Unusual living creatures of our planet. The most unusual places where life was discovered Interesting facts about the development of the body

Ecology

Planet Earth is the only place in the Universe where life exists, we know about the crust. It turns out that life on Earth can be found everywhere, even in the most seemingly inappropriate places. For example, bacteria that feed on arsenic have recently been discovered. There is also a more inhospitable environment in which someone contrives to settle.

Boiling resin

It may seem impossible that living things can be found in the bubbling lakes of molten resin, but microbes can exist even under these conditions. In Trinidad, the Caribbean, the largest natural resin lake on Earth, there are up to 10 million microbes for every gram of sticky resin.

Radioactive debris

Radiation dose of 10 Gy can kill humans, but red bacteria Deinococcus radiodurans not even a 5000 Gy dose is intimidating. These critters can withstand radiation levels of 15,000 Gy, making them the most tenacious bacteria on the planet. They are even listed in the Guinness Book of Records. Microbes withstand radiation that breaks their genome into hundreds of pieces of DNA, making numerous copies of that genome.

Boiling water

Boiling water and destructive pressure on the ocean floor in a hydrothermal vent would destroy us in the blink of an eye if we were suddenly nearby, but such a habitat is quite suitable for some amazing creatures.

Underground hot springs in the Pacific Ocean are often teeming with annelids and giant molluscs, while blind shrimps and other extreme dwellers are found in the Atlantic Ocean.

These deep sea dwellers breed in the mineral waters that come out of the ground and also use a process like chemosynthesis, for energy production. In these dark corners, life exists thanks to the meager light that seeps through small cracks.

Sterile rooms

Before the landing probes are sent into space, they are carefully processed and sterilized so that they cannot transfer life on Earth into space, and also so as not to confuse them with possible alien life. Scientists treat parts of the probes with plasma and radiation and place them in special sterile rooms. Even with such precautions, various groups of microbes manage to survive in such a sterile environment and inevitably go into space.

Dead Sea

The Dead Sea got its name for a reason: it is the saltiest body of water in the world, so it is quite difficult to live in such an environment. However, even such salty water is inhabited by living things: halophilic microbes, which are not embarrassed by the high salt content in the water.

Dry valleys

The dry valleys of Antarctica are so cold and dry that they are often referred to as analogous to the regions of Mars on Earth. Despite this, the soil in these places contains a large number of microorganisms, which gives hope that there is life on the Red Planet.

Bowels of the earth

Life that exists on the surface of the Earth or on the ocean floor can be powered and nourished by sunlight. However, scientists have discovered microorganisms that live several kilometers underground - the gold and platinum mines of South Africa, as well as at a depth of more than a kilometer under the ocean floor.

Anoxic environment

It might seem surprising that microbes are able to survive even in very salty mud without oxygen at the bottom of the Mediterranean, even if the sediments they live in contain a layer of toxic chemicals called hydrogen sulfide. However, the most surprising thing may seem that not only microorganisms can survive there, but also more complex forms of life - loricifers , which are somewhat reminiscent of jellyfish. The existence of such living things suggests that oxygen is not necessarily required for the life of some life forms.

Not only can life exist in lakes under a crust of ice, but it turns out that some microbes can live right in the ice. In one of the oldest ice on the planet in Antarctica, scientists have discovered microbes that have been frozen for millions of years.

Space vacuum

Open and hard vacuum in Earth's orbit, with a dose of deadly radiation - the habitat of special creatures with eight legs - Tardigrade ... Prior to that, it was believed that only certain types of bacteria and lichens can survive in conditions of radiation and vacuum. Tardigrades (Tardigrada) also able to withstand conditions with extremely high (about 90 degrees Celsius) and low (minus 196 degrees Celsius) temperatures.

Ecology of cognition: The human body still continues to reveal its mysteries. By studying the work of its systems, scientists make hundreds of discoveries every year. And often new facts refute the ideas that have been established for centuries.

