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The strangest machine you own

Your body breaks every rule it taught you in biology class.

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The Chemical Shield Inside Your Gut
Human Body

The Chemical Shield Inside Your Gut

Your stomach produces acid strong enough to dissolve steel, but a layer of snot keeps you alive.

The Greedy Three Pound Organ
Human Body

The Greedy Three Pound Organ

Your brain weighs almost nothing but consumes 20 percent of every calorie you eat.

The 60,000 Mile Highway Inside Your Body
Human Body

The 60,000 Mile Highway Inside Your Body

If you unraveled every blood vessel in a single adult body, they would wrap around the Earth twice.

The Nostalgic Highway Inside Your Brain
Human Body

The Nostalgic Highway Inside Your Brain

Your sense of smell is the only sense that bypasses the brain's main switchboard, hitting your emotions instantly.

The Color of Sound That Boosts Memory
Human Body

The Color of Sound That Boosts Memory

Pink noise is the secret frequency that synchronizes your brain waves for a deeper, more restorative sleep.

The Only Body Part That Breathes Air Directly
Human Body

The Only Body Part That Breathes Air Directly

Your cornea is the only part of your body that gets its oxygen from the air rather than your blood.

The acid in your belly melts steel
Human Body

The acid in your belly melts steel

Your stomach produces a liquid so corrosive it can dissolve a stainless steel razor blade in less than half a day.

The Tail You Kept After Losing The Tail
Human Body

The Tail You Kept After Losing The Tail

Your tailbone is not a useless leftover; it provides the essential anchor point for the muscles that keep your organs in place.

The Only Part of Your Body That Breathes Air Directly
Human Body

The Only Part of Your Body That Breathes Air Directly

Your cornea has zero blood vessels and must suck oxygen from the atmosphere to stay alive.

Your immune system dies every three days
Human Body

Your immune system dies every three days

While red blood cells last for months, most white blood cells survive for only 1 to 3 days in your bloodstream.

The Vertical Concrete Pillars Inside Your Legs
Human Body

The Vertical Concrete Pillars Inside Your Legs

Human bone can resist more pressure than a bar of solid steel of the same weight.

You Are Only Half Human
Human Body

You Are Only Half Human

There are roughly 38 trillion bacterial cells in your body, meaning you are technically more bacteria than you are 'you'.

Your brain has 86 billion neurons. They're alien
Human Body

Your brain has 86 billion neurons. They're alien

And each one connects to thousands of others.

You replace 330 billion cells every day
Human Body

You replace 330 billion cells every day

You're not the same person you were last month.

Your eyes can actually see single photons
Human Body

Your eyes can actually see single photons

The most sensitive instrument you'll ever own.