I love the human body because so far it has kept me alive, and I thank it for that. But also because it's AMAZING AND WEIRD AND FREAKY. After reading this Reddit thread, I realized there was a lot I didn't know about the vessel I live in, so I figured I should share this information with everyone else, too. THE MORE YOU KNOW!!
1. "You can grow a new human being faster than most missing toenails can grow back."
2. "The brain itself cannot feel pain, but the organ can feel the pain from all other parts of the body."
3. "Human eggs are small but big enough to be visible to the human eye."
4. "Cortisol, the stress hormone, leaves your body only through sweat or tears. Don't lose it and it stays in your body in fat cells instead."
5. "Your forearm is the same length as your foot."
6. "During surgery, organs don't have to be put back in the exact position they are meant to be. Your body kind of just moves the organs into the correct position after the surgery."
7. "Your brain regulates how strong your muscles are. If your leg muscles were to contract at full strength, they would snap your femur. Your body is capable of great strength, but it could also severely damage you, so your brain keeps you a weak, soft bag of jelly."
8. "Humans are bioluminescent and glow in the dark, but the light that we emit is 1,000 times weaker than our human eyes are able to pick up."
9. "A healthy heart doesn't need a body to beat. As long as it has an oxygenated blood supply, it will just keep going, with or without its owner."
10. "The human brain looks wrinkled because it is actually 'folded' inside the skull in order to fit a maximum of surface, and thus neurons and cell communications. Some animals, like rodents, have a completely smooth brain."
11. "The average human erection has about 130 milliliters of blood in it, while the average rabbit has about 126 milliliters in its entire body. So there is more blood in a boner than in a bunny."
12. "The liver can regenerate itself. If you literally cut off two-thirds of the liver, it can regrow in about two weeks."
13. "Humans have, on average, just as many hairs on their body as chimpanzees. Human hair is just a lot shorter and finer."
14. "You can only swallow two or three times before your body forces you to wait to try again."
15. "Your stomach is surrounded by more brain cells (half a billion neurons) than the brain of a cat contains in total. It's your enteric nervous system."
16. "Your intestines are in near-constant motion, wiggling like a worm."
17. "Your cornea (in the eye) is the only part of your body that doesn't get oxygen from your lungs. The cornea just absorbs free oxygen from the air the way insects do. This is why contact lenses have to be breathable!"
18. "The pus in pimples (and pus anywhere else on the body) is actually a collection of dead white blood cells."
19. "Your heart rate increases about a minute before you participate in exercise. It is known as the anticipatory rise and happens involuntarily."
20. "Right before you vomit, your mouth fills with quite a bit of saliva. This normally happens like 30–45 seconds before you vomit. It does this to help protect your mouth from the acids in the vomit."
21. "Your eyes can only move slowly if you're tracking an object — otherwise they just twitch in place."
22. "The left half of the brain controls the right side of the body, and the right half of the brain controls the left side of the body."
23. "The brown line on your scrotum is where your labia fused together in the womb and your clitoris formed the frenulum of your penis."
24. "Plaque usually calcifies and turns into tartar in three to five days. So that’s why daily flossing is ideal, while the plaque is still soft and easy to remove."
25. "You can't hum with your nose plugged."
26. "When you're breathing through your nose, most of the air enters through one nostril. The nostril being used switches every few hours. This is called the nasal cycle."
27. "You have microscopic mites that live on your skin called Demodex folliculorum. They mostly hide around and in your hair follicles and are more common on your face and eyelashes."
28. "You always see the end of your nose. Your brain just tells your eyes not to show it in your view."
29. "Children are born with every tooth they'll ever have crammed into their skull. Most are buried beneath the skin until they get older."
30. "There are no muscles in your fingers. They are powered by muscles in your hands and forearms."
31. "The lubrication that makes a female 'wet' is actually blood plasma extracted from her blood supply to provide lubrication for sexual intercourse."
32. "Your elbow skin is called your weenus. Also, you can pinch it as hard as you want and it won't hurt."
33. "Your tongue rests on the top of your mouth!"
Author's note: This thread was very interesting, and I did the best I could to find sources for these facts. However, not all of them could be referenced in well-known medical journals, so please keep that in mind. Either way, the body rules.