5 interesting facts about the human body

The human body is weird and mysterious; even with years of scientific advancement, there are still things we do not understand about how the body works - something especially common in the field of neuroscience. While there may be a lot that we don’t know, we have gotten fairly knowledgeable about how our insides work. It’s the reason why modern medicine is so effective, especially when compared to just a few decades ago.

In the interest of science, and all things weird, we have decided to list some of the most interesting and weird facts about the human body.

1. Our brains can hold a seriously impressive amount of data

While the exact figure is constantly debated, the human brain can store some seriously hefty amounts of data. The most recently estimated figure is around 2.5 petabytes, or 2,500 gigabytes - this figure is still disputed by many scientists. That’s a lot of storage, and what makes it all the more impressive is that the human brain runs on enough electricity to run a lightbulb. If the same amount of storage and processing power ran on a PC, it would take an entire nuclear power station to power the machine.

2. Babies have more bones than adults

The average human adult has 206 bones in their body, but a new born baby has 305 bones. This is because those extra bones present in a child's body will end up fusing to form bigger, larger bones. It’s also worth noting that babies are born with more cartilage than bone, which is a soft tissue that is elastic in nature, meaning it can stretch as a baby grows.

3. Human bodies emit light

Though we are are unable to see it, human bodies emit a very low level of light.

It’s called bioluminescence, a process that occurs due to the metabolic reactions within the body. This doesn’t mean you can go lighting rooms if there’s a powercut of course, but you are emitting a low level of light at all times.

4. We shed 600,000 particles of skin per hour

The skin is constantly repairing and growing, and unsurprisingly there is a lot of dead skin to get rid of as well. We shed 600,000 skin particles per hour to be exact, something that ends up contributing to the dust that surrounds us. If you consider that many people all work together in enclosed areas, there is multiple people all continuously shedding dead skin - weird!

5. Stomach acid can dissolve metal

The liquids that line our stomachs are incredibly acidic. So acidic in fact that they are able to break down some metals. This doesn’t mean you can go around chowing down on pound coins and keys, but a scientific study found that the acid in our stomachs can dissolve a razor blade. Given that our stomach acid doesn’t hurt us, that sounds a bit farfetched, but this is because our stomach walls are able to repair themselves faster than they degrade.

These are just a few of the interesting facts that we found, but there’s definitely a lot more out there. No matter how much science progresses, we are always learning something new about how the human body works - in a few years we’ll know even more about our anatomy. If you’ve got any weird or wonderful facts about the body that we haven’t included, please tell us in the comments below.