Body Facts So Astonishing, They Demand a Group Chat

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Transcript

00:00:00Check out that buff dude over there with the orange skin. He's been chilling on

00:00:04Mars for a hot minute, which is why he looks like he used the wrong shade of

00:00:07self-tan. You see, all those carotenoids and carrots, sweet potatoes, bell peppers,

00:00:12tomatoes, and pumpkins are protecting him from those UV rays. The more he eats, the

00:00:16more orange he gets. And as for his sturdiness, it's all about that Martian

00:00:20gravity. The gravity here makes us perceive our weight differently, and if

00:00:26you want to be a boss on Mars, you gotta eat heavily. Like, if a person weighs 150

00:00:31pounds on Earth, it feels like no more than 55 pounds on Mars. So, overeating can

00:00:36help shorten that gravity-to-weight gap. Mercury is a whole different thing. It's

00:00:41hotter than Georgia asphalt during the day, but colder than Elsa's castle at

00:00:44night. You gotta be made of metal, with a high melting point to be able to survive

00:00:48here. But for us regular humans, we'd be toast. Literally. Even though Mercury's

00:00:54the closest planet to the Sun, Venus is still the hottest one. Life on Venus? More

00:01:00like life on the Sun's evil twin. The temperature here typically hovers around

00:01:04870 degrees Fahrenheit on average. Surviving at the boiling point of water,

00:01:09or in the extreme heat of Venus, is a challenge for most earthly species. Only

00:01:13a select few can endure boiling hot temperatures. Others rush to Starbucks to

00:01:18grab an iced latte with the first beams of the spring sun. So no human being can

00:01:23really evolve enough to survive on Venus. The only creatures that could

00:01:26thrive there are probably tardigrades and those weirdos who put hot sauce on

00:01:30everything. You wonder what tardigrades are? Well, those are minuscule and

00:01:35adorable caterpillar-like creatures that possess remarkable durability. They can

00:01:39endure boiling water, the depths of a sea trench, and the frigid, lightless void of

00:01:43space. Recently, tardigrades were included in a scientific study aboard a

00:01:47spacecraft that unfortunately crashed on the moon. Scientists speculate that the

00:01:52tardigrades may have survived the impact. Hey, would you like to turn into

00:01:56this creature and live on Venus? We're done with terrestrial planets. Let's move

00:02:00on to gas giants. Now look at this dude from Saturn. He's got flippers and not

00:02:06arms. He's got small holes with no external ear flaps instead of regular

00:02:09ears. Most of this gas giant is colder than your ex's heart, as the temperature

00:02:14is about minus 220F. You can't walk on it, but you can turn into a snowball or an

00:02:19ice crystal if you're feeling frisky. Things are quite similar on Jupiter, so

00:02:23probably turning into a seal and chilling there is not that bad of an

00:02:26idea. At least you can live there rent-free. And don't even get me started

00:02:31on Neptune and Uranus. These guys are ice giants with no solid surface. So those

00:02:36sharp-clawed dudes you see in movies? Yeah, they don't exist. Plus, these two

00:02:41ain't exactly hospitable to life. I'll stick to my sweet potatoes on Mars. Thank

00:02:45you very much. Unlike our primate pals, many people still have these foot arches.

00:02:51They help us move. This arch is like a built-in shock absorber for your feet.

00:02:56It's what allows us to bounce. There's another one. It's called the transverse

00:03:02arch, running side to side on the top of your foot. Think of it like a bridge that

00:03:07helps keep your foot in shape. Research says this arch is a big deal too. It's

00:03:13responsible for about 40% of your foot's stiffness. Simply put, it's like the

00:03:18scaffolding that holds your foot together. When scientists snipped the

00:03:22transverse arch, the foot lost a lot of its firmness. But when they cut the

00:03:26bottom arch, it wasn't that dramatic. So, is it a modern human thing? Nope. These

00:03:33arches didn't just pop up yesterday. The transverse arch has been around for 3

00:03:38million years. The bottom arch showed up about 1.8 million years ago. We might as

00:03:45well continue with another element of our feet before moving up to other parts.

00:03:49Our pinky toes are also more important than they seem. Whether you were born

00:03:55without one or have lost it, you can still walk. But pinky ones are important

00:03:59for keeping us on our feet. They provide balance. Inside your foot, you've got 26

00:04:05bones that team up to make sure you don't topple over. Small toe is a part of

00:04:10this balance work. Our ape ancestors needed their toes to grab, claw, and swing

00:04:15from trees. Today, we've traded our tree climbing skills for comfy couches and

00:04:20binge watches. Okay, let's move up a bit and talk about the appendix. You might

00:04:26think that it's useless, but nope. When a human is in their mommy's belly, this

00:04:31organ starts to do its job. Around the 11th week of development, it starts

00:04:36churning out special cells that produce helpful hormones and compounds. The

00:04:41appendix helps train our immune system's troops, ensuring they're top-notch

00:04:45defenders. It also collects all sorts of foreign substances, aka antigens, from our

00:04:51digestive tract. Yet, as diets evolved, this piece shrank like a deflating

00:04:57balloon. Unlike most other vestigial structures, the appendix isn't always

00:05:03harmless. It can turn into an angry little fireball. By the way, vestigial

00:05:10organs are the ones that have lost their primary ancestral function. These

00:05:14structures mostly lack an apparent purpose. Another famous vestigial example

00:05:19is wisdom teeth. Those are pointless and have been causing us trouble for ages.

00:05:24Yet, nearly 95% of us have them, and 90% might even have to deal with the drama

00:05:30of an impacted wisdom tooth at some point. If you don't have them, you might

00:05:34consider yourself lucky. Here's an additional interesting fact about wisdom

00:05:38teeth. Even though your teeth have a mineral softer than what's in shark

00:05:43teeth, new tests show that they're just as resilient. The coating on shark teeth

00:05:48is actually similar in hardness to the enamel on a human wisdom tooth. It's

00:05:53because their surfaces are made of mineral crystals held together by

00:05:56proteins. These prevent them from shattering easily upon impact. So the

00:06:01difference in how we and sharks use our teeth comes down to their design, not

00:06:06their toughness. Anthropologists have examined ancient skeletons. They think

00:06:12our ancestors needed these extra teeth to chew tough stuff, like roots and raw

00:06:16meat. Back then, those extra teeth came in handy. But then, we discovered cooking,

00:06:23and suddenly, our food got softer and our jaws got smaller. Geneticists have their

00:06:30own take on this subject. It involves a gene called MYH16, which seems to play a

00:06:36role in both brain size and jaw characteristics. Yet, the exact part it

00:06:41played in our evolutionary story is still a bit of a mystery. Now, another

00:06:47pointless thing is the eyelid. Well, not the regular eyelid. You know, that little

00:06:53pink thing hiding in the corner of your eye. Birds and some other furry pals use

00:06:58it to fend off dust and debris trying to mess with their eyes. But in us humans,

00:07:03it's mostly vestigial. Meet the palmaris longus. About 85% of us still carry it

00:07:11around. Maybe you also have it. You can test it by putting your hand on a flat

00:07:17surface and making your pinky and thumb meet. If you spot a little tendon band

00:07:22doing the limbo in the middle of your wrist, then you've found it. It was there

00:07:27for gripping stuff and swinging around like Tarzan. We can carry on with the

00:07:32grasping trick. Even before you're born, around 16 weeks into your time inside

00:07:38your mom's tummy, you're already practicing your grip. You start by

00:07:42grabbing onto the umbilical cord. When you finally arrive in the world, this

00:07:47reflex helps you hold on to things. Fun fact, small monkeys can hang on one hand

00:07:53for ages thanks to a similar trick. Yet, we humans lose this super grip when

00:07:59we're around three months old. When you're still in your mother's womb, you

00:08:04also have a mini tail. But as you grow, it disappears and those tiny vertebrae

00:08:10become your tailbone or coccyx. Humans and our ape cousins don't have tails like

00:08:15other animals. Our ears too have vestigial muscles. They help animals hear

00:08:22better and express their feelings. But in humans, these ear muscles don't do much.

00:08:28We've figured out other ways to listen and show our emotions. Yet, some of us can

00:08:34still wiggle our ears with practice. Surprisingly, toenails also count as a

00:08:40vestigial thing. I mean, they function as the initial line of defense. They protect

00:08:45the body against harmful microorganisms. In our evolutionary journey, we used our

00:08:50fingernails and toenails for defense, digging, and climbing. In the modern world,

00:08:55fingernails still come to our rescue, whether it's for peeling fruit or that

00:09:00sweet sensation of scratching an itch. Yet, toenails have retired. But hey, we can

00:09:06apply nail polish to them. For fashion's sake, they certainly work for many people.

00:09:11It's not just humans who have useless limbs or organs. In 1798, an anatomist

00:09:18examined a peculiar bird incapable of flying. He documented his observations.

00:09:24This avian species was none other than an ostrich. Ostriches and cassowaries are

00:09:30just a few examples of birds possessing vestigial wings. Anatomically speaking,

00:09:36these are rudimentary wings, incapable of granting flight to these hefty creatures.

00:09:42Yet, they aren't entirely devoid of function. They serve the purpose of

00:09:46maintaining balance during rapid running. Plus, they elaborate courtship displays,

00:09:51helping birds attract potential mates. Now, when it comes to animals, a lot of

00:09:56them glow, too. Around 76% of ocean animals, including jellyfish, worms, sharks,

00:10:02and sea stars, are bioluminescent. They have a compound called luciferin that

00:10:07reacts with oxygen to create light. And for them, it serves such purposes as

00:10:12stunning predators, attracting prey, or warning others of danger. We humans can

00:10:18glow, too. Unfortunately, this glow is super faint. Our eyes can't see it. Our

00:10:25bodies emit light, but it's about a thousand times dimmer than what our eyes

00:10:29can detect. Scientists found that our glow changes throughout the day. It's the

00:10:35faintest in the morning and the brightest in the late afternoon. Our

00:10:39faces glow more than the rest of our bodies. They think it's because our faces

00:10:43get more sun exposure and have melanin, which has components that can boost

00:10:47light production. Some body tricks distinguish us from the rest of the

00:10:51animal kingdom. For instance, do you know that humans are the only animals capable

00:10:56of blushing? It seems we've got the exclusive rights to this rosy-cheeked

00:11:02phenomenon. When we find ourselves in an embarrassing situation, our blood vessels

00:11:08dilate. That's what gives us those blushes. Embarrassment is a pretty

00:11:13complex emotion. It's all about understanding what others think of us.

00:11:18This might be too advanced for other animals. Interestingly, bald uakari

00:11:24monkeys can also blush, but not in the same sense. For them, this is a show of

00:11:30their good health. Speaking of good health, we should honor our gut. Your gut

00:11:36includes the stomach, liver, and more. It's often called the second brain. This

00:11:42second brain has its own nervous system. It has a hundred million messengers. They

00:11:47send info to the rest of your body. Even if the gut-brain connection is cut, it

00:11:52keeps working. It ensures your digestive system functions on its own.

00:12:00Now, if you don't want to sneeze, press the skin on the bridge of your nose with

00:12:05your fingers. When you do it, your brain receives an alarm signal. Very quickly, it

00:12:10puts the brakes on all other processes, including the sneezing reflex. By the

00:12:16way, the longest sneezing fit was recorded in 1981. Sorry. It lasted for 976

00:12:24days. During this time, a woman from the UK sneezed more than a million times.

00:12:30The part of your brain that's responsible for vision is in the back of your head.

00:12:35Interestingly, the right side of your brain controls the vision on the left

00:12:39side and vice versa. If you're in some loud place, for example, in a club or at a concert,

00:12:46close your ears to better hear your friends. Push the tragus, the pointed skin-covered

00:12:52cartilage in front of the ear canal, into your ear. Then turn this ear toward your friend.

00:12:59If you feel anxious, press your fingers into a fist with your thumb sticking out

00:13:04and slowly blow on this finger. If you can't stop hiccups, put an ice cube on your tongue,

00:13:11or you can close your ears with your palms and drink a glass of water through a straw in one

00:13:16breath. Pulling the tip of your tongue or raising your arms toward the ceiling can also be helpful.

00:13:24On average, when a person snores, the sound doesn't get louder than 60 decibels.

00:13:29That's as loud as a regular conversation. But sometimes the noise levels can reach

00:13:3580 decibels. That's as loud as a working food blender.

00:13:40If you want to wake up faster, hold your breath for some time. When you do it,

00:13:44your heart starts beating more rapidly, and your body turns on the active mode.

00:13:49But don't overdo it! If you wake up too abruptly, you'll put unnecessary stress on your heart.

00:13:55If you feel moody, hold a pencil between your teeth. The muscles involved in smiling will get

00:14:01down to work. This will send special impulses to your brain, and it'll start producing endorphins.

00:14:07In no time, your smile will become much more sincere.

00:14:12Right-handed people tend to chew most of their food on the right side of their mouths,

00:14:17and those who are left-handed use their left side more.

00:14:21The smell of rosemary can help you activate your super-memory. Whenever you need to learn

00:14:26something by heart, do it while lying down in bed with a sprig of rosemary nearby. It'll help

00:14:32you memorize the info more effectively and faster. If your leg has fallen asleep, shake your head.

00:14:39In about a minute, you'll realize that your muscles have relaxed,

00:14:43and the pins-and-needles sensation has passed.

00:14:46The muscles that help your eyes focus make around 100,000 movements a day.

00:14:51If you want to make your leg muscles move as much, you'll need to walk 50 miles.

00:14:58Déjà vu might actually be something like a brain processing lag. There's a theory claiming it might

00:15:04happen when your brain is moving information from one part to another. If there's even the

00:15:09tiniest delay in that process, your brain will get the same information twice. In fact,

00:15:14twice. In this case, it'll process it as an event that happened before.

