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34 Fascinating Facts About The Human Body That Not Many Of Us Are Actually Aware Of
Some people say that today there are almost no "blank spots" left on our planet - that is, places completely unexplored by humans. And therefore, supposedly, life today has become more boring than, say, a hundred or two hundred years ago. Well, that's definitely not true.
On the one hand, the depths of the oceans still hold many mysteries, and on the other, there's so much we still don't know about what directly surrounds us. What's more, we don't even know much about our own bodies! Still don't believe me? Then please feel free to read this list of interesting facts, made for you by Bored Panda!
More info: Reddit
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
So, you know how people with schizophrenia tend to hear voices, telling them all kinds of potential bad stuff...
Well, what do you think happens to people who were born deaf, but then get schizophrenia?
It turns out that if they were taught sign language, the "voices" come out as visions of disembodied hands signing at them to tell them the same kinds of bad stuff.
OTOH, people born blind apparently never get schizophrenia.
arthbach 5 days ago (edited)
There's a guy who has hallucinations. His service dog is trained to 'greet' people. If the dog greet the person, the person is real. If the dog doesn't react, it's a hallucination. - - - The guy's name is Kody Green, and the dog is Luna. Whilst searching for his name, I found out there's a growing number of psychiatric service dogs.
tee-lena 1 day ago
One of the best uses of a dog,in my opinion. I have a friend,a wounded veteran,who uses several dogs from his apartment building to calm his PTSD by walking them. He's training one to be a service as I type, actually
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CP 4 days ago (edited)
People imagining voices started religions. It seems odd we wouldn't trust a person making the same claims today. For a new God that is.
Michael Largey 5 days ago
If I started imagining voices, I'd want them all to be speaking in pig Latin, so I'd know I was just channeling the Three Stooges.
Becky Samuel 3 days ago
There are no confirmed cases of schizophrenia in people born blind.
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#2
How about the recurrent laryngeal nerve, the nerve that runs from the brain to the larynx? Now you'd think that in humans, that would be a pretty short trip.
And you'd be wrong.
In fact, the nerve comes down from the brain, goes screaming right past the larynx and down to the vicinity of the heart, where it loops under the aortal arch, then finally comes back up to the larynx. And that is true for all mammals. In giraffes, the thing can be about 10 meters long.
And the reason it is that way is that evolved from a nerve that used to go from a fish brain to fish gills, and the shortest path was underneath the heart. But as fish evolved, their shape changed, and eventually they acquired a neck, moving the brain to a different place in the body. It's WAY easier for evolution to just make something longer as opposed to rewiring it, so the RLN just got longer and longer, still looping under the heart.
Reason #4821 why we know evolution is real.
keyboardtek 4 days ago
If by designer you mean "God", well that god screwed up countless things .
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James Blanken 2 days ago
John G. You didn't pay attention in science class, did you? A theory is a hypothesis (or idea) with evidence to back it up.
No one 6 hours ago (edited)
Our fish relatives also explain why men are susceptible to hernias: fish gonads originated up in the chest region. They descended down through the abdominal floor to escape the warm blooded mammalian body so the s***m wouldn't be cooked. In doing so, they left a weak spot that the intestines could poke through, causing a hernia. Now, does that mean the nerve from our gonads to our brain takes this circuitous route, too? Maybe that explains Eddie Murphy's bit about questioning if he got hit in the 'nads, and then suddenly the pain sets on.
Zig Zag Wanderer 4 days ago
It's not sensible to anthropomorphise 'evolution'. Stuff happened, some of it worked, some didn't. What worked is what we have today. There's nothing active about the process, and nothing is guiding it except survival.
Lotekguy 2 days ago
Being guided by survival is the essence of evolution.
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Remi (He/Him) 2 days ago
Someone doesn't understand the difference between scientific theory and the kind of theory some drunken uncle comes up with at 11pm it seems.
Load More Replies... #3
Oh okay I learned this fun one after some dumb little embryo stupidly implanted in my fallopian tube & kept trying to grow until the tube explode. Next thing ya know, I was in a hospital bed post-op from live saving surgery down an organ, one that I had no intention of parting ways with.
Fearful that I had essentially lost half my reproductive organs, the surgeon gave me an anatomy lesson.
