No Way in the World should we Forget the Littlest Wonders of the HUMAN ANATOMY

Hi Friends,

Gratitude. That's all I am about today. And this is not because there is some particularly exciting event have triggered me out of the haze that has gripped me for a while now, but because all at once, I am beginning to see clearly the very little things that have been right before my eyes, but have somehow eluded my gaze. Like other times, I bumped into this illumination and I almost missed it; but for the gentle nudge that pulled my sight in. More than anything, I now know life makes more sense, not when you pay attention to the big picture, but when you draw in and zoom in to sight those very little things that have come in to make the whole. For this reason, I am grateful for the little things that keep us as humans alive.

If you are with me on this gratitudinal short spell, then you might like to take my hands as I walk you through some little wonders of the world. But mind, watch your steps because you just might be stepping on one or your own tiny follicles and I really don't want to have anyone choking on themselves.

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Skin

You are scaly all over, as scaly and scraggy as the bark of a tree. I don't mean no insult by comparing you to one of those horror villians that pours all over Hollywood, but truth lies in the underbelly of a microscope. You want to throw a tantrum or a dagger about this, then seek out in her insight-full TED talk given by one Dee Breger. I would dwell much on this as I only said this to get us Ina frenzied mood.

Wikimedia by Open Stax CC BY SA 3.0

You must agree that the tongue is a part of the skin, and to prove this, it just as well has the unique prints just as our fingers do. But there are those with some kind of rare disorder that have no finger prints, something about the Naegeli syndrome and dermatopathia pigmentosa reticularis, which leaves no identifying ridges on their skin.

Left to me, there is something derogatory about having someone tell me, "Ah ah, why is your body warm like this? Are you sick?" Well, I think I have found a good line to reply them with, "Do you know that in 30 minutes, our body can produce enough heat to boil a half gallon of water?" Yes, you heard right. The heat generated by a singular person is enough to boil something. And then, talking about heat, the skin expunges about three gallons of sweat a day when the weather is hot. And you might care to know that the only areas that don’t sweat are the nail bed, the margins of the lips, the tip of the penis, and the eardrums.

And then, without trying to sound sassy, it has been discovered that we were all once blacks. It was not until our ancestors moved to very cold regions that their melanin washed off and we began to sight the white folks. Although it's said that this is scientifically authenticated, don't you think it sounds a little bit shady?

Body parts

To begin with, it is noteworthy to mention that although our eyes processes 36,000 bits of data per hour, it weighs just about 56 grams. Amazing, right?

Wikimedia by Cunningham D. J Public Domain LICENSED

But more than that, let's talk about those rare body parts locked within a few people. For one, there is the vomeronasal organ which is a tiny pit on each side of the septum is lined with nonfunctioning chemoreceptors. Speculations are that it may be the remains of a pheromone-detecting ability. There was a time we used to boast of a third eyelid, all five more wisdom molars, male nipples, and a thirteenth rib. Most of us have lost these little details to time and evolution. But the good thing is an ample amount of us still retain these features. I mean, we've got to have living museums to preserve those memories that time swept away.

The Abdomen

Wikimedia by Adam Vanwert CC BY SA 3,0

So here are some crazy facts about the abdomen that might set you thinking. In my last post, I mentioned that an excess of gastric acid upon eating late or eating too much can lead to indigestion. Well, I didn't tell you was that those acids in our Stomach are so strong that it can melt a razor blade. This is more terrible than bathing a new bride with chemically prepared acid solution. Even worse, the acids can feed on the stomach itself and digest it. But thankfully, the linings in our stomach which gets renewed in every three to four days saves our stomach from this immolation.

So I am kinda wondering what happens if this lining suddenly grumbles enough to fold up and go take a nap in the wrong place, at the wrong time. I think that would be a disaster. But I rarely can conclude. Let me leave that to the experts.

Heart and Blood

You are wondering why I made these two vital human parts into a collocation? Then, give the credit to Stanislaw Jerzy Lec who says,

Don't trust the heart, it wants your blood.

Granted, there are many gory details about the heart that can't be unearthed even a long while. But let us pick on few of the ones that have been unfurled. Although the heart is no larger than a fist made with the hand, it beats about 100,000 times everyday (35 million a year) and sends about 2,000 gallons of blood to our body. That already makes it the world's heavy weight champion. And then, when blood is about thirty feet away, but the heart so terribly wants some juice, it can generate enough pressure to get the blood 30 feet away served on its table.

Wikimedia by Antonio Paolo CC BY WA 3.0

Furthermore, I used to like to think that the smaller or bigger you were (in stature), the smaller or bigger your vessels and veins and all those other bloody pipes would be. But that's just some miseducation I handed down to myself by myself. Because actually our blood vessels are more then 96,000 km long and that is enough sheet to spread on our beloved planet earth twice. So, you be thinking how that breathtaking length manages to fit in one body? Don't ask me.

The doctor often tells us that we have our immune system to thank for the common coughs, mild cold, stomach problems and severe malaria we are saved from. But what actually is this immune system? Vital part as it is, the immune system is a combination of cells, tissues and organs that liaise together to fight against the millions of bacteria, viruses, toxins and parasites that attack our body on a steady basis. Apart from having individual functions, these organs and cells and tissues act as soldiers to keep our body safe.

The Brain

Like women, the brain has too many well kept secrets stashed away within the pits of its stomach, or should I say within the guts? Secrets like the extra tiny brain stored away in the gut. This tiny brain in the gut communicates ceaselessly with the one in the head. This is why once we begin to think of how hungry we are, some enzymes are secreted to make our stomachs rumble, and then, when you are nervous about something, you actually feel very uncomfortable in your body.

Wikipedia by National Cancer Institute CC BY SA 3.0. The Gut - brain axis

THEN, there is the fact that when we quell our hunger pangs, it is the brain that eats up most of the food. Although the brain is just about 2 percent of the body weight, it takes up about 20% of food nutrients. But this is only expected since the brain also grows just as much as our body. When we talk growth, we are also referring to puberty. Yes, the brain experiences puberty, or why else do you think you experience the emotional awkwardness, and sloppiness that comes with 'growing up'? As hormones like testosterone develops, they develop in sync with some neurons in the brain, and even the frontal cortex joins in the maturation, thus causing these emotions feelings.

Indeed, the complexities of life and living are better revealed when we take a good look at the things (the human anatomy inclusive) that define us in simple terms. Taking a cue from Titiane, I would like to thank that the human body is "worth beyond a thousand reasons why."

References

https://www.google.com/m?q=Ted+talk+about+hidden+mysteries+of+the+human+body&client=ms-opera-mobile&channel=new&espv=1#
http://raolamadhu.blogspot.com/2012/09/unleashing-hidden-miracles-in-human-body.html
http://www.robertphipps.com/articles/150-100-things