00:15:21Out of all those people who can move their ears, only 30% can move just one ear.

00:15:27Your mouth burns when you're snacking on pineapple because while you're eating this fruit,

00:15:32it's eating you back. Pineapple is the only known food that contains bromelain.

00:15:38That's an enzyme that breaks down proteins. Luckily, your stomach acid knows how to deal

00:15:43with the offending enzyme. If you have a tickle in your throat, scratch your ear. This stimulates

00:15:50a nerve which results in a muscle spasm in your throat. And in no time, the tickle is gone.

00:15:57Surprisingly, you burn more calories when you're sleeping than when you're watching TV.

00:16:02Ask your friend to sit down on a chair and put your index finger on their forehead.

00:16:07Then tell them to stand up without using their hands. They won't be able to do it.

00:16:13Just like salamanders regrow their tails, humans might be able to regenerate cartilage.

00:16:19That's rubber-like stuff surrounding your joints. Scientists have recently discovered that cartilage

00:16:24could repair itself. This process is likely to be the most effective at the ankle,

00:16:30not that effective in the knee, and the least effective in the hip.

00:16:36If you're lying in bed and suddenly experience vertigo,

00:16:39place one of your feet on the floor. Your brain will receive the information that you're standing

00:16:44on something firm, and the unpleasant sensation will pass. Only 30% of people can flare their

00:16:52nostrils. If someone is tapping you on the back while you're hugging, they're non-verbally asking

00:16:58you to let go. People with a single palmar crease have just one line running across their palm.

00:17:06Such people are very rare, just 1.5% of the world's population. Most people have two palmar

00:17:12creases. Men are more likely to have a single palmar crease than women. In most cases,

00:17:18it runs in families. Your taste buds have a very short life cycle.

00:17:23They live for no longer than 10 to 14 days. Your lips are hundreds of times more sensitive

00:17:30than your fingertips. Your skin wrinkles when you stay in the water for too long. But it doesn't

00:17:37happen because it absorbs water. In reality, wrinkled fingers and toes provide you with a

00:17:42better grip. Studies have proved that sneezing is your nose's way to reset. A sneeze reboots

00:17:50the cells that line the insides of your nose. They're called cilia. If a person has anosmia,

00:17:58which is also called smell blindness, they don't distinguish and detect smells.

00:18:04The amount of food you consume in your lifetime will weigh as much as 8 Asian elephants.

00:18:09No wonder that people spend almost 4 years of their life eating!

00:18:14Your skin analyzes 1 million bits of data per second. Your ears and nose process 100,000 bits

00:18:21each. And your tongue is the least productive. It analyzes just 1,000 bits.

00:18:29Multitasking is kind of impossible. What we consider multitasking is actually just our

00:18:34brain switching between different tasks really fast. Unfortunately, in this case,

00:18:40people tend to make mistakes much more often. Plus, you may need twice as much time to do a task as

00:18:46usual. On the other hand, when you're engaged in some physical activity you've done many times

00:18:52before, you can perform a mental task too. That's why you can easily jog or take a shower and think

00:18:59about problems at work. If you see someone constantly fixing their sleeves, they likely

00:19:05feel very nervous, and fiddling with something is a self-soothing technique. You can check how

00:19:12unique you are by chewing on a sprig of cilantro. For some people, this herb may taste similar to

00:19:18soap because the plant contains a chemical used in soap making. But only 4-14% of the

00:19:24world's population have special genes that can detect it. Are you one of them?

00:19:31A grown-up person uses around 200 muscles to make just one step.

00:19:36Your eyes never stop moving while taking in visual information. Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to see

00:19:43the whole picture. These movements go unnoticed because your brain is a great video editor.

00:19:48It stabilizes the images and connects tons of fragments into one smooth video.

00:19:55Your stomach gets a totally new lining every 3-4 days.

00:19:59That's how your body prevents the stomach from digesting itself.

00:20:03When a person lies, the temperature around their nose and in the inner corners of their eyes

00:20:09rises. This phenomenon is known as the Pinocchio effect.

00:20:15The liver is the only human organ that can regenerate completely. Even if it's a mere 25%

00:20:21of the original liver weight, the organ can get back to its full size.

00:20:26Synesthesia is an unusual and rare ability. People who have it can taste music or hear colors.

00:20:33But only 1 in every 2,000 people has it. These days, our finger and toenails grow

00:20:39faster than they did half a century ago. It might be because people eat more proteins today.

00:20:48You start feeling thirsty once your water loss reaches 1% of your body weight. More than 5%

00:20:55More than 5% and you may even faint. Water loss that exceeds 10% of the body weight,

00:21:02um, we'll just say that it doesn't end well.

00:21:08Your brain can generate more than 48 thoughts in under a minute.

00:21:12It's almost 3,000 thoughts per hour and more than 70,000 per day.

00:21:18Each person has around 150,000 hairs on their head.

00:21:23On average, every strand grows about a half an inch per month.

00:21:26If you combine the growth from each hair, it would measure the distance of 10 miles per year.

00:21:33If you get a leg cramp, pull your big toe toward yourself.

00:21:37This will stretch your muscles and reduce the spasm.

00:21:41People have bacteria that can produce electricity living in their intestines.

00:21:46These bacteria give off electrons, which creates tiny electrical currents.

00:21:51This might be the bacteria's way to generate energy. Maybe turn on some lights. Hey, it's dark

00:21:57in there. By the end of their life, the average person can recall up to 150 trillion pieces of

00:22:04information. If you brush your teeth before eating or drinking something,

00:22:09you might end up damaging your taste buds. That's because most kinds of toothpaste

00:22:14contain two chemicals, sodium lauryl ether sulfate and sodium lauryl sulfate,

00:22:20that decrease your ability to taste sweet things and increase your ability to taste bitter food.

00:22:27The DEC2 gene mutation allows people to have just a few hours of sleep a night and still feel great.

00:22:35They don't get tired and never sleep in. Boy, where do I get one of those! On average,

00:22:40these people wake up at 4 or 5 am. Only up to 5% of the world's population has this feature.

00:22:47Only humans can produce emotional tears. Other living beings cry to lubricate their eyes.

00:22:55Women have more taste buds on their tongues than men do.

00:23:00It might be one of the reasons why 35% of ladies are super-tasters, people who feel

00:23:06flavors more strongly than others. And only 15% of guys can boast the same ability.

00:23:12It's hard for people to recognize someone they know if, in a photo, this person doesn't have

00:23:19eyebrows. This proves that eyebrows are more important for face recognition than eyes.

00:23:27When clasping their hands, 50% of people put their right thumb above the left one.

00:23:3249% of people position their left thumb over the right.

00:23:37And only 1% of people place their thumbs next to each other.

00:23:42Your brain contains more than 86 billion nerve cells, which are joined with one another by

00:23:48100 trillion connections. That's way more than the number of stars in our home Milky Way galaxy.

00:23:55And if you decided to count all those numerous nerve cells,

00:23:59it would take you up to 3,000 years. A tremendous waste of time.

00:24:05Your brain's memory capacity equals 4 terabytes on a hard drive. That's more than 8 million

00:24:12photos. You're likely to keep in memory up to 10,000 different faces. This number is different

00:24:19from person to person, but the average is 5,000. It doesn't mean you can put a name to each face.

00:24:25It's only about recognizing the features. If you walked in the same direction for 12

00:24:31hours a day, you would need around 800 days to travel around the globe.

00:24:36The Bajau is a group of nomadic people that live in the waters surrounding the Philippines,

00:24:41Indonesia, and Malaysia. Thanks to a rare DNA mutation, they can stay underwater for up to 13

00:24:49minutes. They also dive to a depth of 200 feet. Blue cheese can affect your dreams, making them

00:24:56more vivid. Your ears might pop or even hurt when you were on an airplane. You can solve this

00:25:04problem by simply chewing some gum. This opens up the Eustachian tube, a small passage that

00:25:10connects your throat and your middle ear. Opening this passage up helps equalize the pressure in

00:25:16your ears and puts an end to the popping. You can also yawn to open up the Eustachian tube.

00:25:23Your dreams are a complex mix of your imagination, memories, and knowledge.

00:25:28The average person has from 4 to 7 dreams every night. But not all people remember them.

00:25:35Even if fingerprints get badly damaged, they grow back with their original pattern.

00:25:41If you have to deal with complaining customers, put a mirror behind your back.

00:25:45When an angry person approaches you, they'll see themselves in the mirror.

00:25:49This will prevent them from acting rudely. No one likes seeing themselves this way.

00:25:55Your feet are likely to become bigger with time. When people grow older, ligaments and

00:26:00tendons in their feet weaken. This makes the arches flatter. And feet become wider and longer.

00:26:07Only 3% of people in the world have lines that form the letters X on both their palms.

00:26:13In many cultures, this is believed to be a sign of a strong personality.

00:26:18The human brain is 73% water, just like your heart. That's why if your brain loses even 2%

00:26:24of liquid, you start feeling exhausted. This also makes your memory worse,

00:26:29shortens your attention span, and puts a dampener on your mood.

00:26:35In most people, their height is the same as their arm span. Check it out!

00:26:41A particular gene mutation results in super-dense bones

00:26:45that are almost impossible to break. They're several times tougher than the average person's

00:26:50bones. People with this mutation also have skin that is less prone to aging.

00:26:57You might have noticed little dots traveling in squiggly lines when you're looking at a

00:27:01bright light or blue sky. They're usually only visible for a second or two. Sometimes,

00:27:07they look like tiny worms. Well, those are your white blood cells moving through the capillaries

00:27:13in front of the retina. The light-sensitive tissue at the back of your eyes. Most people

00:27:19don't even notice the dots unless you ask them to pay attention.

00:27:25If someone is listening to you with their eyebrows raised,

00:27:28they're likely genuinely interested in your story.

00:27:32If you decided to uncoil the human DNA, the whole thing would stretch for 10 billion miles.

00:27:39That's 40,000 times the distance between Earth and the Moon.

00:27:44Human teeth are almost as strong as those of a shark. The enamel of your teeth,

00:27:49that's the outer layer, is the hardest substance in your entire body.

00:27:55Your nostrils don't work with the same efficiency all the time.

00:27:58When you breathe, one nostril does most of the work. They switch every couple of hours.

00:28:04Your right ear is more responsive to speech, and your left ear is better at perceiving music.

00:28:10Researchers think that's because it's your left hemisphere that processes speech,

00:28:15while the right one deals with music and other creative functions.

00:28:20Your lips look red because of a great number of tiny blood capillaries right below the skin.

00:28:26While enjoying your favorite cold food or beverage, you might suddenly get a painful

00:28:32brain freeze. This happens because the nerves at the roof of your mouth get frozen. They send

00:28:37signals to your brain asking it to please stop eating such cold stuff. But you can overcome this

00:28:44unpleasant sensation by pressing your tongue against the roof of your mouth. Do it as hard

00:28:49as you can. The pain will soon disappear. Your lips don't sweat because there are

00:28:56no sweat glands there. They also have no glands producing a special protective film that keeps

00:29:01your skin hydrated. That's why your lips are so vulnerable to the sun, wind, and cold. They also

00:29:07dry out faster than other body parts. You wouldn't be able to taste food if

00:29:13your body didn't produce saliva. Your taste buds have special receptors that recognize

00:29:18different flavors. But without some liquid, flavors won't bind to the molecules of these

00:29:23receptors. There are only a few cells in your body that will stay with you throughout your entire

00:29:29life. Those are the cells in the inner lens of your eye, the muscle cells of your heart,

00:29:35and the neurons of your cerebral cortex. That's a fancy word for the outer layers of your brain.

00:29:42Millennials are people who are now between 25 and 40 years old. And they tend to be more forgetful

00:29:48than older people. The main reason for this phenomenon is higher levels of stress these folks

00:29:54have. People with albinism have little to no melanin. That's the pigment that gives color to

00:30:00your hair, skin, and eyes. It's a rare condition. In the US, only 1 in 18,000 to 20,000 people

00:30:08is born with albinism. But there's also ocular albinism, and it's even rarer. Experts think

00:30:14only 1 in 50,000 people has ocular albinism. During just one day, the blood in your body

00:30:22travels over 12,000 miles. That's half as long as the distance around Earth.

00:30:28Almost 25% of your body's cholesterol is in your brain. This substance is crucial for your memory

00:30:35and learning abilities. But the blood-brain barrier doesn't allow your brain cells to

00:30:40get cholesterol from the blood. That's why your brain produces its own kind of cholesterol.

00:30:46Paradoxically, even though your teeth are a part of the skeletal system,

00:30:50they don't count as bones. It might be because they, sadly, can't regenerate.

00:30:56But if a bone is broken, it heals on its own by producing new bone cells.

00:31:02Your eyes can see something for a mere 13 milliseconds, and it'll be enough time for

00:31:07your brain to process the image. For comparison, the average blink lasts from 100 to 400 milliseconds.

00:31:15Bright sunlight makes 17 to 35% of people sneeze. This phenomenon is called the photic sneeze

00:31:22reflex. Your fingers are extremely sensitive. They can feel objects that are no bigger than

00:31:29the width of your hair. If your finger was the size of Earth, you'd still feel the difference

00:31:34between cars and houses. If there was a calorie chart in a restaurant, people tend to order

00:31:42less healthy and more high-calorie food. They compare the difference between, let's say,

00:31:46a burger and a large serving of Caesar salad and notice that it isn't that big. And since the

00:31:53burger seems to be more filling, that's what they order. But when people don't know that a

00:31:58big portion of salad contains almost as many calories as the burger, they pick a healthier

00:32:04option. So get this, if someone managed to uncoil all the DNA in the human body, it would

00:32:12stretch out to around 10 billion miles. That's twice the distance from Earth to Pluto. And that's

00:32:19not the only awesome thing our body is capable of. Trillions of nerve connections are powering

00:32:24your memory non-stop. According to studies, after looking at 2,500 images for a mere 3 seconds,

00:32:32most people can recall if they have seen these pictures with 92% accuracy. Wow!