So, typically when an egg is released by the left ovary, the left fallopian tube will snatch it up, same for the right side. I thought, “this is a bummer guess I have like half the opportunity to get pregnant again.” NOPE. My remaining tube can CREEP ACROSS my uterus to snatch up an egg released by the ovary on the opposing side.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 4 days ago
Just one more reason why I wish I could have that whole system removed XD But it's astounding how difficult it is to convince an OBGYN that, at the age of 43, no, I'm NOT planning on having children and no, I DON'T have to talk it over with my husband (because I don't have one.) I wonder if, at my next annual, I should tell my OBGYN "Look, I KNOW my fallopian tubes can crawl around inside of me to snatch up my ova. NOW will you let me have a hysterectomy?" ......upon further thought, that'll probably just get me involuntarily committed... XD
Lavender Myst 4 days ago (edited)
I have Endometrosis, diagnosed at 16, i was told at 23 after in and out of hospital for consistant pain, and having to have scar tissue removed that i could not have a historectomy incase my Future Husband and I wanted chidren. But i could be put on menopause shots (i do not recommend) Doc insisted i would change my mind. I did manage to become pregant at 27(unplanned), lost the child 3 weeks before due date, i am now 45, never got pregnant again.(wasnt not trying). i was told a full pregnancy and birth might 'fix' it, since it kinda "resets' after. It did not, 'fix it'. and infact i have now also been diegnosed with Adenomyosis.. I Still am being denied having a hysterectomy, since i havent hit menopause, its not life or death, and my husband may still want (even though hes told them he doesnn't).. that i could 'still have kids' even though, givin my age and other health issues it would not be wise or safe to do so, but heaven forbid i not give a not even conceved child a chance to live when its just 'cramps'. Also not many options for ob/gyns that take my insurance where i live. I sympathize with you lakota
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Lazy Panda 2 3 days ago
I only learned in my early forties that the ovaries weren't physically connected to the fallopian tubes. Mind blown that those flaopian tubes will happily job share!
Sally Moen 3 days ago
Well the film strip I saw in 5th grade made them look a lot like sea urchins
A few days ago, in the AskReddit community, the user u/wassim_elia posed the question to netizens: "What's an interesting fact about the human body that a lot of people don't know?" The result was a thread that, in just a couple of days, has already garnered over 3.6K upvotes and around two and a half thousand various comments.
From amusing coincidences and absurdities to truly profound scientific opinions, netizens' “body facts” are astonishingly diverse. And the lively discussion surrounding many of these opinions and things truly makes them even more interesting. So, please read this selection of over three dozen of the most exciting pieces from this thread!
#4
A baby girl is born with all of the eggs she will ever produce. This means when her mother was a fetus, the egg that would someday become her was carried in her maternal grandmother’s womb.
I adored my maternal grandmother and was extremely close to her. Knowing that she carried and nurtured part of me is such a beautiful thought.
UKDeek 4 days ago
I'm going to point out the obvious flaws in the above - a person born with a womb will have all the egg cells they will ever have in life. This is at the point of birth and not as a fetus, as stated above. These are the cells that may eventually develop into eggs and not the eggs themselves. Also, the baby girl in the above example would not be an egg carried in her maternal grandmother's womb - her mother would have come from a fertilised egg that developed in the maternal grandmother's womb, and once born the mother would have the egg cells with one of those being fertilised and growing, become the girl given in the example. It is posts like this that show that people need to get better educated about reproduction.
Peeka_Mimi 3 days ago
I think that's why we grandma's love our grandkids like they're our own kids. That and when they're too much, we can send them home.
keyboardtek 4 days ago
So are people created from the older eggs any more likely to have health issues than the people born from younger eggs?
#5
The brain is a very needy drama queen in many ways. It often acts like a selfish tyrant when it feels the need to protect itself... it can and *will* jeopardize nearly every other bodily system to save itself.
For example, fainting is essentially the brains super cool way of saying "I want better blood flow, but i'm not getting it, therefore I will *force* the body to be horizontal".
When you're on the floor, gravity acts in favor of better circulation to the brain than standing upright (the heart and brain are then on the same level).
Other examples can include glucose hoarding, blood shunting, and cushing's reflex, to name a few.
Susan Teter 22 hours ago
Other example...Pregnancy. My son has been messing with my brain from conception on.
Tom Brincefield 15 hours ago
Friend from college, very intelligent woman, got pregnant with her first child and became a complete ditz. She kept complaining about how the kid was just ducking her brain right out.
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Plentyofoomph 3 days ago
To be fair: it is the most important organ as it controls all the other ones
#6
Your tattoo ink is held in place by an army of living immune cells (macrophages) that don't know what to do with it. As they age and disappear, new guys come to the front line to hold the ink in place.
Rick Murray 4 days ago
Look up Kurzgesagt on YouTube. They did a video about how tattoos work, and just recently one about how laser removal works. Not for the faint hearted!
Jeff Anderson 1 hour ago
I love that channel. Great for late night existential crisis.