The human body still continues to reveal its mysteries. By studying the work of its systems, scientists make hundreds of discoveries every year. And often new facts refute the ideas that have been established for centuries.

20. Silence of the Heart

The heart of the average adult beats 72 times a minute, 100,000 times a day, 36 million times a year, and 2.5 billion times in a lifetime.

However, the heart beats rhythmically, which means, in addition to beats, there are pauses in the cycle. So, if we add up all the pauses between the contractions of the heart for one average human life, it turns out that our heart is “silent” for about 20 years. It is also interesting that the heart stops when sneezing.

19. Contrary to the laws of physics

It is known that fluid can flow from higher pressure to lower pressure, but in our body this law is constantly violated. With the simultaneous measurement of the pressure in the aorta and femoral artery, blood from the aorta, where there is less pressure, flows into the femoral artery, where the pressure is higher.

18. Round heart

NASA recently conducted a study with very interesting results. It turned out that in a state of weightlessness, the heart not only weakens and decreases in volume, but also ... rounds up. During the experiment, NASA cardiologists studied the hearts of 12 astronauts on the ISS.

The analysis of the images showed that in zero gravity conditions the heart is rounded by 9.4%. However, upon returning to Earth, the heart within six months returns to its usual form and resumes its "earthly" activity. To imagine a decrease in the activity of the heart, suffice it to say that lying on the bed for a month and a half is equivalent to working for a week in zero gravity.

17. New skin: from three days to a month

The human skin is constantly renewed. This process is called regeneration. It happens like this: new skin cells are formed in the germ layer of the epidermis, for about 28-30 days they move to the surface and lose the cell nucleus. On the surface, with the help of the keratin contained in them, they form a stratum corneum of the skin, which gradually peels off when washed or in contact with clothes.

Thus, the skin that we consider ours is constantly renewed. After a month, the composition of the human skin completely changes.

In newborns, the regeneration process, like many other processes (for example, metabolism), proceeds faster. "Skin change" in babies takes three days - 72 hours.

16. Internal "brewery"

People with "fermenting gut" or the so-called "inner brewery" syndrome turn any food and drink inside of themselves into alcohol. Therefore, they are always a little tipsy. The cause of the disease is the inability of the stomach to break down sugar into carbohydrates - instead, it is engaged in fermentation.

In addition, the human body with fermenting intestines is unable to process ethanol resulting from the consumption of starchy foods. One bottle of beer is enough for such people to gain 0.37 ppm. Fortunately, this is a very rare syndrome, with only 11 cases reported worldwide today.

15. Without hair

A spinal fracture can also lead to such unexpected consequences as the disappearance of body hair. This is a unique phenomenon, in which scientists themselves have not yet figured out very well. Hair on the human body actively grows when they make a request to the brain and receive feedback. If this connection is broken - and this is exactly what will happen if the spinal cord is seriously damaged - the hair on the body gradually begins to disappear.

14. "Bird" genetics

The fact that the "lark" - "lark" - is not his merit. As well as the fact that "owl" - "owl" - there is no fault. This is how nature "imprisoned" us. And who was responsible for the chronotypes was determined by American researchers at the University of Chicago Northwestern Medical Center in collaboration with scientists from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology. By studying the fruit flies Drosophilia melanogaster, they discovered a gene that regulates circadian rhythm. They called it "the genome of 24 hours" and in 2010 published data in the journal Science, where they noted that the flies for which it "did not work, did not show activity for a long time after dawn."

If we draw a parallel with humans, then these fruit flies are typical "owls" who, too, cannot take their heads off their "fly pillows." And the same gene is responsible for the easy awakening of those who are lucky to be born "larks".

13. Moving facial expressions

In 2011, scientists were able to discover that human facial expressions appear long before his birth. Even during the prenatal period, the child is already able to move the facial muscles, smile, raise his eyebrows in surprise or frown.

Facial muscles make up 25% of the total number of muscles, while smiling 17 muscle groups are involved, during anger or crying - 43.