00:32:39Your body glows, emitting tiny amounts of fairly visible light. This glow is the product of

00:32:44biochemical reactions going on inside your organism. The light waxes and wanes throughout

00:32:49the day. But even though it is visible, you can't detect it with the unaided eye.

00:32:55From 1 to 6 pounds of your body weight is made up of bacteria. And from 100 million to 1 billion

00:33:02bacteria can live on just one tooth in your mouth. So please brush. It's impossible to taste

00:33:09your food without saliva. All because the chemicals in your food must be dissolved

00:33:13in saliva before they get detected by your taste buds. Even though it sounds like a myth,

00:33:19eating too many carrots can indeed turn your skin orange. Carrots have high amounts of beta-carotene.

00:33:26That's a compound that can cause keratinemia. If you have too much of this compound in your

00:33:30bloodstream, it'll hold on to parts of your body with thicker skin. I'm talking about the soles of

00:33:36your feet, your knees, elbows, palms, and even certain areas around your nose. But worry not,

00:33:42this condition is not dangerous. You can easily reverse it by decreasing the amount of beta-carotene

00:33:48filled food you consume. The chin muscles, scientifically known as the mentalis muscles,

00:33:55look pretty quirky, giving us mixed feelings. Just look at these creepy tiny tentacles.

00:34:00And still, they make it possible for us to create all kinds of facial expressions

00:34:04that involve the lips, chin, and cheeks. And yes, they are the culprits behind those weird wrinkles

00:34:10and crevices on the skin of your chinny-chin-chin. All because these muscles don't pull on themselves,

00:34:16but yank on the skin. People can live without some organs,

00:34:20leading a normal life. The human body consists of singular organs and those that come in pairs.

00:34:26And speaking of the latter, you'll only need one of those to survive.

00:34:31Your small intestine is actually not so small. It's taller than you, measuring around 23 feet.

00:34:38The cornea, that transparent front cover on your eyes, doesn't have any blood supply. Instead,

00:34:44it receives oxygen directly from the air. Human beings develop their unique fingerprints

00:34:49very early in life, while they're still embryos, just 3 months after being conceived.

00:34:54By the way, even if fingerprints get badly damaged, they tend to grow back to their

00:34:59original pattern. All people are born with a diving reflex. It can get activated and

00:35:05shut bodily functions if one is drowning or is submerged in the water. The human brain

00:35:11is by no means smooth. But if you decided to flatten all those wrinkles covering it,

00:35:15the brain would be the size of a pillowcase. But not as useful.

00:35:20Newborn babies only blink once or twice in a minute. For comparison,

00:35:24a grown-up person blinks at least 10 times within the same time.

00:35:29Our lungs are the only organs that can float on the water. All because they're made up of

00:35:33around 300 million balloon-like structures called alveoli. Also, even if we're perfectly healthy,

00:35:40our lungs are never completely germ-free or sterile.

00:35:44Your nose is a superhero. It's your very own heater, filter, and humidifier. This organ is

00:35:50lined with tiny bone-like shells called turbinates. They contain blood vessels capable of heating the

00:35:55air and goblet cells that can help humidify the air. Also, the air you breathe gets filtered in

00:36:01your nose before going further to your lungs. Now, every time you eat something, your esophagus,

00:36:08the organ your food travels through to reach the stomach, moves in a series of wave-like

00:36:12contractions, pushing the food forward. This is known as peristalsis.

00:36:18There's a bond between your digestive system and your brain, the gut-brain axis. This is

00:36:23why stress or brain issues can affect the way your body digests food.

00:36:28Now, even though hiccups are typically harmless and resolve by themselves after a couple of minutes,

00:36:33they aren't exactly pleasant. So, you should probably know that they might occur

00:36:38because of changes in temperature. The density of your brain increases throughout your whole life,

00:36:44all because new neural connections pop up. They appear because the structure of the brain keeps

00:36:49changing too. If you don't want to sneeze, press the skin on the bridge of your nose with your

00:36:55fingers. When you do it, your brain receives an alarm signal. Very quickly, it puts the brake

00:37:00on all those other processes, including the sneezing reflex. By the way, studies have found

00:37:06that sneezing is your nose's way to reset. A sneeze reboots the cells that line the inside

00:37:12of your nose. They're called cilia. The part of your brain that's responsible

00:37:17for vision is in the back of your head. Interestingly, the right side of your

00:37:21brain controls the vision on the left side, and vice versa.

00:37:26If you're in some loud place, for example, in a club or at a concert,

00:37:30close your ears to better hear your friends. Push the tragus, which is that pointy skin-covered

00:37:36cartilage in front of the ear canal, into your ear. Then turn this ear toward your friend.

00:37:42On average, when a person snores, the sound doesn't get louder than 60 decibels. That's

00:37:47as loud as a regular conversation. But sometimes, the noise level can reach 80 decibels. That's

00:37:53as loud as a working food blender. Just like salamanders regrow their tails,

00:37:59humans might be able to regenerate cartilage. That's the rubber-like stuff surrounding your

00:38:04joints. Scientists have recently discovered that cartilage could repair itself. This process is

00:38:10likely to be the most effective at the ankle, not that effective in the knee, and the least

00:38:14effective in the hip. If a person has asnosmia, which is also called smell blindness, they don't

00:38:22distinguish and detect smells. Your eyes never stop moving while taking in visual information.

00:38:28Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to see the whole picture. These movements go unnoticed because

00:38:33your brain is a great video editor. It stabilizes the images and connects tons of fragments into

00:38:39one smooth video. The liver is the only human organ that can regenerate completely. Even if

00:38:46it's a mere 25% of the original liver weight, the organ can get back to its full size.

00:38:53Your mouth burns when you're snacking on pineapple because while you're eating this fruit,

00:38:58it's eating you back. Well, kind of. Pineapple is the only known food that contains bromelain.

00:39:04That's an enzyme that breaks down proteins. Luckily, your stomach acid knows how to deal

00:39:09with the offending enzyme. We also have bacteria that can produce

00:39:14electricity living in our intestines. These bacteria give off electrons, which creates

00:39:19tiny electrical currents. This might be the bacteria's way to generate energy.

00:39:25Deja vu might actually be something like a brain processing lag.

00:39:31There's a theory claiming that it might happen when your brain is moving information from one

00:39:36part to another. If there's even the tiniest delay in that process, your brain will get the

00:39:41same information twice. In this case, it'll process it as an event that happened before.

00:39:47The DEC2 gene mutation allows people to have just a few hours of sleep at night

00:39:52and still feel great. They don't get tired and never sleep in. On average, such people

00:39:58wake up at 4 or 5 a.m. No more than 5% of the world's population has this feature.

00:40:06Your ears might pop or even hurt when you're on an airplane. You can solve this problem by

00:40:11simply chewing some gum. This opens up your eustachian tube. That's a small passage that

00:40:16connects your throat and your middle ear. Opening this passage helps equalize the pressure in your

00:40:21ears and puts an end to the popping. You can also yawn to open up the eustachian tubes.

00:40:27Your feet are likely to become bigger with time. Just like your nose. And your ears.

00:40:32You see, when people grow older, ligaments and tendons in their feet weaken.

00:40:37This makes the arches flatter, and the feet become wider and longer.

00:40:44You know what, in 10 years from now, you'll be a completely different person.

00:40:49Well, at least your skeleton will be. To reach its adult size, your skeleton went through a

00:40:54process called modeling, which means the development of growth and formation.

00:40:59Turns out, it regenerates completely once every 10 years or so. This entire process ensures you

00:41:05always have healthy bone cells, which can support you and provide calcium to your body.

00:41:10And speaking of ways the body regenerates, every second you make 25 million new cells.

00:41:17I'll do the math for you. Okay, that means in about 15 seconds, you'll have made more

00:41:22cells than there are people in the United States. Think about that the next time you

00:41:26feel you haven't been productive enough. Some animals have eyes that need to adapt

00:41:32to hot climates. Like camels, for example. Their eyes feature a third eyelid, but these

00:41:38sweep across from the corner of each eye. Because their environment is filled with small particles,

00:41:43they need to clean their eyes more frequently than other species.

00:41:48Now, see that little pink thing in the corner of your eye? It's also a third eyelid. Well,

00:41:53a vestige at least. In humans, the third eyelid is unnecessary because it no longer

00:41:59serves its original purpose. Next time you're tuning into your favorite song,

00:42:05try to pay some attention to your heartbeat. If you listen closely, you'll notice that sometimes

00:42:11your heartbeat may synchronize with the rhythm of the song. Now, not all genres of music have

00:42:17this special ability. But some tunes trigger the release of dopamine, or the happy hormone.

00:42:23This effect may give you a lower heart rate, breathing rate, and blood pressure.

00:42:29And speaking of that healthy ticker of yours, just in case you're wondering,

00:42:33it beats on average about 75 times per minute. This means each year, a human heart can pump

00:42:40enough blood to fill an Olympic-sized pool, if that were a thing. What's even more fascinating

00:42:46is that if you were to connect all your blood vessels end-to-end, it would be able to circle

00:42:51the Earth two and a half times. But that's not good for your own health, so don't do that.

00:42:57Your heart can also continue to beat even if it's removed from the body. That's because

00:43:02it has its own internal battery, which allows it to beat as long as it receives oxygen.

00:43:08If you regularly have your nails done at a salon, you've probably noticed you need

00:43:13more appointments for your fingers than your toes. That's because fingernails do grow faster.

00:43:18The definitive scientific answer is still up for debate, but many specialists think

00:43:23it's because fingernails used to be claws somewhere back in our ancient history. These days,

00:43:29they're flatter and have widened a bit, and it all happened when primates started using tools in

00:43:34their day-to-day lives, like stones and branches, so there was less use for claws. Once they got

00:43:40flatter, it meant nails wouldn't have gotten in the way if primates wanted to use the palms of

00:43:45their hands. As for why fingernails grow faster than toenails, the short answer may be the fact

00:43:52that we use our hands more than your feet. As such, our fingernails are more exposed,

00:43:58and we may have evolved to grow them faster. The more you use a certain part of your body,

00:44:03the more it becomes exposed to damage. So for me, I'm in danger of my mouth falling off.

00:44:12Getting back to our hands, it's about time we give a nice shout-out to our humble pinkies.

00:44:17We don't see them as being really that important, since we don't use them for holding objects,

00:44:22eating, or writing. But recent studies have shown that losing the pinky on our dominant hands

00:44:28would have a devastating effect. Specialists haven't gathered enough data to supply specific

00:44:34numbers, but from what they've learned so far, losing our pinky would weaken our grip strength

00:44:39considerably, even if it's the lesser-used finger. Adding the ring finger to that,

00:44:44and the effect would be worse for our grip strength. Another recent study done in the UK

00:44:51has shown that only about 40% of people are happy with how their nose looks.

00:44:57Regardless of how you feel about it, the human nose is a real-life superhero.

00:45:02That's because it acts as a heater, filter, and humidifier all at once.

00:45:07Inside each nostril, there are small, shelf-like bones that feature blood vessels.

00:45:12They heat the air up before it reaches other parts of our respiratory system.

00:45:17The mucus that's inside there handles making the air more humid.

00:45:21As for the filtering part, that's why we have nose hairs. Small particles get stuck on these

00:45:27small hairs, which helps prevent pollen, spores, viruses, or bacteria from reaching our lungs.

00:45:34Now, when watching cartoons, we're led to believe that the sound our heart makes

00:45:38is because it's touching its environment while beating. Well, it turns out that sound is actually

00:45:44made by the opening and closing of the heart valves. They're like small doors inside our

00:45:49hearts that open and close to pump blood correctly from one side of the heart to the other. For our

00:45:55bodies to work, blood needs to move at the right time and in the right direction, or else.

00:46:02Now, let's talk teeth. Throughout your entire life, you'll probably spend up to 40 days total

00:46:09just brushing your teeth. And in case you're still wondering, teeth are not, in fact,

00:46:13bones, even though they do have a lot in common. One of the primary differences between bones and

00:46:19teeth is that our bones can regenerate – they are living tissue. Our teeth are not, and they

00:46:25remain permanently damaged once broken. Here's another shocker. We are the only species on this

00:46:32planet to have a chin. There's still some debate about this subject in the scientific community,

00:46:38but one of the reasons why seems to be to make our jaws stronger. As humans have continued to

00:46:44evolve, their teeth and the muscles in their jaws got smaller and smaller, so they needed something

00:46:50to help with increased jaw resistance. Now, most of us have developed some specific traits

00:46:57depending on the area of the globe in which we live. But there is a group of people,

00:47:02specifically those who live in higher altitudes, that develop some pretty cool traits. That's

00:47:08because high-altitude environments come with less oxygen. Not only do these people survive in these

00:47:13locations, but they've adapted so well that they actually thrive. In the Andes Mountains of South

00:47:20America, people have evolved red blood cells that can carry much more oxygen. It makes their overall

00:47:26circulatory system much more efficient. People living in Tibet have to endure similar conditions,

00:47:32but, surprisingly, they have adapted differently.

00:47:35In Tibet, they can take more breaths so that they can properly oxygenate their bodies.

00:47:42You've probably heard the myth about dreams only lasting a couple of seconds in reality.