Load More Replies... keyboardtek 4 days ago
And a recent study linked a form of skin cancer to tattoos. Who would have guessed injecting a foreign substance under our skin might have long term health issues.
The evolution of human views on our own bodies is strikingly uneven. Two thousand years ago, Chinese and Roman doctors performed complex surgeries and inserted dentures - and just a couple of centuries later, millions of people in Europe seriously believed that humans were literally molded from a special kind of clay.
Some even considered attempting to understand how our bodies function as deeply sinful, while others, like Leonardo da Vinci, drew countless drawings of human muscles and bones to achieve maximum realism in their paintings. And so it has been throughout almost all of human history.
#7
When you do not get enough sleep, your brain can actually start eating itself. Microglial cells, which are responsible for cleaning up waste in the brain, begin breaking down and consuming healthy neurons and connections, not just damaged ones. This process, known as astrocytic phagocytosis, increases when you are sleep-deprived. Over time, this can lead to memory problems, slower thinking, and an increased risk of diseases like Alzheimer’s.
JL 4 days ago
So, if for instance, one got very little sleep every night because they stayed up very late posting hateful things online, they may actually be hastenening any brain disorders present or cause additional ones? Good to know.
Cara Vinson 4 days ago
This makes perfect sense as I a****d myself terribly undersleeping for years and now..... i post on truth social all night about how i'm the best thing ever and everyone who hates me is somehow deranged.
Andrew Keir 4 days ago
Cara Derangement Syndrome is a thing, I'm told. There's a lot of it about - for some reason ...
Load More Replies... Shark Lady 3 days ago
I'm screwed then, I.only sleep 4 nights out of 7 and even then it's less than 4 hours.
Wetbeard-the-Pirate (he/she) 3 days ago
So, say hypothetically, if someone had to wake up at 5 am because their business takes an hour to drive fifteen minutes by car to a school that has hours that proven to be unhealthy, that's unhealthy? Interesting
#8
The nerves for your teeth run quite close to your sinuses.
If you get a sinus infection the swelling can push against the nerves and your brain thinks you have tooth ache. .
LakotaWolf (she/her) 4 days ago (edited)
Back when I was in my 20s and my chronic migraines were really ramping up, I didn't yet know at that point that they WERE migraines, so I was desperately trying to figure out why I was getting all of these random pains in various places in my skull. I had a horrible "toothache" at one point, so I went to my dentist, convinced I had the very first cavity of my life. Nope, teeth were totally fine. Turns out it was a migraine, which can sometimes cause something called "referred pain", where the trigeminal nerve (which is affected by migraines) sends out signals that can be misinterpreted by the brain, which then convinces you that the pain is originating from other areas of your skull such as your forehead, eye, base of your skull, or your teeth XD
My O My 3 days ago
When I have bad migraines my right eye socket hurts. It feels as if the only thing that would help is to rip the eye out and scrape the lining out if the socket
Load More Replies... Rick Murray 4 days ago
I'm the opposite. My dentist was like "how was this not agony for you?" and I was "wait, that was a tooth? I thought it was just my sinuses acting up again".
Littlemiss 3 days ago
My gums swelled so badly with wisdom teeth coming in that my face would swell too. I looked like I had a permanent cold, because of it.
#9
I was just telling my kids about how if you put on special glasses that turn your vision upside-down, after a few days of wearing them your brain will 'correct' your vision back to right-side up. At that point without the glasses your 'normal' vision is upside down and takes a few hours to go back. I believe theres a paper by George Stratton about it.
Andrew Keir 4 days ago
IIRC it took much more than a few hours to reset, prompting some fear in the initial tests that the subject would stay with inverted vision. But there were no Ethics committees back then so ...
Peter Parker 4 days ago
It's not that your vision magically turns upside down after a while, you just get used to the upside down view. So your brain learns that left is right and right is left, and your movements adapt, e.g. your head turns left when you want to see something on your right field of vision, etc.. You'll still see everything upside down while wearing the goggles.
Pedantic Panda 3 days ago
You already view things upside down and your brain inverts it, just needs a while to adjust. But yes, your brain already turns things upside down for you
Load More Replies...Just over two hundred years ago, doctors learned to administer anesthesia during surgery, and a couple of decades later, they began actually washing their hands and disinfecting their tools. This revolutionized medicine.
However, the pioneers of these discoveries sometimes faced genuine persecution from "academic science" - like Ignaz Semmelweis, for example, who suggested that obstetricians simply disinfect their hands, thereby saving countless lives of new mothers and newborn babies.
But even in the 20th century, seemingly the most enlightened in terms of science and medicine, incredible things were sometimes quite common. With each passing decade, we learned more and more about our bodies - and often these discoveries completely overturned what had previously been considered absolute axioms.
