It’s easy to dismiss everything going on inside of us as unimportant and anyone who didn’t pay attention in high school biology class might agree with that statement, but the human body is a wonder of science and nature.
By all accounts, we all appear mundane on the outside.
We are all of us just a walking, talking bag of bones, electrical impulses and chemical reactions in a meat suit with an appetite for excellent television and an addiction to overpowered, miniature super computers we carry with us everywhere.
But there’s more to us than that.
For example, did you know your liver is capable of regenerating itself like Wolverine or that you can produce enough spit in a lifetime to fill up two entire swimming pools?
WARNING: some of it is kind of gross to those with weak stomachs.
Just when we think we know everything about the human body, the internet goes and surprises us with a bit of blood and gore.
Redditor Actionkat63 asked:
“What’s a strange, but true fact about the human body?”
We’re All Queens
“The acid in your stomach could burn your skin! I always thought that was pretty interesting, and reminds me of the scene in Alien, where the alien blood burns everything.” ~ RebaRocket
Get Your Running Shoes On
“Humans can outrun almost every animal on long distance.” ~ WantedJOCZ
“Long distances only. Humans have been known to jog for days at a time without sleeping, and we seem to have evolved as endurance predators (ie, jog after an animal until it’s literally too tired to fight back).”
“In cold weather the only animal that beats us is huskies, and in hot weather we can be outdistanced by camels and IIRC kangaroos, but otherwise we tend to win in the end.” ~ Pseudonymico
They Can’t Wiggle Out Of This
“Your intestines are in near constant motion, wiggling like a worm.” ~ EasilyForgotten1
But Are We Still Allowed To Lick Things?
“We know what everything would feel like on our tongues without even licking it.” ~ meh2557
“I’ve read this before and it blew my mind looking around at everything and realizing how weirdly, fascinatingly true it is. I’m assuming it’s a combination of you know textures from your fingers and that stage of infancy when babies put everything in their mouths.” ~ ablondedude
Care Package: Incoming!
“When pregnant, if a mother suffers a heart attack or other large physiological issue, the fetus will release a swarm of stem cells that move to the affected area, greatly helping in survival and healing.” ~ SugaBear9001
Flip The Switch
“that the brain operates on the same amount of power as a 10-watt lightbulb” ~ boringg-moon
Shut It All Down!
“Our immune system is so strong it can kill our own bodies’ cells: so techinically we do have a self destruct sequence” ~ SheepSh-t2525
“Our cells have a self destruct sequence also. If things start getting weird, your mitochondria send a signal to the brain which sends a signal to the cells lysosomes which then burst open and destroy the cell.”
“It’s called apoptosis or programmed cell death.” ~ callisstaa
Every Adults’ Kneecaps Feel This One
“Until the age of like 2 ish babies don’t have real kneecaps, they are made of a squishy cartilage type thing” ~ Bunchnivski
Lots of their bones are squishy cartilage stuff, and only grow into bone as they age. Compare this baby hand with this adult hand x-ray.”
“We can actually use this development of cartilage into bone in the wrist to figure out roughly how old somebody is.” ~ elcarath
We Just Need To Keep Believing And Soon We Can Also See Over Tall Walls
“We have the same number of bones in our neck as a giraffe.” ~ Team_Captain_America
“Giraffes’ neck vertibrae are just really big.” ~ KaityKat117
It Truly Is Liquid Gold
“Human breast milk adapts it’s nutritious content to fit the need of the offspring. Baby lacks iron?”
“Next dose of milk will contain more iron. It’s amazing.” ~ Grimms_tale
“how does that work?”
“like.. how does the body of the mother know what the baby needs?”
“or is it more a ‘the ingredients of milk change over time, as the baby goes through different stages of grow’?” ~ Chepi_ChepChep
“Breastmilk is SO cool!! There’s a reason why it’s called liquid gold!”
“More fun facts:”
“1- breastmilk can be dripped into babies eye/ear/nose to treat infections (as mentioned by someone below, it works best as an anti-inflammatory, which can help! Also, it’s more of a preventative than a cure.)”
“2- breastmilk does change depending on babies needs and as they grow”
“3- breastmilk contents differ depending on babies gender”
“4- breastmilk can help with cradle cap”
“5- it works on mild eczema!”
“6- the components of breastmilk could lead to treatment for cancers! possibilities still under trial”
“7- it’s “made” out of the mother’s blood”.
“Milk is made inside glands from the blood stream. Breast milk is NOT made from the mother’s stomach contents”
“The foods mom eats are broken down in the digestive system. Blood reaches the milk glands where it delivers carbohydrates, nutrients, white blood cells, enzymes, pro- and pre-biotics water, fat, and proteins into the gland. link!”
“8- mothers can detect issues with the baby through all of that kissing, which tells her body what to produce (like more antibodies ect) whoa!“~ Exotic-BlueBird
And That’s Enough For Today…
“It’s possible for your bowel movements to go backwards, causing you to poop from your mouth” ~ ipakookapi
“Just a way your body adapts to changes. If, for some reason you can’t poop, your body will attempt to expel it like its other waste products. You’ll find your breath will go rank, you’ll throw up poop and you urine will smell strong.”
“This will happen shortly before you die of sepsis, since all of these methods collectively aren’t good enough to dispose of everything you need.” ~ Gh3rkins
Never forget the human body is a fascinating and marvelous wonder of biology, chemistry and physics.
Just never be surprised when it does something surprising and/or upsetting to learn about.
We’re only human, after all.