00:47:47Turns out that yes, some of them do, but not all dreams are the same. There are a lot of things we

00:47:53don't understand yet about how we dream. What we do know is that they mainly happen during the

00:47:59rapid eye movement, or REM, stage of sleep. During this time, your brain is more active,

00:48:05about as active as it is when you're awake. And it's named REM because, during the sleep stage,

00:48:10your eyes tend to move a lot. Dreams can happen during the other stages of sleep too,

00:48:16but you're less likely to remember them. As for the length of each dream, they can go from a few

00:48:22seconds to even 20-30 minutes. Also, you're more likely to remember a dream if you've woken

00:48:29during the REM stage. Most people have 3-5 dreams per night, but some people can have up to 7.

00:48:35I know, seems unlikely, but remember, you immediately forget most of what you dream.

00:48:42Just like we have unique fingerprints, we also develop unique tongue prints. Research has shown

00:48:48that those approximately 10,000 taste buds on our tongues are laid out in a one-of-a-kind pattern.

00:48:54Truth is, about 80% of what you believe is taste is actually smell. That combination of taste and

00:49:01smell that we perceive is what we come to know as flavor. That's probably because our sense of smell

00:49:07is around 10,000 times more sensitive than our sense of taste. Our mouths have also another

00:49:14cool superpower called mouth feel. With the help of the somatosensory system, it allows us to sense

00:49:20the texture of our food. The system is activated by physical touches, such as pressure, touch,

00:49:26or vibrations. It's even sensitive to pain and temperature. We also use our tongues to identify

00:49:34the size, form, and texture of food, which is crucial for proper chewing and digestion.

00:49:39Hey, tongues are also good for wagging, sticking out at certain people, and trumpet playing.

00:49:45But what about our brains?

00:49:46Hey, not to freak you out or anything, but every second, your body creates 25 million new cells.

00:49:55I'll do the math for you. That means that in about 15 seconds, you'll have produced more

00:50:00cells than there are people in the United States. Think about that next time you feel

00:50:04you haven't been productive enough. It may account for only 2% of our body mass,

00:50:10but our brains actually take up 20% of our blood supply and oxygen.

00:50:14Our brains can also produce enough energy to supply a lightbulb. That is, when we're awake.

00:50:20Ever thought about what the largest human organ is? It's your skin, and it's thickest on the

00:50:25palms of your hands and soles of your feet. I know, I know, I hate dusting too, but you

00:50:32are particularly responsible for that layer of fluff on your TV screen, you know.

00:50:37Every human being sheds about 600,000 particles of skin every hour, and most of the dust around

00:50:43your house is actually composed of that. So yes, we're all rather flaky.

00:50:49These days, it's considered more of a beauty mark, but the reason why people are born with

00:50:53a Cupid's bow is actually quite intriguing. As our features start to develop before we're

00:50:58even born, it appears that the Cupid's bow is actually the place where our face, well, zips up.

00:51:05The right side of the face and the left side of the face, that is. While in humans,

00:51:09it may not be that obvious. If you look at your dog's nose, you'll see it has a straight vertical

00:51:15line just under the nostrils. That's right, dogs have this zip too!

00:51:20Did you know you were born with more bones than you have today? At birth, we have somewhere around

00:51:25300 bones, but as we age, some of them fuse together. That's why in adulthood, we end up

00:51:32having about 200 bones. Although your teeth are technically part of your skeletal system,

00:51:37they're not actually bones. They do look sort of similar and do share some characteristics,

00:51:42like being the hardest elements in your body. Why the misconception though? Well, it's mostly

00:51:48because both teeth and bones contain calcium. To be a bit more specific, about 99% of the

00:51:54body's calcium is in your bones and teeth. The remaining calcium is in your bloodstream.

00:51:59So what makes them different, you might ask? It's in how the bones and teeth heal and how

00:52:04you should take care of them. While bones can repair and heal themselves,

00:52:08your teeth aren't able to do that. That's why we have dentists.

00:52:12We don't only have unique fingerprints, our tongues are one of a kind as well. Research has

00:52:18shown that those approximately 10,000 taste buds on our tongues are laid out in a unique pattern,

00:52:24specific for each one of us. About 80% of what you believe is taste is actually smell. The

00:52:30combination of taste and smell that we perceive is what we come to know as flavor. That's probably

00:52:36because our sense of smell is around 10,000 times stronger than our sense of taste.

00:52:42So, the next time you're tuning in your favorite song, try to pay some attention to your heartbeat.

00:52:48Do you hear that? Yep, that's right. While listening to some music, your heartbeat will

00:52:53sync with the rhythm of the song. And speaking of that healthy ticker of yours, just in case

00:52:58you're wondering, it beats on average about 75 times per minute. This means that in any given

00:53:04year, a human heart can pump enough blood to fill an Olympic-sized pool. What's even more fascinating

00:53:10is that if you were to connect all your blood vessels end-to-end, you'd be able to circle the

00:53:15Earth four times. But that would really hurt, so don't try that. We are the only species on this

00:53:21planet to have a chin. There's still some debate around this subject in the scientific community,

00:53:27but one of the reasons seems to be to make our jaws stronger. As humans have continued to evolve,

00:53:33their teeth and the muscles in their jaws got smaller and smaller, so they needed something

00:53:38to help with increased jaw resistance. That transparent part of your eye is called the

00:53:43cornea, and it helps the light go through. It's also the only part of your body that isn't

00:53:48connected to any blood supply. Why? Because it's especially designed to get its oxygen

00:53:54straight from the surrounding atmosphere. If you took out all the fat found in a healthy

00:53:59human body, it would be enough to make 7 bars of soap. We also produce enough saliva in our

00:54:05lifetimes to fill two swimming pools. Great expectorations! Ever wondered how much we actually

00:54:12eat during our whole lifetimes? I'll spare you the math. An average-sized person eats nearly

00:54:1766,000 pounds of food throughout the whole course of their lifetime. How much is that for scale?

00:54:23About 6 elephants, and that ain't peanuts! Each of us carries around 4 pounds of bacteria

00:54:30on average at any given time in our bodies. But hey, don't go running to the doctor just yet!

00:54:36Most of that bacteria is actually good and have specific functions in the human body,

00:54:41like digestion and our immune systems. If you want to have an accurate depiction of your height,

00:54:47make sure you measure yourself in the morning. That's because you're about

00:54:520.4 inches taller right when you wake up. Trust me, it isn't magic. It's merely because,

00:54:58throughout the day, the soft cartilage between your spinal bones gets squashed down and compressed,

00:55:03making you seem shorter by the time you go to bed.

00:55:07We know that we have some sort of energy moving around our bodies, so we actually do emit a tiny

00:55:13amount of light. It's too weak for our own eyes to see, though, but if you think about it,

00:55:18you're actually glowing as we speak! The humorist and author Mark Twain once said,

00:55:24Man is the only animal that blushes, or needs to. How true! But not all humans can blush,

00:55:31and those that do blush to different degrees. Is there some sort of evolutionary reason for

00:55:37why we blush? It seems so. Blushing is a way for us to communicate without using any words,

00:55:43just like dogs wag their tails when they're happy or excited. So, basically,

00:55:47blushing can be translated to, I'm embarrassed, similar to how we shiver when we're cold.

00:55:53If the human eye was a camera, it would have about 576 megapixels.

00:55:58Our vision of the world changes throughout our lives. As soon as we're born, we see the world

00:56:03upside down for a bit. Our brain is programmed to show the inverted image formed on our retina

00:56:09by the convict's eye lens. But that doesn't kick in immediately after birth. Hey, I'm sure you

00:56:15enjoy that weekly cardio and weightlifting, but the strongest muscle in the human body

00:56:20is definitely not the one you've been working on. It's actually in your jaws. Your jaws are

00:56:25designed similarly to a nutcracker. Why? So you can get powerful bites with as little energy as

00:56:32possible. The fastest muscle is located in your eyes. That's probably how we came up with the

00:56:38expression, in the blink of an eye, for when something happens really quickly. Did you know

00:56:43that your nose comes with a built-in reset feature? It happens when you sneeze. Sneezing

00:56:48is basically your nose's way of getting rid of all the bad particles it has inhaled up to

00:56:53a certain point. If you think that's bad, it's not. Did you also think your pinky finger is

00:57:00something weak and pretty much useless? Well, it actually packs up to 50% of the strength in your

00:57:06hand. We still haven't figured out precisely why people yawn. We aren't the only creatures to do

00:57:12it. Baboons, guinea pigs, and the Siamese fighting fish yawn to warn other animals to stay away.

00:57:18Penguins seem to yawn during courtship rituals, and snakes yawn at times after a good meal.

00:57:23Boy, there's a happy snake! Some theories suggest it helps us get more oxygen in,

00:57:28while others indicate that it helps with regulating our body temperatures.

00:57:32Either way, we still don't know for sure. Our ears and noses are the only organs that

00:57:38continue to grow throughout our lifetimes. Our eyes stay more or less the same size as we grow

00:57:44up. By the time we're three months old, our corneas should technically reach their full size.

00:57:51The human body is this perfectly balanced machine, right? Well, not when I'm using it. Normally,

00:57:57all its parts work seamlessly together to keep us thriving and, well, alive.

00:58:03Each of our organs is essential for our day-to-day activities. From breathing,

00:58:08walking, talking, and coming up with bright ideas that push humanity forward. But are they

00:58:14really essential? Do we really need all those body parts? Or are some of them just ancient

00:58:19relics that we just got stuck with in this weird game of evolution? Take wisdom teeth, for example.

00:58:26Nah, somebody already took mine. Yep, they're those pairs of teeth stuck in the back of your

00:58:32mouth you often have to go to the dentist for. They're also known as third molars, and while

00:58:37they can be used to chew food, a lot of people think they're just unnecessary. And get this,

00:58:43around 22% of people worldwide don't even have all four of them. When they do grow in,

00:58:49they're the most likely to become impacted, which means they get stuck in the jawbone sideways and

00:58:55can't properly come through the gums. It's all because our jaws are often too small to accommodate

00:59:01these extra guys. Some smart scientists think that's because we've evolved to have smaller jaws

00:59:07over time. Recent evidence also shows that what we eat as kids might also be to blame,

00:59:13but it's hard to know for sure. Apparently, munching on hard-to-chew foods like raw veggies

00:59:19and nuts can actually stimulate jaw growth, while eating soft processed foods can kinda stunt it.

00:59:25And that leaves little space for our back teeth to come in and, you know, do their thing.

00:59:30Will they disappear altogether in the future? I guess we human mammals will just have to wait and

00:59:36see. Now let's talk about the vomeronasal organ, or as I like to call it, the nose's secret instrument.

00:59:43You see, rodents and other mammals have this awesome ability to communicate with each other

00:59:49using chemical signals called pheromones. And guess what? They have a special organ called

00:59:54the vomeronasal organ, or VNO, that helps them detect these pheromones. Here's where it gets

01:00:01interesting. While most adult humans have something resembling a VNO in their nose,

01:00:06it turns out that it's basically a useless remnant. Neuroscientists even say that if you look at the

01:00:13anatomy of this organ, you won't see any cells that resemble those of similar organs from other

01:00:18mammals. Also, this organ in humans doesn't seem to be communicating with the brain either.

01:00:24It's not all bad news. Even though the human VNO is pretty useless, it looks like it still

01:00:30might respond to some pheromones. Will humans keep this organ on their evolutionary to-do list?

01:00:37For now, I'd place it in the maybe pile. Now here's a tail. Animals that feature tails

01:00:44need these structures for a lot of things. Some need it for balance, others for navigation,

01:00:49while some need it to attract potential partners. But did you know that when we're

01:00:54just a few weeks old in our mother's belly, we actually have tails too? That's right,

01:01:00we have a whole little tail complete with vertebrae. As we develop, that tail magically

01:01:05disappears and we're left with our trusty tail bone. Humans and apes are unique in that we don't

01:01:12have tails, unlike other primates. It's a mystery why apes lost their tails, but we can all agree

01:01:18that it makes us stand out in a crowd. However, once in a blue moon, a human is born with a little

01:01:25vestigial tail. Cute, right? Well, don't get too excited, because these tails don't have vertebrae

01:01:32and can sometimes be associated with a tricky condition of the spine. Either way, these tails

01:01:38are usually harmless and can be easily removed with a quick surgery. And let's be honest,

01:01:43it's not like we're going to miss it. After all, who needs a tail when you have arms and legs to

01:01:49get around? Plus, can you imagine trying to find pants that fit with a tail sticking out the back?

01:01:55Not a good look. There's little to no chance humans will end up needing tails in the future,

01:02:00so I'm guessing the tail bones are bye-bye in future generations.

01:02:05Humans also have a funny little fold of membrane in the inner corner of the eyes,

01:02:11called the Plica Semilunaris. It's basically what's left of a third eyelid, which is still

01:02:17found in some animals, like gorillas and other primates. But here's the funny thing. Even our

01:02:23close relatives, the chimpanzees, have this little fold that appears to be useless too.

01:02:28So, we're not alone in this eye-quirkiness. Speaking of unusual membranes, they serve a

01:02:35variety of functions in different animals, such as protecting the eye from dirt and moisture,

01:02:40or hiding the iris from predators. Some species can even see through their transparent membranes

01:02:46when they're underwater or underground. Now, the reasons why we humans lost our third eyelid

01:02:52is still a bit of a mystery. Maybe changes in our habitat and eye physiology made it unnecessary,

01:02:59or maybe we just evolved to be too cool for a third eyelid. Who knows?

01:03:05With or without vestigial organs, it's interesting to imagine what humans

01:03:09might look like in the future. Many organs have become obsolete because of our lifestyle changes.

