Faascinating biological facts ... Thx Lyle S!

Subject: FASCINATING BIOLOGICAL FACTS!  Everyone has a unique smell

The Human  Body is a treasure trove of mysteries that still confound doctors

and  scientists about the details of its working. It's not an overstatement

to say  that every part of your body is a miracle.  

Here are fifty facts  about your body, some of which will leave you stunned.

1. It's  possible for your body to survive without a surprisingly large

fraction of  its internal organs. Even if you lose your stomach, your spleen,

75% of your  liver, 80% of your intestines, one kidney, one lung, and

virtually every  organ from your pelvic and groin area, you wouldn't be very

healthy, but you  would live.

2. During your lifetime, you will produce enough  saliva to fill two swimming

pools. Actually, Saliva is more important than  you realize. If your saliva

cannot dissolve something, you cannot taste  it.

3. The largest cell in the human body is the female egg and  the smallest is

the male sperm. The egg is actually the only cell in the body  that is

visible by the naked eye.

4. The strongest muscle in the  human body is the tongue and the hardest bone

is the jawbone.

5.  Human feet have 52 bones, accounting for one quarter of all the human

body's  bones.

6. Feet have 500,000 sweat glands and can produce more than a  pint of sweat

a day.

7. The acid in your stomach is strong enough  to dissolve razor blades. The

reason it doesn't eat away at your stomach is  that the cells of your stomach

wall renew themselves so frequently that you  get a new stomach lining every

three to four days.

8. The human  lungs contain approximately 2,400 kilometers (1,500 mi) of

airways and 300 to  500 million hollow cavities, having a total surface area

of about 70 square  meters, roughly the same area as one side of a tennis

court. Furthermore, if  all of the capillaries that surround the lung

cavities were unwound and laid  end to end, they would extend for about 992

kilometers. Also, your left lung  is smaller than your right lung to make

room for your heart.

9.  Sneezes regularly exceed 100 mph , while coughs clock in at about 60  mph.

10. Your body gives off enough heat in 30 minutes to bring half  a gallon of

water to a boil.

11. Your body has enough iron in it  to make a nail 3 inches long.

12. Earwax production is necessary for  good ear health It protects the

delicate inner ear from bacteria, fungus,  dirt and even insects. It also

cleans and lubricates the ear  canal.

13. Everyone has a unique smell, except for identical twins,  who smell the

same.

14. Your teeth start growing 6 months before  you are born. This is why one

out of every 2,000 newborn infants has a tooth  when they are born

15. A baby's head is one-quarter of its total  length, but by the age of 25

will only be one-eighth of its total length.  This is because people's heads

grow at a much slower rate than the rest of  their bodies.

16. Babies are born with 300 bones, but by adulthood  the number is reduced

to 206. Some of the bones, like skull bones, get fused  into each other,

bringing down the total number.

17. It's not  possible to tickle yourself. This is because when you attempt

to tickle  yourself you are totally aware of the exact time and manner in

which the  tickling will occur, unlike when someone else tickles you.

18. Less  than one third of the human race has 20-20 vision. This means that

two out of  three people cannot see perfectly.

19. Your nose can remember 50,000  different scents. But if you are a woman,

you are a better smeller than men,  and will remain a better smeller

throughout your life.

20. The  human body is estimated to have 60,000 miles of blood vessels.

21.  The three things pregnant women dream most of during their first

trimester  are frogs, worms and potted plants. Scientists have no idea why

this is so,  but attribute it to the growing imbalance of hormones in the

body during  pregnancy.

22. The life span of a human hair is 3 to 7 years on  average. Every day the

average person loses 60-100 strands of hair. But don't  worry, you must lose

over 50% of your scalp hairs before it is apparent to  anyone.

23. The human brain cell can hold 5 times as much information  as an

encyclopedia. Your brain uses 20% of the oxygen that enters  your

bloodstream, and is itself made up of 80% water. Though it interprets  pain

signals from the rest of the body, the brain itself cannot feel  pain.

24. The tooth is the only part of the human body that can't  repair itself.

25. Your eyes are always the same size from birth but  your nose and ears

never stop growing.

26. By 60 years of age, 60%  of men and 40% of women will snore.

27. We are about 1 cm taller in  the morning than in the evening, because

during normal activities during the  day, the cartilage in our knees and

other areas slowly  compress.

28. The brain operates on the same amount of power as  10-watt light bulb,

even while you are sleeping. In fact, the brain is much  more active at night

than during the day.

29. Nerve impulses to  and from the brain travel as fast as 170 miles per

hour. Neurons continue to  grow throughout human life. Information travels at

different speeds within  different types of neurons.

30. It is a fact that people who dream  more often and more vividly, on an

average have a higher Intelligence  Quotient.

31. The fastest growing nail is on the middle  finger.

32. Facial hair grows faster than any other hair on the body.  This is true

for men as well as women.

33. There are as many hairs  per square inch on your body as a chimpanzee.

34. A human fetus  acquires fingerprints at the age of three months.

35. By the age of  60, most people will have lost about half their taste

buds.

36.  About 32 million bacteria call every inch of your skin home. But don't

worry,  a majority of these are harmless or even helpful bacteria.

37. The  colder the room you sleep in, the higher the chances are that you'll

have a  bad dream.

38. Human lips have a reddish color because of the great  concentration of

tiny capillaries just below the skin.

39. Three  hundred million cells die in the human body every minute.

40. Like  fingerprints, every individual has an unique tongue print that can

be used  for identification.

41. A human head remains conscious for about 15  to 20 seconds after it has

been decapitated.

42. It takes 17  muscles to smile and 43 to frown.

43. Humans can make do longer  without food than sleep . Provided there is

water, the average human could  survive a month to two months without food

depending on their body fat and  other factors. Sleep deprived people,

however, start experiencing radical  personality and psychological changes

after only a few sleepless days. The  longest recorded time anyone has ever

gone without sleep is 11 days, at the  end of which the experimenter was

awake, but stumbled over words,  hallucinated and frequently forgot what he

was doing.

44. The most  common blood type in the world is Type O. The rarest blood

type, A-H or   Bombay   blood, due to the location  of its discovery, has been

found in less than hundred people since it was  discovered

45. Every human spent about half an hour after being  conceived, as a single

cell. Shortly afterward, the cells begin rapidly  dividing and begin forming

the components of a tiny embryo.

46.  Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than  left-handed

people do. This is largely due to the fact that a majority of the  machines

and tools we use on a daily basis are designed for those who are  right

handed, making them somewhat dangerous for lefties to use and resulting  in

thousands of accidents and deaths each year.

47. Your ears  secrete more earwax when you are afraid than when you aren't.

48.  Koalas and primates are the only animals with unique  fingerprints.

49. Humans are the only animals to produce emotional  tears.

50. The human heart creates enough pressure to squirt blood 30  feet in  the

air.