#10
That your stomach gets a brand new lining every 3 to 4 days. That’s your body basically saying to not worry about the acid in your stomach is under control. Stomach acid is strong enough to literally eat through metal if it could, so your stomach needs that constant makeover to keep itself from dissolving. Most people have no clue this is happening every single week.
Rick Murray 4 days ago
My stomach threw it's toys out of it's pram over the weekend. It was not amused that I had a tiny amount of coffee. I suspect my stomach lining is made of nitroglycerin - prod it wrongly and it explodes. 🤢
DaisyGirl 3 days ago
Mostly yes — the surface of your stomach lining renews itself very quickly, roughly on the order of every ~3–5 days for many of the surface epithelial (mucus-secreting) cells. A couple of important nuances: It’s not the entire stomach wall that’s replaced that fast. The rapid turnover is mainly the top “surface” layer of cells that directly faces stomach acid and food. Different stomach cell types renew at different speeds: surface cells are fast, while deeper gland cells (like some acid-secreting and enzyme-secreting cells) generally turn over more slowly (often weeks or longer, depending on the cell type). This fast renewal, plus a protective mucus/bicarbonate layer, is a big reason your stomach can handle strong acid without digesting itself.
John 4 hours ago
That's what it already said. It specifically said the lining. Also if your acid is too strong your esophagus will start turning into stomach cells and it is terrible. I can't lay down for 3 hours after eating. Barrett's esophagus s***s.
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Ace 5 days ago
Not really true, especially the bit about metals. Yes, like all cells in the body those in the stomach are constantly being replaced, but it's on a par with your skin growth, for example; we all know that our outer skin layer is constantly being worn off and replaced from within. The metal thing is a nonsense, the stomach acid is simply not strong or concentrated enough to do more than a slight surface reaction on most metals even over a long period of time. Metal objects like coins have been surgically retrieved from stomachs months or even years after ingestion.
Zig Zag Wanderer 3 days ago
*shows picture of someone NOT holding their stomach, but their guts*
#11
If you get shot in the ear the cartilage is damaged and will show a divot because it’s unrepairable.
Andrew Keir 4 days ago
Would this mean that, if you don't have permanently damaged cartilage, you *weren't* shot in the ear?
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Peeka_Mimi 3 days ago (edited)
And if you get grazed by a 5.56mm bullet you will be missing the top of your ear. And if IF miraculously you kept the part of your ear, the dr would sew the bandage in, not put a little diaper on it. You would definitely need stitches which would result in a scar.
Mel in Georgia 5 days ago
My husband had a basal cell carcinoma removed from his ear and they patched it with pig skin! Looks pretty normal now.
Apatheist Account2 5 days ago
The sound is okay, there's just a little crackling...I'll get my coat.
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Philly Bob 1 day ago (edited)
Well, if you put a sanitary napkin over it, it will heal immediately. I'm sure women world wide would k**l to know what brand it was that stops bleeding that fast! :)
Wendy Hamilton 2 days ago
Not necessarily true. I had a piercing in the cartilage of my left ear but it hurt when I slept. I had it removed weeks later. There is no mark of any kind.
Tom Brincefield 14 hours ago
The skin can heal over, especially a small hole like a piercing, but the cartilage is still damaged.
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Upstaged75 3 days ago
Isn't that how pierced ears work too? I have an extra hole that I pierced myself in high school that I really wish would close up. No such luck!
#12
Most people think Celiac Disease (a genetic autoimmune disease where the body destroys villi in the small intestine when gluten is consumed, leading to malnutrition, joint pain, ataxia, growth disturbance, and cancer) is something that affects Western populations, but it's actually turning out to be just as common (at around 1% of the population) in South East Asian and African populations as well as testing increases, particularly through immigration to countries where testing is common. The rate may also be similar in other populations as well if testing is ramped up there as well.
It's also not a new phenomena - it was first described in ancient Greece, and the Dutch Famine in WWII is what helped narrow down gluten as the culprit for what triggered Celiac - children dying of malnutrition in hospitals actually improved during the Famine because they were no longer fed bread.
keyboardtek 4 days ago
And lactose intolerance where the body cannot digest milk sugar is common among people of African decent. This was not taken into account years ago when food donations to staving people included powdered milk. Those poor people ended up dehydrated from the diarrhea caused by consuming the milk.
Jeff Anderson 1 hour ago
Same with native Americans I've heard. Could be bs though because I'm part native and lactose intolerant and my family maybe just said that
Load More Replies...Very soon, in a couple of weeks, the first quarter of the 21st century will end, which many unfairly consider the era of the internet and computer technology. In fact, medical science has made tremendous strides in the last 25 years - in particular, we've gradually begun to achieve success in treating complex genetic diseases, as this dedicated article at National Geographic says.