01:03:15Care to have a peek into what we might look like in the future? And in the same vein, or artery,

01:03:21have you heard of the concept of tech's claw? It's where you spend so much time typing on your

01:03:26phone or laptop that your hand starts to cramp up like a claw. And that's just one of the physical

01:03:32changes that could happen to us if we don't take care of our bodies in this tech-heavy world.

01:03:38But it's not just our hands that are affected. We could end up with 90-degree elbows from

01:03:44constantly holding our devices at that angle, and even a smaller brain from all the distractions

01:03:49and information overload. Now I know what you're thinking, we just can't give up technology and

01:03:54go back to the stone age. And you're right, we don't have to. But we do need to be aware of the

01:04:00potential negative effects and take steps to reduce their damage. That's why a team of designers put

01:04:07their creative efforts together to present Mindy, a future human whose body has physically changed

01:04:13due to the constant and never-ending use of smartphones, laptops, and other types of

01:04:18maniacal devices. While Mindy's exaggerated changes may not be in our future, the concerns

01:04:24behind them are real. So what can we do? Well, one suggestion is to take regular breaks from

01:04:31our screens and stretch our legs a little. Maybe even encourage some office yoga or dance parties

01:04:37to get the blood flowing. We don't have to give up technology completely, but we do need to be

01:04:43mindful of its effects on our bodies and minds. Many years in the future, we might even get

01:04:49smaller in size. One scientist reckons that if we were smaller, our bodies would need less energy,

01:04:55which would come in super handy in our increasingly crowded planet. It's funny to think about

01:05:01how different our lives are now compared to when we were hunter-gatherers. Back then,

01:05:06we only had to interact with a handful of people each day. But now, remembering people's names is

01:05:13a super important trait, and it might even be something we grow to become better at.

01:05:18Or technology might actually play a role in our evolution. Scientists believe that we could one

01:05:23day have implants in our brains that help us remember people's names. It's like having a

01:05:29biological phone book directly in your body. Wouldn't that be cool? Eh, who knows? Maybe in

01:05:35the future, we'll even have visible technology as part of our appearance. Imagine having an

01:05:41artificial eye that can see different colors and visuals. And don't even get me started on what we

01:05:47might look like if we colonized Mars. With the lower gravity, our bodies could change in all

01:05:53sorts of ways. We might have longer arms and legs, or even insulating body hair like our

01:05:58Neanderthal ancestors. It's hard to pinpoint what we might look like in the future without very

01:06:04precise data to back the models up. But it's fair to say these changes will be interesting,

01:06:10to say the least. As for me, well, it's too late to say the least. I've said over 1400 words here

01:06:16already. Most people are sure that humans only have five senses, but that's not entirely true.

01:06:27Taste, touch, smell, sight, and hearing aren't the only ones we have. Scientists claim that

01:06:33people have between 9 and 20 senses in total. These include thermoception, the sense of warmth,

01:06:40equilibrioception, the sense of balance. There's also the sense of time, although not everyone

01:06:46seems to have that last one. We used to think that there were just 8 different blood types,

01:06:51but in reality, there are over 30 known blood group systems. Here on the bright side,

01:06:56our favorite blood group is B-positive. Get it? For every pound of fat you gain, you generate

01:07:03one mile of new blood vessels to supply oxygen and nutrients to your body. Your stomach produces

01:07:09a new lining every six days to avoid digesting itself. Nerve cells transmit 1000 nerve impulses

01:07:17a second. They travel between 1 and 268 miles per hour. Our DNA contains 100,000 viruses.

01:07:25Scientists have discovered one that goes back 100 million years. Your body emits visible light.

01:07:32You're the brightest at 4pm, and your glow is the least visible at 10am. Unfortunately,

01:07:38this glowing is 1000 times less intense than what your eyes can see. Sweat is mostly water

01:07:45mixed with proteins, sugars, ammonia, and a lot of other stuff. It even contains tiny amounts of

01:07:51trace metals like copper, zinc, nickel, iron, and so on. What makes sweat taste salty is the sodium

01:07:58it contains. Plus, the more salt you eat, the saltier your sweat is. Your body's trying to

01:08:04get rid of the excess, and the fastest way is to sweat it out. If you walked 2 miles per hour,

01:08:10you'd have to walk for 20 hours straight to lose 1 pound. And it would take you 518 days and 8

01:08:17hours to circle the equator. Earwax isn't actually wax. It contains fat, skin cells, sweat, and dirt.

01:08:26Your brain gets three times bigger over the first year of life and reaches its full maturity when

01:08:31you're 25. 60% of it is fat. Your brain generates around 23 watts of electrical power, which is

01:08:38enough to run a small light bulb. Humans can't really multitask. Your brain can't perform more

01:08:46than one action at the same time. It switches between them, which doesn't save time as you

01:08:51might think, but increases the possibility you'll do something wrong and makes the process longer.

01:08:57When you have an exam to take or you're at work trying to focus on an important task,

01:09:02try chewing gum. Research showed it can help you stay concentrated for longer on tasks that

01:09:08require your full attention. Studies even say that it's a better test aid than caffeine.

01:09:13There's nothing special in the gum, but the act of chewing wakes your brain up. The effect doesn't

01:09:19last long, though, just for 20 minutes. Embryos develop fingerprints at three months.

01:09:25Your bones are four times harder than concrete. The strongest bone in your body is the femur.

01:09:30It can support up to 30 times the weight of a grown-up person. Even crazier is that our bones

01:09:36are made up of composite material, meaning they're both hard and elastic at the same time.

01:09:42Sunburn is the result of radiation exposure. When your body's natural defense mechanism gets

01:09:47overwhelmed trying to fight UV rays, a toxic reaction occurs that results in sunburn. Goosebumps

01:09:54are an evolutionary reflex left over from our ancestors. The release of adrenaline made their

01:09:59hair stand up, and they look scarier to approaching predators. Your body produces one to three pints

01:10:06of saliva every day. It helps you digest food and fights off infections. You also have a lot

01:10:12of bacteria in your mouth. Yeah, that's right. The average amount of bacteria in a person's mouth

01:10:17is almost the same as the number of people living on Earth. That's hard to digest. Each human has

01:10:23roughly 150,000 hairs on their head. Every strand grows around one half an inch per month. If we

01:10:29added the growth from each hair, it would measure the distance of 10 miles in just one year.

01:10:35Your hair is also a lot stronger than you think. A single strand can hold three ounces, which is

01:10:41the weight of an apple. If we combine the strength of all the hair on your head, it could support the

01:10:46weight of two elephants. Hey, let's try it. The beating sound your heart makes is the clap of

01:10:52valve leaflets opening and closing. Your heart doesn't replicate its cells unless you have an

01:10:57injury. Your corneas are the only part of your body that don't get blood. They get oxygen directly

01:11:04through the air. When you're sitting or standing upright, it's easier for you to recall some

01:11:08positive memories that make you feel good. Some believe it's because sitting up with your back

01:11:13flat boosts blood flow and your brain gets more oxygen, which helps it function better.

01:11:19The man who has the deepest voice in the world, and that's definitely not me,

01:11:24can produce sounds that humans, including him, can't hear at all. But elephants can hear those

01:11:31sounds. Veins look blue because light has to go through layers of skin and fat to reach them.

01:11:37Your skin scatters a lot of the red portion of white light before it reflects the blood.

01:11:42This leaves only the blue light to bounce back to your eyes. A person who has anosmia is unable

01:11:48to detect smells. Phantasmia is the opposite condition, when someone smells an odor that

01:11:54isn't actually there. The human brain has 100 billion neurons. It's 73% water, and the same is

01:12:01true about the heart. That's why if your brain loses even 2% of its liquid, you start to feel

01:12:07tired. It also makes your memory worse, shortens your attention span, and puts a dampener on your

01:12:13mood. The earliest known person to have had blue eyes lived in the Stone Age 7,000 years ago.

01:12:20Your right kidney is probably smaller and sits lower down than your left kidney

01:12:25to make room for your liver. By the way, your brain makes sure you don't drink too little

01:12:30or too much water. After you swallow some liquid, your mouth and throat start to fire

01:12:35signals to your brain, telling it to stop drinking. Otherwise, you'd keep gulping down

01:12:40water for the entire 10-60 minutes it takes the liquid to get to your cells.

01:12:45Your eyes can see something for a mere 13 milliseconds, and your brain will already

01:12:50process this image. The average blink lasts from 100 to 400 milliseconds.

01:12:56Even though the tongue isn't the strongest muscle in your body, it never gets tired.

01:13:01That's because of the way it's built. It's made up of 8 interwoven muscles.

01:13:06The tongue is the only muscle with ends not connected to bone. Other muscles join two bones

01:13:12at both ends because that's how we pull and make a motion. There are around 700 different

01:13:18species of bacteria in your mouth. Over 6 billion of them live there.

01:13:23Your skin is your largest organ. It can cover the surface area of two bath towels.

01:13:29It accounts for around 16% of body weight and is around 22 square feet.

01:13:34If you typed 60 words per minute for 8 hours a day, it would take you 50 years to type the

01:13:40human genome. You get tired pretty quickly when you're out in the heat.

01:13:45This happens because your body is trying really hard to keep itself cool, which puts a lot of

01:13:50extra work on it. So you get exhausted and tired, even if you don't do anything physically demanding.

01:13:57Your body has 78 organs, but only 5 of them are essential for survival.

01:14:02The brain, liver, kidney, lungs, and heart.

01:14:06Oh, the phone's ringing. Must be something urgent. At 11 pm. Only, all the gadgets in the house are

01:14:13silent. It's your ears that are ringing. You can also hear some hissing, whistling, buzzing,

01:14:19and even roaring. But all this noise doesn't have an external source. That's why it's known

01:14:25as phantom sounds. They can occur in one or both ears, constantly or from time to time.

01:14:31They're usually most noticeable at night, when nothing distracts you.

01:14:35Women have more taste buds on the surface of their tongues than men do. That's one of the

01:14:40reasons why 35% of ladies and only 15% of guys are super tasters. Those are people who feel

01:14:47flavors more strongly than others. Left-handed people usually prefer to chew on the left side,

01:14:52and right-handed people, well, you guessed it, chew on the right.

01:14:57Even if your fingerprints are damaged, they'll grow back in the same unique pattern.

01:15:02When breathing, a single lung only uses 5% of the oxygen you've inhaled.

01:15:10You have as much hair as a monkey. Now, I don't mean to be insulting,

01:15:14but your fingerprints are not unique. You can hear better after you cover your ears.

01:15:19Now, can these statements be true or are they nothing but myths?

01:15:24When a person is lying, their own nose can give them away. Can it be true?

01:15:32Yep. Researchers from the University of Granada have discovered that when a person tells a lie,

01:15:42the temperature around their nose and in the inner corners of their eyes

01:15:46rises. This phenomenon got named the Pinocchio effect.

01:15:51Hey, how about this one? People can have as many hairs on their body as chimpanzees.

01:15:57Can you believe this?

01:16:04Surprisingly, this one's true too. The hair count of a person and a chimp,

01:16:09or any other ape of our size, is approximately the same. The only difference is that human

01:16:15body hair is quite fine and often colorless. This makes it hard to see the sheer number of hairs.

01:16:22Your lungs are identical. It sounds reasonable, but is it true?

01:16:27Well, it's nothing but a myth. Your left lung consists of 2 lobes,

01:16:37while your right lung is divided into 3 parts. Plus, the lung on the left is a bit smaller.

01:16:42It has to, to make room for your heart. By the way, your lungs also contain around

01:16:481,500 miles of airways. It's more than half the distance between New York and Los Angeles.

01:16:54There are also more than 300 million alveoli, tiny balloon-shaped air sacs, in your lungs.

01:17:02I bet you've heard this one before. Carrots can make your eyesight better. True or myth?

01:17:13Unfortunately, this idea isn't true. Neither can carrots get you better night-time vision.

01:17:19Carrots are indeed packed with vitamin A. It benefits your body and protects your eyes.

01:17:24But even these veggies can't save you from wearing glasses if you need them.

01:17:29Some people sneeze when looking at the sun. Now, do they?

01:17:40Yes, that's true. About 25% of people have an interesting reaction to sunlight.

01:17:45They sneeze. This phenomenon even has its own name – the photic sneeze reflex.

01:17:51Hmm. Shaving body hair makes it grow darker and thicker. Is it the truth?

01:18:03Don't worry, that's just a myth. It might look as if your body hair has changed in thickness,

01:18:08rate of growth, or even color after getting shaved. But it's just an illusion. Shaving makes

01:18:14the tips of hair follicles blunt. That's why they look rougher and darker than usual. But

01:18:20once your hair grows in again, it'll start to look the same as it did before you shaved it.

01:18:26You have unique fingerprints. Ah, this one must be true, right?

01:18:35The problem with this statement is that scientists can't prove that each set of

01:18:39fingerprints is absolutely unique. It does seem to people, but it's impossible to check.

01:18:45And while this is improbable, people with identical fingerprints can actually turn out

01:18:49to be real. People have more than 5 senses. Is it an appealing myth or reality?

01:19:02There are 5 most obvious senses – vision, smell, touch, hearing, and taste. But how about

01:19:09thermoception – the sense of heat, nociception – the perception of pain,

01:19:14or the perception of your body awareness, proprioception – close your eyes and touch

01:19:19your nose. Got it? That's proprioception and action. This list can be much longer.

01:19:25Some experts state people have from 21 to 53 senses.

01:19:30Your fingers actually get pruney after you spend too much time in the water for your safety.

01:19:35Is it true? What's your bet?

