on most ultrasounds/MRI scans.
A female baby is born with all the eggs she will ever have.
The intestines are covered by a double "fleece" of peritoneum. See it like a blanket.
When your intestines get damaged for whatever reason, this blanket starts moving out of itself and crawling upwards towards the place which has the injury. It will stay there until the injury is recovered. And then move on again.
Maybe not the most creepy fact, but definitely interesting in my opinion.
Human beings are a cesspool of bacteria and when you die your body eats itself from the inside out.
The gut microbiota is essential for our life. We could consider this "last supper" as a token of gratitude by our side.
There is an urban myth that your fingernails continue to grow after death, which is supposed to explain why dead bodies often appear to have long nails.
The truth is that the soft tissues in the fingers and hands tend to contract as they lose moisture, leading to the *appearance* of growing nails.
Same myth with your nose and ears growing all your life, or dogs being colorblind. Plenty of examples i would think the majority of people believe are true.
One thing that spun me out was hearing about Fallopian tubes after a friend went through emergency surgery.
Fallopian tubes are mobile and active parts of your reproductive tract. When one tube isn't there or is “broken” the other tube can actually move over to the opposite ovary and “pick up” an available egg.
That is why in sterilisation, the tubes are often rather cut instead of just tied. Prevents them from reaching any eggs.
Our minds can be tricked, and our minds can trick us. Some people sleep with their eyes open. Our memories are fallible. If you remember something from 10+ years ago, the events in your mind are likely changed. You might remember a couple things properly, but our memories are almost never 100% accurate. On top of that, we usually don't remember the unimportant stuff. Our dreams are a product of our subconscious, from any memory especially recent ones.
Edit: thank you for the upvotes! :D.
You can grow tumours with hair, teeth, and eyes but no heart or brain.
My favorite is the blind spot at the center of each eye, where the optic nerve is.
A lot of people don't even know it exists, and even if they do, it is bigger than people often think.
And it's also really easy to demonstrate to people if you know how. It's one of my favorite bar tricks - all you need is a pen and a napkin to draw a cross and a dot.
https://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/capsules/experience_jaune06.html
Alternate demo: https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chvision.html
Edit: If it doesn't work, you're doing something wrong - not getting close enough, the image is too small on your phone, you're not closing the correct eye or not keeping your gaze fixed on the cross.
It isn't because you don't have a blind spot. Unless you're a squid, you have a blind spot. All vertebrates have them.
The fact that our chromosomes can never truly and perfectly replicate themselves. Most defections can be and is usually fixed and wont cause any harms. But if the damage is too big to be fixed that cell will literally commit suicide, If it doesnt the cells around it will try to kill it. If they cant the immune system and white blood cells deal with it. But if a defected cell survives all 3 of these counter measures. It will start to rapidly replicate and replicate. This is how a tumor forms and how we get cancer. Cancer wont stop growing untill its host is dead. This is also why its this hard to treat since cancer cells arent a new organism they are still fundementally human cells. any medication that aims to kill them risks the chance of killing the healthy cells with the cancer cells. This is why we cant be too agressive with medication on cancer. Any part that can be physically removed will be removed via surgery and the rest will be taken care of with chemotherapy and meds. If the tumor is big enough to be physically removed but is in a position that makes it almost impossible to remove it like around vital organs or veins that person will most likely die. So yeah there is only 3 measures between you and having cancer.
Edit: I am so happy that my comment has lead to an educative conversation in the replies. You guys rule. And also I have to say this too. Cancer cant be prevented due to its nature unfortunately.
You also have effectively way more cancer cells than you'd ever be comfortable with. Your body just kills basically all of them immediately.
Humans are bioluminescent. We literally glow, the visible light that emits from our bodies are 1000 times less intense than the levels which pur eyes are sensitive to.
Apparently we also have fascinating patterns that we can't see with our eyes. But I forgot what those are called. Does anyone know?
Note: this post originally had 54 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
So much information ^^^ to put into your brain. Allow me to add a tiny bit more. You are as unique as a snowflake and way more complex, there’s one of you and yet you are like every other thing on earth as your presence here is part of a huge system that exists for no reason but also every reason. You may focus on whichever side of that you wish but even if you don’t understand or comprehend your value you should stick around ‘cause something will come along and help you realise your importance on the planet. All a bit hippy and that but you are truly valuable and the world loves having you around. Even if you don’t believe it you can wait a bit and see how things go, you never know, you might find that thing you are looking for in the most unexpected of places.
I find it hard to believe that the world has any use for 8 billion greedy, selfish, all-consuming, ever-breeding creatures. The "system" was never "designed" to support a species that consumes so many resources for itself.
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I have one too: Doctors are actually extremely fascinated about any sort or medical novelty, no matter how horrid it is, and will gladly study them. My godfathers wife had a housecat that gave birth to 5 babies, but every single one of them had down syndrome (something cats can apparently suffer from too). The veterinarian was so fascinated by this that he told his entire Gremium, so my godfather suddenly had like 30 veterinary profs, some even with students, that wanted to study those cats. The first vet who "discovered" it even wrote some study about these cats. I don't remember how exactly it ended because I was like 7 when it happened and my godfather has since divorced so I didn't see the ex and her cats anymore.
Cats only have 19 pairs of chromosomes, so 38 in total. This means they don't have chromosome 21, the one which people with Down Syndrome have an extra copy of. This makes it impossible for cats to have Down Syndrome.
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Here's a good one: There's every chance that some people alive today will effectively be immortal. It probably won't be a big bang discovery, but if new treatments come along every year that extend lifespans by a couple of years then you're always ahead of the curve.
I have a theory I'm immortal. So far the evidence is working out.
Load More Replies... So much information ^^^ to put into your brain. Allow me to add a tiny bit more. You are as unique as a snowflake and way more complex, there’s one of you and yet you are like every other thing on earth as your presence here is part of a huge system that exists for no reason but also every reason. You may focus on whichever side of that you wish but even if you don’t understand or comprehend your value you should stick around ‘cause something will come along and help you realise your importance on the planet. All a bit hippy and that but you are truly valuable and the world loves having you around. Even if you don’t believe it you can wait a bit and see how things go, you never know, you might find that thing you are looking for in the most unexpected of places.
I find it hard to believe that the world has any use for 8 billion greedy, selfish, all-consuming, ever-breeding creatures. The "system" was never "designed" to support a species that consumes so many resources for itself.
Load More Replies... I have one too: Doctors are actually extremely fascinated about any sort or medical novelty, no matter how horrid it is, and will gladly study them. My godfathers wife had a housecat that gave birth to 5 babies, but every single one of them had down syndrome (something cats can apparently suffer from too). The veterinarian was so fascinated by this that he told his entire Gremium, so my godfather suddenly had like 30 veterinary profs, some even with students, that wanted to study those cats. The first vet who "discovered" it even wrote some study about these cats. I don't remember how exactly it ended because I was like 7 when it happened and my godfather has since divorced so I didn't see the ex and her cats anymore.
Cats only have 19 pairs of chromosomes, so 38 in total. This means they don't have chromosome 21, the one which people with Down Syndrome have an extra copy of. This makes it impossible for cats to have Down Syndrome.
Load More Replies... Here's a good one: There's every chance that some people alive today will effectively be immortal. It probably won't be a big bang discovery, but if new treatments come along every year that extend lifespans by a couple of years then you're always ahead of the curve.
I have a theory I'm immortal. So far the evidence is working out.
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