And, beyond generating funny pictures and other meaningless slop that only clutters the internet, artificial intelligence is truly helping us discover new cures and solve health problems by finding new approaches to long-known problems. Every year brings us new knowledge about ourselves. We just need to have the desire to acquire this knowledge.
#13
Redheads require up to 20% more anesthesia than non redheads.
Sue User 3 days ago
Just last week i warned them " it wears off quickly". Halfway through, I tell them "I can feel that" They give me another shot and say " you did warn us. This time we gave you something that will last longer". Why didnt they give me that the first time ?
Load More Replies... LakotaWolf (she/her) 4 days ago
If I recall, the latest research shows it's tied to a mutation in a gene called MC1R. It controls melanin production and redheads have a mutation that causes it to produce more phaeomelanin than eumelanin, which causes the red hair, but the mutations in the MC1R gene are also somehow tied to pain reception/how the person feels/reacts to pain. I don't think there's an absolute 100% sure answer (because studies are inconsistent and AFAIK there hasn't been a study done on a large enough population of redheads - possibly because they are so rare.) But, I think the most accepted explanation at the moment is that the MC1R genetic mutation that gives them their red hair also somehow controls pain pathways in the brain as well.
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Sharlene Tan 3 days ago
They feel less pain ? Is this why there's a stereotype about gingers not having a soul?!
#14
Located in the cochlea in your inner ear there are about 16,000 hairs called stereocillia. About 4000 of them are primarily responsible for your ability to hear. If you lost all 4000 hairs you would be deaf. If you lose a substantial amount of those hairs, your hearing will be reduced. Loud sounds, like machinery, explosions, cars and bikes and amplified music destroys those hairs. There isn’t really a “may harm” or “might damage” concept, just the degree of damage done when these loud sounds impact the hairs in the cochlea. Once damaged, these hairs never grow back. You have around 4000 and that is all you will have in your entire life. The more you lose, the worse your hearing will be. Forever.
Nikkie Nothing 4 days ago
Chemo can cause the lose of those hairs, my boss had perfectly fine hearing before going through chemo and now we have to yell when we talk to him.
Upstaged75 3 days ago
Yeah, hearing loss is a well known side effect of chemo. Unfortunately.
Load More Replies... keyboardtek 4 days ago
There ae medical researchers who think injecting your stem cells into that part of the ear will regrow damaged cilia.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 4 days ago
My ex used to tell me that the "stress" I put him through (e.g., him yelling at me or lecturing me for "mistakes" I made) caused him to have hearing damage and to develop tinnitus. Apparently my mere existence destroyed his stereocilia XD Interestingly enough, he never seemed interested in pursuing ANY kind of treatment for his hearing loss or tinnitus.
Daya Meyer 3 days ago
Your ex seems to be a real t**t reading those things you write here about him, my dear. Good for you that you took care of yourself.
Load More Replies... Sally Moen 3 days ago
A lot of boomers destroyed their hearing from amplified music in the 1970s
#15
Your brain knows to ignore your nose. . . SITTING. . . RIGHT. . . THERE, because otherwise it would pretty much drive you nuts.
arthbach 5 days ago
The brain ignores lots of things that present as constants. We don't generally hear our own heart beating, and we don't smell our own smell. Typically, we don't hear our own footsteps, unless they are echoing, or unusually loud. The brain says, "Nope, not interesting enough to use any processing power. What's next?"
Michael Largey 5 days ago
But I can still hear myself speak, which means the brain's standards of importance are not that high. (Well, my brain's, anyway.)
Load More Replies... Nikki Sevven 4 days ago
I just had to change reading glasses, as the old ones broke. The old ones were basic brown. The new ones are red. My brain hasn't yet learned to ignore them and is constantly paying attention to them, even when I'm focused on something else.
Well, we're pretty sure you may know some of the facts listed in this selection, but some of them may be a real revelation for you. And then, in conversation with friends and colleagues, you can show off your new knowledge - after all, why not?
So please feel free to read this list to the very end - and in case you know something about the human body that isn't included here (after all, any list has its limits), please feel free to share your interesting piece of knowledge in the comments below.
#16
Studies have shown that trauma can be inherited through markers on a person's genome that persist over multiple generations, meaning psychological trauma can be passed down through genetics.
For example, if your grandparent experiences a traumatic event in early childhood (say, a parents death) and lacks the appropriate support system to deal with the loss, the trauma they hold from this event can be passed to their child which in turn can be passed to you.