01:19:39Scientists believe so, but first things first, pruney fingers are caused by narrowing blood

01:19:48vessels. When you stay in the water for a long time, your nervous system makes your blood vessels

01:19:53shrink. Your body sends the blood away from that area, and this loss of blood makes your vessels

01:19:59thinner. The skin starts folding over them, forming those funny wrinkles. Scientists aren't

01:20:04100% sure, but they think this process occurs to help you have a better grip when your hands

01:20:09and feet are wet. People only use 10% of their brains. Oh, how I wish it was just a myth!

01:20:22And it is! Apparently, you use almost 100% of your brain every day. This organ is active all

01:20:29the time, even when you're asleep. When you're snoozing, your frontal cortex, which is responsible

01:20:35for higher-level thinking and the areas that help you sense your surroundings, are still

01:20:40doing their job. For some people, the world is much brighter than for others. Hmm, how come?

01:20:53That's actually true! There are three kinds of cone cells in the average person's eyes.

01:20:58These cones help to recognize the colors in the blue, red, and green spectrums.

01:21:03Thanks to them, most people can distinguish around 1 million different shades.

01:21:08But those with technochromacy have 4 cones in their eyes. This feature allows them to see up

01:21:14to 100 million different hues. This vision anomaly is extremely rare, and women have it more often

01:21:20than men. But do you know the funniest thing about this? Most people with technochromacy don't even

01:21:26realize they see the world brighter than others. Sometimes you can hear better after closing your

01:21:32ears. Well, it seems counterproductive, but can it be true? Indeed, if you're in a loud place,

01:21:45for example, in a club or at a concert, you should close your ears to hear your friends better.

01:21:50Push the tragus, which is the pointy skin-covered cartilage in front of your ear canal,

01:21:55into your ear. Then turn this ear toward your friend. Voila!

01:22:01You can prevent yourself from sneezing. That would be very convenient, but maybe it's just a myth.

01:22:13It's true! If you don't want to sneeze, press the skin on the bridge of your nose with your fingers.

01:22:18When you do it, your brain receives an alarm signal. It immediately puts the brakes on all

01:22:24other processes, including the sneezing reflex. Ok, you're gonna finish these 5 episodes of your

01:22:30favorite series now and catch up on sleep later, but can you? Unfortunately, no. You can try to

01:22:44catch up on sleep at the weekend or take lots of afternoon naps during the week, but it won't help.

01:22:50Your body doesn't work this way. If you didn't have enough sleep the night before or went to bed

01:22:55really late, sleeping until noon won't save the day. Even worse, too much sleep will make you feel

01:23:02groggy. Some people have more ribs than others. Is it a myth? Nah, it's true! Most people have

01:23:1612 pairs of ribs, which makes 24 in total. But 1 in 200 people has an additional 25th rib.

01:23:23It's called cervical and forms at the base of the neck above the collarbone. It can grow on the left,

01:23:29right, or even both sides of the body. Those people who have extra ribs most likely know

01:23:35nothing about this modification. That's because an extra rib rarely forms completely

01:23:40and can look like a thin strand of tissue. In this case, you won't see it even on an x-ray.

01:23:46You should wait for at least a half an hour after eating before you go swimming.

01:23:50Well, it sounds reasonable, but is it true? Ah, that's just a myth. The general idea behind this

01:24:01claim is that eating a large meal makes your blood flow towards your stomach to help with

01:24:06the digestion process. At the same time, your muscles don't get enough blood, which leads to

01:24:11cramps. But in reality, swimming right after having eaten something isn't dangerous at all.

01:24:18Your blood doesn't get diverted enough for it to cause any serious problems.

01:24:23Some people's snores can get louder than a working kitchen appliance.

01:24:27What do you think about this? Well, on average, when a person snores, the sound doesn't get louder

01:24:38than 60 dB, which is as loud as a regular conversation. But sometimes, the noise level

01:24:44can reach 80 dB, and that's as loud as a working food blender. Not all people have round pupils.

01:24:52Can it be true? Yep. Two people out of every 10,000 have an unusually shaped pupil. Most

01:25:06commonly, it resembles a keyhole. This eye disorder is called coloboma. Interestingly,

01:25:11some people with this condition don't have any problems with their vision.

01:25:19Now, nobody really knows why we need the appendix, but it's always at the back of the book. Wait,

01:25:26wrong appendix! Some researchers claim the human appendix helped our ancestors process the tree

01:25:32bark and whatever they were eating at that time. As we have a way more balanced diet now,

01:25:37the appendix can disappear from our bodies without any consequences.

01:25:41Another purposeless thing in our bodies is the wisdom teeth. Yeah, they used to come in handy

01:25:47when dentists didn't exist, but now we can ideally make do without them. Your brain will grow by

01:25:53roughly 2% if you venture into space. Under normal gravity, it's thought that fluid in the brain

01:26:00naturally moves downwards when we stand upright. But there is evidence that microgravity prevents

01:26:05this, resulting in fluid accumulation in the brain and skull. When you age, your brain is

01:26:12gradually reducing in size. By age 75, it's much smaller than at age 30, and it starts shrinking

01:26:18at 40. It happens to everyone, so you just have to go with it and keep your brain busy and nimble.

01:26:26If you stare into your eyes in the mirror, you'll see a small pink circle settled in the corner of

01:26:31your eye. This is your third eyelid. Useless for us, but valuable for animals, like birds,

01:26:37to keep dust and scattered debris from getting into their eyes. This might sound familiar to

01:26:42you if you've heard of natural selection. In short, natural selection keeps body parts throughout

01:26:47generations. But some of them are harmful, so they're phased out in the next generation,

01:26:52and others that aren't staying, just like the third eyelid.

01:26:56Not only your brain shrinks as you get older, you too shrink dramatically. The bones get more

01:27:02brittle, the backbone gets compressed. It works vice versa too. When you rest at night, your bones

01:27:08kinda relax too, so you wake up taller than when you went to bed last night. Our ears help us keep

01:27:14the balance, so hearing isn't their only duty. Our vestibular system occupies the inner ear.

01:27:21Canals in your inner ear contain fluid and tiny sensors that look somewhat like hairs,

01:27:26helping you keep your balance. As for hairs, only a few body parts aren't

01:27:31covered with them. These are palms, the soles of the feet, and lips. Hairs grow even in the belly

01:27:37button. Their purpose is to catch lint. Mine does a great job. And not only lint, our belly buttons

01:27:44have an entire animal encyclopedia in them, with a range of about 70 different bacteria.

01:27:50Some of them can also be found in soil in Japan, and even some bacteria typical for

01:27:55polar ice caps. See, you have a whole naval expedition going on and didn't even know it!

01:28:02Only about 43% of you is you. You're over 50% tiny little creatures that mainly live in your gut and

01:28:10other body parts without ever leaving it. Still, even though your cells are fewer than microbial

01:28:15ones, there are, on average, about 100 trillion of them in you. With this in mind, your genes are

01:28:22less than half of what you consist of. If you take all the microbes dwelling within your body

01:28:27and count their genes, it'll be anywhere from 2 to 20 million genes and their combinations.

01:28:34If you sleep, and I recommend that you do, it doesn't mean all of your body sleeps.

01:28:39In fact, sometimes your brain has to work even harder when you're asleep.

01:28:43It needs to process tons of information, and reports usually take time.

01:28:48One thing that indeed rests while you're sleeping is your nose. You won't smell anything nasty in

01:28:54your sleep. The thing is that your sense of smell deactivates at night. If there's some terrible

01:28:59smell in your bedroom, you won't even be bothered. Scientists used to believe we could distinguish

01:29:05around 10,000 smells. Nope. Recent research showed that people could indicate more than

01:29:11a trillion smells. We also remember them better than anything else, and odors can even evoke some

01:29:18distant memories. Meanwhile, our strongest and most emotional memories are usually fake. It's

01:29:24the way the central memory works. It gives us the confidence to believe everything we remember is

01:29:29real, even though we should be confident about fewer details. You don't mind if I call you a

01:29:35mammal, do you? Well, among us mammals, only humans can always walk on two hind limbs

01:29:42and keep that posture for their entire lives. You may want to say that kangaroos or gorillas

01:29:47move in the same way, but kangaroos use their tail as a third leg, and gorillas use the help

01:29:53of their long arms to keep balance. Your bones take part in metabolism too.

01:29:58Since they mainly consist of calcium, when there's not enough of this element in your blood,

01:30:03bones start shedding it into the bloodstream, balancing your body. And vice versa, when there's

01:30:08too much calcium in your blood, it goes into the bones to be stored for later.

01:30:13Our height, shape of our body, and skin color depend a lot on where our ancestors used to live.

01:30:20But we can adapt to new conditions even within our lifespan. For example, if you move from the plains

01:30:26to the mountains, you'll eventually develop more red blood cells to compensate for the lack of

01:30:31oxygen. And naturally, if you drive from a colder climate to a hotter and sunnier one,

01:30:37your skin will change pigmentation slightly to adapt.

01:30:41Our lifespan is programmed within our cells. They constantly renew and divide, but they have

01:30:46a sort of internal timer that stops at some point. Some cells also stop reproducing sooner than

01:30:52others. On average, cells cease dividing when we reach the age of 100. If we find a way to

01:30:59trick ourselves into turning off the timer, we could potentially live forever. But we'd be a huge

01:31:05mass of wrinkles by then. Body fat acts as insulation material, energy reserve, and shock

01:31:12absorber. Your body sends the most fat into your waist region because that's where your internal

01:31:18organs are. If something happens to you, this layer of fat might as well protect those organs

01:31:23from serious damage. Your skull isn't a single bone. It consists of 22 different bones,

01:31:30many of which are fused to protect your brain. The mandible, or the lower jaw, is the only

01:31:35skull bone that's only attached to your head with connective tissues and muscles. This is what makes

01:31:40it so mobile. You can move it in any direction you like. And the smallest bone in your whole body

01:31:46is inside your ear. It's called the stapes, and it's no larger than a grain of rice.

01:31:52Some of the strongest muscles in your body aren't in your arms or legs. They're in your head.

01:31:58The masseter is the primary muscle responsible for chewing, and it needs to be the strongest

01:32:04for you to eat normally. And you know those muscles that allow you to move your ears?

01:32:08Those are temporalis, located above your temples. They also help you to chew your food.

01:32:14We've got two really fast muscles. They control the eyelids opening. In fact,

01:32:19they're the fastest muscles in our body. Eyes are fragile and need protection. So,

01:32:24when the reflex is triggered, these muscles shut the eyes within less than a tenth of a second.

01:32:30We recognize only purple-blue, green-yellow, and yellow-red colors. Everything else is a

01:32:35combination of these three. It's impossible to calculate how many of these combinations

01:32:40the human eye sees because every single person has slight vision differences,

01:32:45but it's about 1 million combinations on average.

01:32:49Your stomach has an impressive capacity, holding up to a half a gallon of liquids,

01:32:54a whole large bottle of Coke. It's pretty hard to estimate how much hard food you can squeeze

01:32:59into your stomach since the food is processed with your teeth before it gets down there.

01:33:04There's not enough room for a whole turkey, but who knows, probably a good-sized chicken

01:33:10might fit it. And hey, like my grandmother said, there's always room for ice cream.

01:33:16Now, show me where your stomach with all that cola, chicken, and ice cream is.

01:33:20If you're pointing at your tummy, nope, it's up there, hidden in between your ribs.

01:33:25Your tummy is full of intestines. You may have this rare body feature already

01:33:31and not know about it since sometimes even an x-ray can't spot it. Most of us have 12 pairs

01:33:37of rib bones, which means we were born with 24 ribs. There are some folks, though, that actually

01:33:43have 25 ribs. Only 1 in 200 people have this rare extra feature, and it's called a cervical rib.

01:33:51It generally appears above the first rib, right at the base of the neck and above the collarbone.

01:33:57It's nothing to worry about, though. Most of the time, they're unnoticeable,

01:34:01and if ever painful, they can be safely removed.

01:34:05Do you know how huskies can sometimes have their eyes in different colors?

01:34:10Some people come equipped with this rare feature, too. The medical term for it is heterochromia.

01:34:16The name comes from the ancient Greek word heteros, which translates to different, and chroma,

01:34:22which means color. People with this condition can either have complete, central, or partial

01:34:28heterochromia. The complete type means that the person has two completely different colored eyes,

01:34:34say, one brown and one green. Two different colors in the same eye are what specialists call

01:34:40central heterochromia. A person with a partial heterochromia has just a portion of their eye

01:34:46of a different color. You can either be born with this condition or get it, say, after an injury.

01:34:53Still, it's extremely rare. Less than 200,000 people are diagnosed with it in the US.

01:34:59Either way, let's face it, it does look pretty cool!

01:35:04Speaking of eye color, wanna try guessing what the rarest one is?

01:35:08I'll spare you the Google search. It's gray. Blue eyes may have been your first thought,

01:35:13and they are indeed already pretty rare. Only around 8 to 17% of the world's population

01:35:20have this eye color. When it comes to gray eyes, though, they're even more special.

01:35:25Less than 1% of people have them. This rare body feature is caused by a lower level of melanin

01:35:32in the eye's layers. If you're interested in meeting someone with gray eyes, your best chance

01:35:37is in Eastern and Northern Europe. Even rarer eye colors are red or violet, but these can sometimes

01:35:44be the result of different health conditions. There are people out there who have the superpower

01:35:50of seeing 100 million different colors without the help of any fancy gadgets.

01:35:55We see colors thanks to some cells in our eyes named cones. Most of us have three types of cones

01:36:01to help translate what we see into the colors that our brain is able to understand. However,

01:36:07specialists think that there's a small group of people called tetrachromats who have four types

01:36:13of these cones. So far, researchers have only been able to identify women with this condition.

