Interesting Science Facts About the Human Body

Your fingernails grow four times as fast as your toenails

Nails grow at a rate of about one millimeter per month. It takes your nails about three months to grow from the cuticle to the tip, meaning that if you break them you need to wait that long for them to heal and re-grow. This means it can be difficult for nails to fully recover before breaking again. The good news is that fingernails grow four times as fast as your toes! Fingernails should take between six and nine months to fully regrow, while it can take up to 18 months for toenails.

The brain remains more active during sleep

Our brain is the most valuable part of our body, and it has to be highly active and efficient when we’re awake, in order for us to be productive. But what about when we’re asleep?

The brain works differently during sleep, and sometimes it is actually more active than during the daytime. Let’s take a look at some of these amazing facts about your brain:
– Scientists found that while sleeping you create new neural connections that improve your mental make-up. It’s like looking at life in another dimension.

– Sleep strengthens and builds your brain, which makes it easier for you to think, learn and remember important things.

– This is why you dream: while sleeping, your brain processes the day’s events and stores them inside your memory banks. The more you sleep, the more you remember! So make sure that you get enough sleep every night.

– While we sleep we never truly turn off our brains. Even when we are fast asleep our minds continue to work, remembering the day’s events or turning solutions over in our heads to problems that have been bothering us.

– We use more than one-third of our brains while we sleep.

– By sleeping, you learn how to be good at sleeping, which is an important lesson in life. Get the best tips for getting a good night’s sleep on this site.

The human stomach can dissolve glass into sand

The human stomach is a very strange organ. It can dissolve razor blades and perform secretions that are stronger than hydrochloric acid. With such a powerful digestive system, it’s not surprising to find out that the stomach can also turn items like glass into sand.

Stomach acid, hydrochloric acid. It’s a strong acid that can burn through metal and kill bacteria. It’s also very corrosive and can dissolve everything from razor blades to rocks in a matter of seconds! The average person has about one liter of stomach fluid, which is about five times more concentrated than hydrochloric acid, and the most acidic substance found in the human body.

Adult lungs have a surface area of around 70 square meters

If you were to lay your adult lungs out flat, they would cover a surface area of around 70 square meters. And while you might not be tempted to stretch them out on your living room floor, it’s worth knowing how big that is before we get into the details of their anatomy. For starters, it’s a big enough surface area for one or two people to walk across comfortably.

Adults have 206 bones. Babies are born with 300 bones

But to be precise, all babies are born with a whopping 300 bones. Only 206 of these will remain by the time they become adults. So why is it that babies are born with 300 bones, but adults have only 206?

The short answer is:

* During fetal development, the skull bones and rib cartilages grow.
* After birth, 26 of these bones fuse together and several others fuse with nearby bones.

Did you know that your nose and ears continue to grow throughout your entire life?

That’s right! Your nose and ears never stop growing, albeit at a slower rate, because of our body’s continuing development. The type of tissue that makes up these appendages is called cartilage, which doesn’t divide as bone does. This means that the cells keep multiplying each day, but their size remains the same.

Our Eyelashes last about 150 days

Our Eyelashes tend to last about 150 days or so and we shed about 10 of them every day. The average person has approximately 120 eyelashes on one eye. Without these lashes, our eyes would be in a constant state of dryness due to the air constantly hitting them. These lashes are important for more than just beauty purposes, they also help protect us from various particles and germs that might fly our way.

Even though they are not the most important part of your body, it is good to know that you can take care of them in several ways such as by using Vaseline or olive oil on a cotton ball and then gently brushing them away with your fingers before bedtime.

On average, your mouth produces about one liter of saliva each day

Our mouth constantly produces saliva to wash away bacteria and food particles from our teeth and mouth. It helps us digest food, provides moisture for our mouth and starts the digestive process.

On average, your mouth produces about one liter of saliva each day! It’s also made up of 99% water.

The length of DNA in the human body is bigger than you think

If you stretch out all the DNA that is contained in an average human body, you would be able to reach from the Sun to Pluto and back — 17 times.

Although it’s not quite clear what this number means, it does give some insight into just how much DNA we have per person.

A newly published research paper claims that the amount of DNA contained in the cells of an average person is approximately 6 kilograms (13.2 lbs). It’s been reported that the number was calculated by multiplying the number of nucleotides (combinations of adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine) in a human cell with the length of one nucleotide (about 0.3 nanometers).

So how big would all this DNA be if you could stretch it out? As a single strand, it would measure 3 billion kilometers (1.86 billion miles). As stated above, this length would allow you to go from the Sun to Pluto and back — 17 times.

And what about if we broke this DNA down into something measurable? Per cell in the average person, there are around 6 kg of DNA. This is equal to about 20 million neurons or 423 trillion synapses. There is also approximately 300 mL of extracellular fluid outside of cells with around 10 mg of DNA floating around in it.

So what do we actually do with all this DNA? Our bodies have approximately 20,000 different types of genes which code for proteins and RNA or control other genes in some way.

The concentration of salt in our blood is similar to the seawater

There is the same amount of salt in your blood as there is in the ocean. It is no coincidence that people who drink lots of water sometimes notice that their skin and hair begins to feel more oily. This is because the salt in your blood and the salt on your skin are trying to balance out.

The difference between blood in your body and the ocean is that your body goes to great lengths to keep its salt level balanced. For example, when you sweat, your pores open up and release sweat which is high in salt. When you drink water, the salt leaves your body through urine or sweat. This process is known as homeostasis, and it keeps your salt level balanced.

One example of how this system does not work properly is the case of someone with chronic kidney disease. While a healthy kidney will expel 70% of its sodium in the urine, kidneys with chronic disease may only be able to expel 20%. This means that there is an increased level of sodium in the blood and can result in high blood pressure. To control their blood pressure and keep it from getting higher, doctors may prescribe a water pill, which works by removing even more excess salt from the body.