Kelly H. Wilder 5 days ago
There are many fascinating studies on this. The best-written is about the genetic alterations caused by the trauma of the Họlọcaụst.
Cheeky chicken 1 day ago
I think it's possible that reincarnation are really genetic memories passed down our family tree's x
Load More Replies... WubiDubi 3 days ago
Starvation directly affects the current generation and at least the next two after that, indirectly. Genes are switched on and off. S***m and eggs are updated. So the kids and grandkids are more likely to put on weight more easily as a starvation defence.
WubiDubi 3 days ago (edited)
So a spermwhale is censored. Grow up BP. Edit: ok, these filters...
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Ace 5 days ago
Yes, it's not how genetics works, but it has been shown that certain traits can be passed down through adopted offspring. I recall a keynote conference speech from Richard Dawkins about baby rats from non-nurturing parents being switched to nurturing mothers, then passing down that trait even through their own babies who were switched back to non-nurturing mothers (something like that, I misremember the exact details). If you don't know who he is look him up, he's one of the most eminent genetics researchers in the world.
Load More Replies... #17
If you ever need a kidney transplant, they don’t remove an old kidney they just add a third one.
Stardust she/her 5 days ago
I learned this when I had to roleplay as a surgeon performing a kidney transplant for a science fest
Deborah B 3 days ago
People who recieve kidney transplants often need future transplants as their new kidney fails. The surgeons just keep adding kidneys. I read a post by a guy who had five kidneys, as he was on his third transplant...he was commenting on an "unusual things a medical examiner might find" list.
Daya Meyer 3 days ago
This is right as long as the kidneys are not too big. There is a disease called polycystic kidney which roughly means that the kidneys are full of growing cysts so they get bigger and bigger over time and ends with nonfunctional kidneys. So a kidney is transplanted and if there is no space, a sick kidney will be removed. And it is also the case If the cysts are often inflamed or many of them are filled with blood because this could harm the new kidney.
Load More Replies... Littlemiss 3 days ago
I knew someone who was born with 3 functioning kidneys. It was a family trait. They all had the extra kidney cut off.
#18
The tongue is the only muscle attached at only one end.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 4 days ago
According to my mother, mine is hung in the middle and flaps at both ends.
ChakatBlackstar 6 hours ago
Well...it's supposed to be. On rare occasions one may be born where that isn't true and thanks to a quack doctor who didn't notice it one has to relearn how to talk and eat after it finally gets corrected.
#19
I’ll use myself for an example. I have a rare trait called antimetropia, in simple terms that means my eyes have opposite eyesight (one is nearsighted, the other is farsighted). Most people don’t seem to know this is possible. Even when I try to order glasses online… the websites tell me my prescription must be wrong because it’s too unusual.
Ace 5 days ago
My wife (and I'm sure man other people) ended up with this condition by design. Laser surgery on one eye to correct long-sightedness and actually make it slightly short-sighted. With such a situation the brain is able to combine the images to make a better complete picture at both short and long distances than either eye on its own. So after 30-plus years of wearing glasses she no longer needed them at all.
Jeff Brock 1 day ago
I wasn't aware that this was rare...I have always been this way. I went from needing nothing because my far sighted eye was stronger and could make up for the near sighted eye, to a period of 20 years or so using a contact lens in one eye. Then I aged into natural mono-vision and needed nothing at all again. Now I wear multiple focus contacts that are the inverse prescription of each other.
Sally Moen 3 days ago (edited)
Interestingly, using different strengths of contact lenses works the same for your vision correction as bifocals on glasses. I mean being nearsighted then developing presbyopia. I can wear one farsighted corrective lens and one nearsighted corrective lens and my brain will allow me to see distances AND read small print
Penelope Orange 3 days ago
I wear contacts that act in the same way. It's called monovision. One contact is for distance, and the other is for near vision. I got used to them very quickly and also got used to my progressive eyeglass lenses quickly. Using this method of contact prescription can work well for those who need bifocal or progressive lens glasses.
#20
The human brain is pink, soft, jiggly and friable.
Source: I perform autopsies.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 4 days ago
"Friable" means that it crumbles easily, NOT that it's easily fried in a frying pan, btw. Just in case someone was worrying that OP was pulling a Hannibal Lecter with the brains of the people they autopsy XD
Stephanie Did It 4 days ago
Thanks, because that is exactly where my brain went!
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Nikkie Nothing 4 days ago
Once you remove the dura which is the very thin yet incredibly strong membrane that covers the brain and keeps it intact
#21
Have you ever wondered why most animals all seem to basically look alike (at least until you become very familiar with some particular pet or something?) Whereas humans seem to be quite distinct.