01:36:20That little teardrop-shaped ball hanging in the back of your neck, you know, the one that

01:36:24helps with swallowing your food, is called a uvula. The name comes from Latin and translates

01:36:31to little grape. Surprisingly enough, around 2% of people are born with a bifid uvula,

01:36:37which means that this indispensable organ in them is either split or forked. You sure can surprise

01:36:44others with this cool feature of yours at parties. Joking aside though, people with this bifid uvula

01:36:49may sometimes have trouble eating, drinking, and speaking. They might also have issues with

01:36:55digesting food. Their speech may also sound a bit unusual, but this depends on how much the uvula

01:37:01is split. This particular body feature might not be the perfect trait when going on vacation,

01:37:07but it does allow people to do more with less sleep. They say that famous people like Nikola

01:37:12Tesla, Margaret Thatcher, and Winston Churchill had this super rare feature. This gene, called

01:37:19the DEC2 gene, helps with regulating our circadian rhythms. Those are the natural biological clocks

01:37:26that let us know when we should be sleeping or eating by making us sleepy or hungry. A person

01:37:32with this rare mutation can basically go through a normal sleep cycle in less time. They can feel

01:37:39rested even if they slept for only four to five hours. That's one superpower I definitely want to

01:37:44have. How about a gene mutation that gives you superhero-like bones? They're basically unbreakable.

01:37:52It also makes your skin less prone to aging. Yep, looks like with this feature you can walk away

01:37:58from accidents unharmed and even withstand the flow of time. Some other people out there come

01:38:04with a very attractive feature, but it can go unnoticed, at least at first glance. They have

01:38:09a little something called distichiasis, which basically means an extra row of eyelashes.

01:38:15Just in case you're wondering about the medical aspects too, it results from a genetic mutation

01:38:20of a certain gene. As beautiful as it may sound, people with that extra eyelash layer can experience

01:38:27some pretty unpleasant sensations in their eyes and, in some cases, even have problems with their

01:38:33vision. If spun glass hair doesn't ring a bell, know that it is, in fact, a condition you might

01:38:40have. I know it's pretty self-explanatory, but just FYI, it causes frizzy and dry hair.

01:38:48It's basically so unmanageable that you literally can't comb it. It also tends to grow out from the

01:38:54scalp in all directions. As for coloring, it comes in either bright blonde or silver.

01:39:00Most of us have hair strands that are cylindrical. People with this condition have triangular or

01:39:07heart-shaped strands or even flat altogether. It's extremely rare, with only 100 confirmed cases,

01:39:13but it does become more manageable with age. Most of us humans have evolved to have some

01:39:19specific traits depending on the area of the globe that we live in. But there is a group of people,

01:39:25specifically those that live in higher altitudes, that developed some pretty cool traits.

01:39:30Let me explain. High-altitude environments come with less oxygen. Not only do these people

01:39:36survive in these locations, but they've adapted to actually thrive out there.

01:39:41For example, those living in the Andes Mountains of South America have red blood cells that can

01:39:46carry much more oxygen. It makes their overall circulatory system a lot more efficient. People

01:39:53living in similar conditions in other parts of the world have also adapted in their own way.

01:39:58They're able to take more breaths so that they can properly supply their bodies with oxygen.

01:40:05This one is very important when it comes to looks but means little in terms of a person's

01:40:10overall health. I'm talking about Poggeboldism. Those who have it lack melanocytes, those cells

01:40:18that produce hair pigment in some parts of their hair. It's most common above the forehead,

01:40:23in front of their hairline, but it can also appear on the eyebrows or eyelashes.

01:40:29Folks who have it are born with this condition and carry it throughout their entire lifetime.

01:40:34If you really want to get rid of it, there's always hair dye available,

01:40:38but I personally think it looks super cool.

01:40:42We all know cilantro really isn't everyone's cup of tea. I don't know about you, but it tastes like

01:40:47soap to me. It turns out it's not actually a preference, but rather a gene that causes the

01:40:53plant to have this vile taste instead. A study performed on a group of about 30,000 people

01:40:59revealed that you can find a particular gene variant in people who say that cilantro tastes

01:41:04soapy. This gene has more to do with the odor of the plant than the taste itself. If you're one of

01:41:11those people but really want to give cilantro a chance, either way there's a small trick you can

01:41:16try. Or ask the people that cook the meals in your household. You can always crush the herb before

01:41:22using it in dishes. Why does that help? Well, because with crushing, the chemicals that are

01:41:27responsible for the soapy taste are broken down and are less likely to taste unpleasant.

01:41:35The cornea is the only part of your body with living cells that doesn't have blood vessels.

01:41:41It gets nutrients and oxygen directly from the tear fluid on the outside,

01:41:45and the thick watery substance you have between the cornea on the inside, and also from the nerve

01:41:51fibers connected to the cornea. That's why contact lenses used to be a potential issue.

01:41:58The older ones were reducing oxygen supply, since the cornea mostly gets oxygen from the outside.

01:42:04This problem was solved, or at least reduced, when silicone hydrogel lenses came to the market.

01:42:11Some other parts of your body with no blood vessels are your nails, hair, outer skin layers,

01:42:17and tooth enamel. Did you notice your sweat sometimes smells of onions after your workout?

01:42:24You have nothing to worry about. There are two types of sweat glands in your skin.

01:42:29The first kind of glands are located on certain areas of your body,

01:42:33like the groin region and the armpits. They produce a specific oily fluid, which is a

01:42:39response to certain emotional experiences. Another type of sweat gland is way more common.

01:42:45They're distributed all over your body and are responsible for the specific sweat you get

01:42:50after the workout. The sweat cools your body down as it evaporates from your skin.

01:42:56It's 99% water, so it's practically odorless. Well, at least when it first leaves the pores

01:43:02and comes to the surface of your skin. But there are many types of bacteria on the human skin,

01:43:08and they feed on the nutrients in that sweat, together with skin flakes. One of the byproducts

01:43:14of this is specific chemicals, and their smell can sometimes strongly remind you of onion.

01:43:20You may have noticed you produce more saliva when you go for a run,

01:43:24especially if it's a short jog in cold weather. But if you're running a marathon and it's a nice,

01:43:31warm day outside, you'll produce less saliva. It's your body trying to offset the drying effect,

01:43:38since you breathe through your mouth way more. But your body becomes more dehydrated over longer

01:43:45periods, which is why it's trying to conserve water by reducing saliva production. Every

01:43:51training you do, no matter how intensive it is, also makes you secrete more of a specific

01:43:56type of protein. It makes the saliva more viscous and sticky, which is why you may feel like your

01:44:03mouth is dry way more after your workout. Humans see the world 15 seconds out of date,

01:44:10which means your brain constantly keeps you a little bit in the past. This way, it helps you

01:44:16stabilize your vision of the world around you. Your eyes receive a huge amount of visual

01:44:21information. Yep, literally millions of colors, shapes, and ever-changing motion wherever you turn.

01:44:29It's not an easy task for your brain to process all that. The visual world alters all the time

01:44:34because of changes in viewpoint, light, and the rest of the outer factors. Your visual input

01:44:41changes because you need to blink. Plus, your head, eyes, and your entire body are always in

01:44:48some sort of motion. Your brain has to establish a mechanism that can create illusory stability.

01:44:55It automatically smooths your visual input. It doesn't analyze every little visual snapshot.

01:45:01It's like a time machine. You actually perceive an average of things you saw in the past 15 seconds

01:45:08at any given moment. The brain pulls together objects so they appear more similar to each other.

01:45:14That's why it tricks you into believing you're in stable surroundings. If your brain kept you

01:45:19updated in real time, the world would feel like a very, very chaotic place with constant changes

01:45:25in movement, light, and shadow, which would probably feel like you were hallucinating all the time.

01:45:31Your bones are really strong, but your teeth, which we also consider as part of the skeletal system,

01:45:39are even stronger. That's because of the enamel, the hard outer layer of your tooth.

01:45:45The enamel keeps the tissue and the delicate nerves inside your teeth safe. You're basically

01:45:52burning calories while you're thinking. When you rest and don't engage in any particular activity,

01:45:57except for the basics, which includes digesting, breathing, and keeping yourself warm, it's the

01:46:04stage where your brain uses up to 20 to 25 percent of the total energy of your body. That means your

01:46:10body will burn around 350 to 450 calories per day while pretty much doing nothing. We're not the only

01:46:18ones in the animal kingdom with such a mechanism. Some small mammals like the minuscule pygmy marmoset

01:46:25and the tiny tree shrew devote the same percentage of their total body energy to their brain.

01:46:32Most of the energy the brain burns is to help its cells, the neurons, to communicate with each other.

01:46:38They do it via chemical signals the brain transmits across synapses, those special cell

01:46:43structures. So the brain directs a lot of energy towards synapses in order to make them work.

01:46:50Your brain never really rests. Even when you're sleeping, certain parts are active. So your brain

01:46:57needs its fuel to work, and you're basically burning calories in your sleep. The more demanding

01:47:03mental tasks you take throughout the day, the more calories you burn. So if you skip today's workout,

01:47:10solve some sudoku. Do you like to rush with your ice cream? Sometimes it pays off, but if you do

01:47:17it often, you must know the feeling of brain freeze pretty well. It's a pretty intense and

01:47:24uncomfortable feeling that comes from the front or sides of your head right after you drink or eat

01:47:29something cold, such as a slushy drink, ice cream, or an ice pop. Some people even go through a similar

01:47:36sensation whenever they're exposed to cold air. Scientists are still not sure exactly why this

01:47:42happens, but one of the theories is the cold substance stimulates a cluster of nerves located

01:47:48at the back of the palate. Another theory says the blood vessels in the roof of the mouth and

01:47:54sinuses quickly constrict because the temperature in your mouth drops before they dilate again.

01:48:00Brain freeze is not something dangerous that you should be seriously worried about.

01:48:04And no, hanging over the table, groaning, or clasping your head in your hands won't help much.

01:48:11Some people like to sleep a lot. Hey, guilty as charged. But some have a certain condition called

01:48:18familiar natural short sleepers, which means they're kind of immune to sleep deprivation.

01:48:24About 1% of our population has it. They can fall short on sleep and feel pretty good about it.

01:48:31They're fine with sleeping for six hours per night. This amount would wreck the majority of people

01:48:37after a couple of nights. The human eye normally has three cones. That means we can recognize

01:48:44approximately a million different shades in the green, red, and blue spectrums of colors.

01:48:50But there are some people with a rare condition, so-called tetrachromats, that have four cones in

01:48:56their eyes. This allows them to see ultraviolet shades, which means they can distinguish 100

01:49:02million distinct colors. Did you know your skeleton is all wet? I mean, your entire body

01:49:09mostly consists of water, up to 60%. That fluid is not only in your organs, muscles, and skin.

01:49:16It's in your skeleton too. Your bone mass is almost one-third water. There's this amazing

01:49:23hidden network a human body holds inside. Blood vessels are really small, but if you could line

01:49:29them all up, you'd get something huge. Your entire body boasts a network of 60,000 miles of blood

01:49:35vessels. One of the ways to keep your network healthy is by eating right. Have you ever wondered

01:49:42why our distant relatives, the primates, are so much stronger than us? In many ways, our bodies

01:49:48are very similar. Look at the chimp's muscle structure, for example. But our closest primate

01:49:54relatives are approximately 1.35 times stronger than us. The human body developed more slow-twitch

01:50:02muscle fibers compared to the rest of the primates. This type of muscle fiber is a less powerful one,

01:50:08but it lets us endure more than other primates and do things like foraging and hunting,

01:50:14activities that helped our distant ancestors to survive. That's also the reason why we can

01:50:19run a marathon. A monkey could never do it, but we'd still lose in a strength competition.

01:50:26Laughter is contagious. It's not just a metaphor. Researchers have found that strong emotions can

01:50:33make the brain activity of different people sink. Laughter is something science usually links with

01:50:39social creatures. People are almost 30 times more likely to laugh when in some social situations,

01:50:46hanging out with their friends or people they feel relaxed with. One of the theories says that

01:50:51you're probably going to join when you see your friend laughing because humans are empathetic

01:50:55beings. Your brain will release endorphins when you're laughing. These are special chemicals that

01:51:01make you feel safe and at ease. So, we're not sure why exactly our laughter is contagious,

01:51:06but it feels really good. So,

01:51:13join us on the bright side of life and laugh away.