Human faces, like our overall bodies, generally from one individual to another, are very similar in shape. We are not really different from other animals that way. People just _seem_ very unique because our brains are highly tuned to differentiate faces.
Also attractiveness in faces, aside from symmetry and masculinity/femininity, is mainly just about being the most average looking face possible. Meaning proportions that are most typical.
"Lactose intolerance" affects half of Americans and it's not a medical condition or flaw in any way. It's just not typical for human adults in general to be able to consume cow's milk. The idea that everyone should be able to drink it mainly comes from the dairy industry and maybe a little bit of racism. Cheese and pizza may be worth whatever the consequences are though :P
It's also not normal for humans to be able to routinely drink alcohol safely. That idea also comes from the alcohol industry.
Stardust she/her 5 days ago
Alcohol is literal poison so yeah, obviously it’s not normal for us to be able to drink it routinely and safely
Hellen 3 days ago
The milk industry created successful propaganda, especially with the "got milk" campaign. We do not nutritionally need milk at all. Orange juice propaganda was created when there was a large amount of oj that needed to be drank, so it was marketed as a breakfast food.
Load More Replies... Kim Kermes 3 days ago
I think the hu~race became fond of alcohol looong before the alcohol industry.
nottheactualphoto 3 days ago
People have been drinking alcoholic beverages for thousands of years. Long before the "alcohol industry" existed.
Plentyofoomph 3 days ago
Ive heard that this is the reason for that idea that "all *insert race* look the same". Ive forgotten the specifics, but let's say its Caucasians and Asians. Caucasians have a lot of variation in the eyes, and Asians have a lot of variation in the mouth. And you're tuned to look for the differences in your own race. So when you see members of another ethnic group who dont have much variation in that area, they tend to look much more similar than members of your group.
Huddo's sister 4 days ago
Hard cheese has usually got very little (less than 1g) lactose, as do many baked goods, so no need to give it up if intolerant. All I have to do is switch to lactose free milk/cream/ice cream and it's much more permissive than when I had to cut out gluten.
pelemele 4 days ago
If you are lactose intolerant, you can drink milk kefir (or make it yourself): the bacteria that ferment the milk feed on lactose. This results in lactose-free fermented milk.
Load More Replies... #22
So there are these little bugs that live on your face. Pretty much everyone has them.. Demodex they are called. a mite that lives in human hair follicles, usually on your face. You can't wash em off as they bury too deep they eat your oily face sebum and reproduce at night.
#23
Our body loves fat but hates muscle because fat is like an energy storage for it and muscle is a "useless weight" for our body. Hence why is building muscle so hard. .
#24
Restless Leg Syndrome can be a symptom of Anemia. Get your iron checked.
Bi.Felicia 4 days ago
Can confirm, my former coworker was very anemic and she would crunch and munch on ice all day.
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#25
There is only one bone in our bodies connected to no other bones. It is called the hyoid bone and it is in your throat. .
Ace 5 days ago
Sometimes. It's a favourite of detective fiction writers, but in fact is a very unreliable indicator, either positive or negative, of manual strangulation.
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#26
The human body has more than 60 sphincters.
#27
People think their eyes are in the upper half of their skull. They are basically in the middle of your skull. Halfway between your chin and the top of your head.
Stardust she/her 5 days ago
I draw a lot of art of humans so I had to study a bit of basic human anatomy and I can verify this, if it weren’t for hair we’d see that we have large foreheads
LakotaWolf (she/her) 4 days ago
Some of us have very large foreheads anyway XD I joke that mine is a "fivehead" instead of a "forehead". Apparently it's at least partially genetic - I've seen photos of my biological mother and one of my biological sisters and they, too, have a glorious fivehead.
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James Blanken 2 days ago
Yup, learned this ages ago when I took some drawing classes. Afterwards seeing eyes drawn in the upper half looked weird.
#28
When a woman is pregnant, small bits of the baby's DNA cross the uterus barrier and stay in her body even after birth. So every child a woman carried has changed her forever.
Humans have stripes, but we usually cannot see them.
On the same subject, a lot of women are chimeras and don't know about it. They have different DNA in different parts of their bodies. Only a small portion discover it thanks to situations that demand DNA testing.
arthbach 5 days ago
We don't know how many people are chimeras. There has not been enough testing to be able to find this out. When taking a DNA test, it's normal to have spit test or cheek swab. It's very unusual to have DNA sampled at multiple sites.
highwaycrossingfrog 3 days ago
And, as far as I'm aware, it does not occur disproportionately in women
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#29
You can actually smell your lungs while breathing but your brain ignores this smell.
Stardust she/her 5 days ago
I think I smelled it maybe once or twice in my life, kinda weird smell honestly
LakotaWolf (she/her) 4 days ago
My ex insists that he can too, when he's sick with a cold or flu. He says it smells like ammonia.
Load More Replies... Sue User 3 days ago
When I get sick, it smells metalic. I think it is the iron in blood. My lungs can and do, bleed when I am sick.
#30
Oh I learned this one recently: one of the X chromosomes in a person with two X chromosomes is inactive. So they’re technically only using one X chromosome (aka Barr Body).
Austzn 5 days ago
I've read about this too. IF you have 2 X's, one of them gets kinda archived in the cells.
highwaycrossingfrog 3 days ago
True, but they activate in alternate waves as we grow, and this is why humans have stripes (AKA Blaschko lines)
#31
All your senses (when stimulated) can wake you up EXCEPT smell! So if your house is burning at night you might wake up when the smoke starts to hurt your nose or throat but not because of the smell. That’s why fire alarms are very important!
Sarah Kathrin Matsoukis 1 day ago
Smelling salts work by releasing pungent ammonia gas, which irritates the membranes in your nose and lungs, triggering a reflex to breathe in deeply and rapidly. Tldr: it burns in your nose
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Geobugi🇰🇷🇰🇭 4 days ago
Not true. I once woke up because my neighbors cesspit was broken and the smell not only woke me up, it actually prevented any sleep as well. Sadly it was to late to check in amy hotel near by, it was that bad i would have booked anything with four walls and a slightly useful roof.
Andrew Keir 4 days ago
Many children *are* alarms, warning us of the approach of children.
Load More Replies... Mel in Georgia 5 days ago
Cooking smells waft into our bedroom for some reason. And if it's something that smells really good, I can't fall asleep! Not sure if it would wake me up or not.
Kristin Felder Branyon 2 days ago
My husbands farts have 100% woken me up. Thought I was choking on the tail end of a rotten donkey.
#32
There’s regulatory mechanisms for the regulatory mechanisms that regulate gene expression. Triple regulation.
Ace 5 days ago
Regulated regulations keeping you regular? Seriously, this one needs more explanation to make any sense to most people.
Rick Murray 4 days ago
Bodies are complicated. So there's a failsafe, and that failsafe has a failsafe, and... As you may be aware, the biome is full of viruses (bacteriophages) and the immune system is crazy warlike. If any of them were to go out of control, things get medically interesting really quickly. So all around the place are loads of failsafes to ensure that we function (mostly) correctly. Gene regulation is one of them.
Load More Replies... #33
If your immune system discovers you have eyes, it will destroy them.
Stardust she/her 5 days ago
Not exactly, organs such as the eyes, CNS, foetus, placenta and the gonads have something called ‘immune privilege’ which basically means that these structures are allowed to deal with antigens on their own without the need for an inflammatory response as inflammation in these areas can have severe consequences. This post is way too oversimplified and may be misleading
#34
Most of your cells aren't human. .
Ace 5 days ago
"My cells" are all human, it's just that within my body there are a massive number of non-human mostly single-cell organisms, but I don't own them.
CP 4 days ago (edited)
I would argue that cells required for humans to live are just as human, DNA be d@mned.
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What do you think ?
Apatheist Account2 5 days ago
My favourite body fact, which is interesting for fans of Dr Evil from the Austin Powers movies: there is a tendon in the little finger that helps it extend. Its full name is the Extensort Digiti Minimi. Look up "minimi", I kid you not.
Stardust she/her 5 days ago
Not related to the article at all but as most of you guys know BP has started the ‘Christmas Marketplace’ thingy and it says that on collecting 1,000 gifts you’ll get 100% off on BP premium and I’m just a hundred short of reaching that goal. I don’t have any money of my own to purchase premium so it would be kind of neat if I was able to get it through this. So my question is should I really go for it and get 100% off on BP premium, would this website honour that claim or do you guys think it’s too risky and they’d end up charging me after a certain time?
Apatheist Account2 5 days ago
My favourite body fact, which is interesting for fans of Dr Evil from the Austin Powers movies: there is a tendon in the little finger that helps it extend. Its full name is the Extensort Digiti Minimi. Look up "minimi", I kid you not.
Stardust she/her 5 days ago
Not related to the article at all but as most of you guys know BP has started the ‘Christmas Marketplace’ thingy and it says that on collecting 1,000 gifts you’ll get 100% off on BP premium and I’m just a hundred short of reaching that goal. I don’t have any money of my own to purchase premium so it would be kind of neat if I was able to get it through this. So my question is should I really go for it and get 100% off on BP premium, would this website honour that claim or do you guys think it’s too risky and they’d end up charging me after a certain time?
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