01:51:20Your dog doesn't actually have a stronger sense of smell than you do. People often talk about how

01:51:26dogs have a superior sense of smell, and this probably started when a researcher from the 19th

01:51:31century, Paul Broca, marked humans as non-smellers. No one ever provided sensory testing to support

01:51:39this theory, but people still believed in it for a long time. The truth is, different types of

01:51:45animals can identify different kinds of scents. There was an experiment done where human volunteers

01:51:51needed to track a scent. Researchers dipped twine in chocolate essence and then zigzagged it all

01:51:57across a grassy field. Volunteers weren't allowed to use other senses. For example, they were ear

01:52:04muffed and blindfolded. They even wore thick gloves and knee pads. The conclusion they came to is that

01:52:11while we are not as effective as dogs, we can follow a scent trail and become way better if

01:52:18we practice. Interestingly, humans are more sensitive to certain smells compared to dogs

01:52:24like fruit or flowers. This is because the evolution of dogs didn't require them to sharpen

01:52:30their sense of smell for these types of odors. A TV screen won't ruin your eyesight. At least,

01:52:37there's no evidence that looking at a TV screen can really hurt your eyes. It's the same for phone

01:52:42or computer screens. Looking at them may lead to eye strain or fatigue, but in most cases, it's

01:52:49nothing you can't ease with proper rest. That doesn't mean watching TV or staring at your phone

01:52:55for too long doesn't have negative consequences in other parts of your life, like reduced

01:53:00concentration and lack of socialization, among many other things. Being able to roll your tongue

01:53:07is not really a genetic trait, even though biology teachers often say this gift is based on a

01:53:12dominant gene. There was a study that showed 7 out of 33 twins who didn't actually share this

01:53:19feature. Identical twins share the same genes, which implies that they should share this trait

01:53:25too. But they don't, which means genes are most likely not the factor that decides if you'll be

01:53:32able to roll your tongue. And this myth still exists, even though it was debunked over 6 decades

01:53:38ago. You're going to catch a cold if you go outside with wet hair is yet another myth. To

01:53:45actually catch a cold, we need to have a virus inside of our body. Also, wet hair is not something

01:53:52that makes you more attractive to the various germs lurking around you. People mostly believe

01:53:57this is true because they a. Heard it from their parents and b. Associate going outside with your

01:54:04hair being wet with getting sick because you're generally more exposed to germs when you're

01:54:09outside. There are no truly double-jointed people. Some individuals have certain parts of their

01:54:15bodies that are very flexible so they can, for example, touch their chin with their elbow or bend

01:54:21their fingers backward. We often call these people double-jointed, like the secret is in them having

01:54:27an extra hinge somewhere. Well, it's not true. They have single joints, but they may have bones

01:54:34with oddly-shaped ends, or their connective tissue may be very pliable. It seems the appendix,

01:54:41as in the organ, is useful after all, despite its poor reputation as a useless intestinal tube that

01:54:47pretty much goes nowhere. It seems the appendix is actually a reservoir for bacteria, but a good and

01:54:54helpful one. It stores microbes that assist our body when it's fighting certain problems and

01:55:00illnesses. In the early stage of our life, the appendix also helped us with the process of

01:55:05forming white blood cells, together with certain types of antibodies. Hey, do you know where the

01:55:11stomach is? Sounds easy, right? But it's probably not where you think. Most people believe it lurks

01:55:18somewhere in the area behind the belly button. In reality, it's a bit higher in the abdomen,

01:55:24sitting on top of the rest of the gut. Here's how you can find it. Look for the point where

01:55:29your lower ribs meet in the middle. Now go down approximately three finger widths, and then three

01:55:35to your left. Now you're supposed to be right over the center of your stomach. You don't have taste

01:55:41sections on your tongue. The tongue map probably showed up at the beginning of the 20th century,

01:55:47because scientists found minute differences in how strong a taste had to be in different areas

01:55:53inside the human mouth to actually register. This study created a myth that each part of the tongue

01:55:59was responsible for different tastes. In reality, all types of taste buds are spread across all

01:56:05areas of your mouth, and they can detect each taste. This includes umami too, which is now

01:56:12accepted along with the usual four, sweet, salty, bitter, and sour. We don't only use 10% of our

01:56:20brain, we use way more even when we're sleeping. Scientists tested this statement, and one of the

01:56:26methods they used was measuring activity in the brain while a person was performing various tasks.

01:56:32Results have shown we use most of our brain most of the time. The exact percentage varies from

01:56:38person to person, depending on what they're doing. Plus, it's not possible to monitor every single one

01:56:44of our brain cells. There are billions of them after all, so you can't know the exact number of

01:56:49active ones at any given time. When asleep, your frontal cortex, the part responsible for, let's say,

01:56:57higher level thinking, and certain areas that help you sense your surroundings, are still working.

01:57:03Humans don't just have five senses, hearing, taste, touch, sight, and smell. This idea originated from

01:57:10Aristotle, a famous Greek philosopher, who said that there was a sense organ for every sense,

01:57:16eyes for seeing, a tongue for tasting, and so on. But that was thousands of years ago,

01:57:21and he was missing the vestibular system, a key sense organ. The vestibular system is the

01:57:28apparatus of the inner ear that our body uses to stay in balance. Not every sense requires its own

01:57:34sense organ, just a different type of sensory receptor. For example, your skin alone has four

01:57:41different receptors for temperature, touch, pain, and proprioception. Proprioception is

01:57:47body awareness, which means that even if you move your arm behind your back, you still know it's

01:57:53there. Something an octopus, for example, doesn't know. So, saying we have 33 senses could be closer

01:58:01to the truth, not five. These include senses of balance, temperature, thirst, and many more we

01:58:08need to survive. If you like cracking your knuckles from time to time, no need to worry.

01:58:13The whole idea that it increases risks for potential knuckle problems perhaps makes sense

01:58:18in the first place because that's what happens when you constantly put pressure on your joints

01:58:23over the years. The satisfying sound you hear happens because of bubbles bursting in the fluid

01:58:29that actually lubricates your joints, called synovial fluid. If you eat a big meal, you can

01:58:37still go swimming. You won't get cramps. The idea behind this misconception is eating a heavy meal

01:58:43will increase the amount of blood flow to your stomach. That way, blood won't go to your muscles,

01:58:48which will potentially cause cramps if you go swimming. The truth is, you probably won't feel

01:58:54that comfortable swimming immediately after eating a large meal, but you're safe to go if you really

01:58:59want to. It's even recommended to have a small snack that's rich in carbs not long before your

01:59:05swimming session. This will boost your energy. When you shave your body hair, you don't have to

01:59:11worry about it growing back darker and thicker. Because this is a myth. You may believe there are

01:59:17some changes in the color, thickness, or growth rate of the hair. That's because after you shave,

01:59:23you give the follicle a blunt tip, which may look or feel darker and rougher than it was before.

01:59:30But that's just a perception trick. You'll see that once your hair grows in again, it will be the

01:59:35same as before. It's a myth that we lose a disproportionate amount of body heat through

01:59:41our heads. You may feel like that because our head, chest, and face are definitely more sensitive when

01:59:47it comes to changes in temperature. In reality, you'd be just as cold if you went out without a

01:59:53hat, as if you weren't wearing pants. You probably feel like you're losing heat through your head

01:59:59because it's often one of those parts that we leave uncovered when going out. No need to worry

02:00:05if you wake up a sleepwalker. You're not going to seriously harm them by doing so. If you startle one,

02:00:11they can be quite disoriented and may have a confused reaction. Sometimes it's better to do

02:00:16that than to let a sleepwalker get up and start doing certain things that they shouldn't be doing

02:00:21while sleeping, like cooking or driving. Or you could just show them the way back to bed. Your

02:00:28body actually glows. It emits a super faint light that's at its strongest at around 3 to 4 pm.

02:00:35The sad news is that this glowing is 1,000 times less intense than what your eyes can see.

02:00:41Humans are the only animals that have chins. Even our closest genetic relatives, gorillas and chimps,

02:00:47lack this small piece of bone that extends forward from the jaw. Their lower jaws slant down and back

02:00:53from their front teeth. Scientists still haven't figured out this mystery. The opinions about why

02:00:59people are made this way differ. Some researchers think chins help us chew our food. Others are

02:01:05sure they have something to do with speaking. A few of us think it's simply a special place to

02:01:10grow a goatee. The most abundant element in the human body is oxygen at 65%, but it also contains

02:01:18lithium, cobalt, gold, and uranium. The rarest one of all is radium. On average, humans yawn 20

02:01:27times a day, partially spontaneously, for example when you're tired, but sometimes when someone

02:01:33yawns near you. Scientists think it could be a thing called social mirroring. Usually, when animals

02:01:39mimic each other, they recognize some action as useful, so they decide to do it too. With humans,

02:01:46it happens when someone crosses legs, laughs, smiles at you, or...

02:01:52Your stomach acid breaks down the foods you eat and turns them into easy-to-digest particles.

02:01:58It also stops nasty pathogens and microbes that could make you sick. In fact, your stomach acid

02:02:04is so strong that it can even dissolve bone and metal. Don't start munching down on your soda

02:02:10cans, though. That's probably not going to end well. Your brain has more than 86 billion nerve

02:02:15cells. They're all joined together by 100 trillion connections. That's even more than the number of

02:02:21stars in the Milky Way galaxy. There's a good chance you can guess someone's name based on

02:02:27how they look. Researchers showed portrait photos to a group of people with four names written

02:02:32below. They were asked to choose the right name for this or that person. The law of chance says

02:02:38you'll guess it 25% of the time. But in this research, people got the names correct at a rate

02:02:44of 25% to 40%. And there were more than 94,000 faces shown. Let's say a man is called Bob.

02:02:52People will expect for him to have a rounder face than Tim. They expect Bob to be more jolly

02:02:58and ready to hang out with people. It has to affect his facial appearance in some way.

02:03:03A woman called Catherine can be considered more serious, studious, and concentrated.

02:03:09That could eventually influence her facial muscles as well.

02:03:13When ancient Romans flexed their biceps, they thought their muscles looked like mice. That's

02:03:18why the word muscle translates as little mouse in Latin. Your left lung is smaller than the right one

02:03:25because it shares space with your heart. Experts used to think that we can only distinguish 10,000

02:03:32smells. In fact, a recent study found human beings can recognize 1 trillion smells.

02:03:38Millennials, or people born between 1981 and 1996, are more forgetful than older people. The main

02:03:46cause of their forgetfulness comes from higher levels of stress. So come on, dude, chill out,

02:03:51okay? Some scientists think that the purpose of fingerprints is a better grip. But others believe

02:03:57they're there to help wick water off them and allow the skin to stretch when needed to protect

02:04:02it from damage. There's also a theory saying that fingerprints improve the sense of touch.

02:04:08Hot coffee can taste better than cold coffee. Your taste bud receptors are most sensitive when

02:04:14your food is at or a little bit above room temperature. Hot coffee can then seem less bitter

02:04:19because taste buds that detect bitterness are more sensitive when the coffee is cold.

02:04:24The biggest molecule in the human body is the chromosome 1. A human cell has 23 chromosome

02:04:31pairs, and each chromosome 1 is made of 10 billion atoms. You inhale 25 sextillion molecules in just

02:04:40one breath. That's 25 followed by 21 zeros. When you're walking faster, at some point,

02:04:47you'll feel the natural urge to start jogging. Your body wants to have a stable state whether

02:04:52you're running or walking. So if you're walking fast, it will unconsciously force you to start

02:04:58running. One theory is we use more energy when walking faster than running. So that's one of

02:05:04the ways the body saves energy. Your pinky is a powerful little thing. Without it, your hand would

02:05:10lose a significant part of its power. Your index and middle fingers cooperate with your thumb to

02:05:16grab and pinch. And your pinky, together with your ring finger, provides grip strength.

02:05:22The fattiest organ in your body is your brain. Fat makes up at least 60% of its dry weight.

02:05:29This quality got the brain to the Guinness World Records. The organ contains around 25%

02:05:34of your body's cholesterol, which is vital for the brain's well-being.

02:05:38Your bones are four times harder than concrete. The strongest bone in your body is the femur.

02:05:45It can support up to 30 times the weight of a grown-up person. Even crazier is that our bones

02:05:50are made up of composite material, meaning they're both hard and elastic at the same time.

02:05:56Your fingernails grow twice as fast as your toenails. It would take 15 and a half months

02:06:01for your toenails to grow one inch, but only seven months for your fingernails to get this long.

02:06:07The outer layer of your skin is thicker on your feet than on other parts of your body.

02:06:12The heart has its own electrical system and can continue beating even when it's

02:06:16disconnected from the body. The vessels in your body are long enough to circle the Earth twice or

02:06:23more. The idea that we use only 10% of our brains is a myth. At any given time, you use almost 100%.

02:06:31Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to perform simple tasks like drink a cup of coffee. More than 70%

02:06:37of your brain consists of water, and it needs 20% of your body's oxygen supply.

02:06:43The average lifespan of one eyebrow hair is four months.

02:06:48The body of a 110-pound person contains 40 tablespoons of salt. If you ironed out all

02:06:55the wrinkles in your brain and laid it flat, it would be the size of a pillowcase. The brain

02:07:00wrinkles as there's not a lot of room in the skull, so it folds over itself as it grows.

02:07:06By the way, don't do that pillowcase thing with your brain. Trust me on this one.

02:07:10We spend 40% of our life with our eyes closed. Most of that time is when we're asleep.

02:07:17But don't forget to count blinking, too. Or while driving.

02:07:21You produce around 85,000 pints of spit in your lifetime. That's enough saliva to fill around 500

02:07:28bathtubs. Nuff said. The highest blood flow isn't actually in your heart, and it's not in your brain

02:07:34either. It's in your kidneys. It's super hard for us to grasp just how small an atom is,

02:07:41but think of it this way. Your body is made up of a staggering seven octillion atoms. Yeah,

02:07:48doesn't that look like a seven being chased by a whole mob of zeros?

02:07:52For adults, the blood makes up 7-8% of the total body weight. About 55% of your blood

02:07:58is liquid plasma. The rest is red and white blood cells and platelets. They form clots and

02:08:04prevent bleeding. You can't swallow and breathe at the same time. The food you swallow and the

02:08:11air you breathe go down the same part of your throat at first. Only a bit deeper does the

02:08:16passage split into the esophagus, for food and liquid, and the trachea, for air. When you swallow,

02:08:23your airway gets automatically closed off. This prevents you from accidentally inhaling food,

02:08:29but occasionally it still happens. There's a name for the growling sound that your stomach

02:08:34makes when you're hungry. It's called borborygmi. It takes 6-8 hours for food to travel through

02:08:41your stomach and small intestine. That's because your body is trying to absorb all its nutrients.

02:08:47The idea that the tongue has flavor zones is a myth. All taste buds can detect 5 tastes,

02:08:54but some receptors are more responsive than others.

02:08:57Human beings are the only animals that willingly delay sleep. Just make sure you get enough!

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