One of the best ways to keep your face smooth is by kissing. They work from 29 to 34 muscle groups.

12. Blood type as a factor in career and personal life

In Japan, since the 1930s, the teaching of "ketsu-eki-gata" has been practiced, in which you can tell everything about a person, knowing only his blood type. The Japanese are sure that the owners of the I blood group are sociable and energetic people, the owners of the II blood group are stress-resistant and patient, but stubborn. Creative and domineering people are usually of the III blood group. People with a rare IV group are balanced and natural leaders.

Ketsu-eki-gata is incredibly popular. A Japanese girl may ask on a first date not about who you are according to your zodiac sign, but what your blood type is. The Japanese are guided by blood type both when they get married and when they get a job. HR departments are trying to form teams that are ideally matched by blood.

11. Testosterone and longevity

The effect of testosterone on life expectancy has been repeatedly confirmed in various studies. One study, conducted in 1969 among patients at a Kansas psychiatric hospital, showed that castrated men lived 14 years longer. Interesting data on this issue was recently published by the Korean scientist Kyung-Chin Min. He studied the book "Yan-Se-Ke-Bo", in which one can trace genealogical information about 385 families of court eunuchs.

Comparing the lifespan of 81 eunuchs with the confirmed lifespan dates, Kyung-Ching Ming saw that the average lifespan of eunuchs was 71 years. That is, the eunuchs experienced their contemporaries for an average of 17 years.

10. Craving for sleep

Narcolepsy is a disease in which a person constantly wants to sleep. Also called paroxysms of irresistible drowsiness and Jelino's disease. The disease occurs infrequently, in about 20-40 people out of 100,000. Scientists associate narcolepsy with disintegration syndrome, untimely onset of sleep phases.

Patients suffering from narcolepsy, although they sleep a lot, do not get enough sleep, because by skipping the phase of slow sleep, they immediately find themselves in the phase of REM sleep, the encephalogram curve of which resembles the encephalogram curve of a waking person, it is almost impossible to get enough sleep in this mode. We get enough sleep in the stage of deep delta sleep, patients with narcolepsy do not get into this phase.

The causes of narcolepsy are unclear to this day. Some doctors believe the culprit is the brain neurotransmitter hypocretin. It is he who regulates the phase of REM sleep and wakefulness. If the cells of this neurotransmitter are damaged, it leads to sleep disorders.

9. Natural alarm clock

Probably, each of us woke up at least once a few minutes before the alarm clock, especially when he knew in advance that it was simply necessary to wake up.

This is the merit of the so-called "natural alarm clock", namely, adrenocorticotropic hormone.

Scientists believe it has something to do with minimizing stress on the body during awakening. But, what is most interesting, we can consciously control it. When studying the properties of adrenocorticotropic hormone, an experiment was conducted in which a number of subjects programmed themselves in advance to awaken at a certain time. More than 75% of the subjects really woke up on their own when they needed it.

8. Wave of Death

In 2009, in one of the American hospitals, encephalograms were taken from nine dying people, who at that time could no longer be saved. The results were sensational - after the death of all subjects, the brain, which should have already been killed, literally exploded - incredibly powerful bursts of electrical impulses appeared in it, which had never been observed in a living person. They occurred two to three minutes after cardiac arrest and lasted for about three minutes. Prior to that, similar experiments were carried out on rats, in which the same thing began a minute after death and lasted 10 seconds.

Scientists have dubbed this phenomenon "the wave of death." The scientific explanation for "death waves" has raised many ethical questions.

According to one of the experimenters, Dr. Lakhmir Chawla, such bursts of brain activity are explained by the fact that from a lack of oxygen, neurons lose their electrical potential and discharge, emitting impulses "like an avalanche." "Living" neurons are constantly under a small negative voltage - 70 minnivolts, which is retained by getting rid of positive ions that remain outside. After death, the balance is disturbed, and neurons quickly change polarity from "minus" to "plus".

7. How men and women hear

Women are better at distinguishing high-frequency sounds. A one-week-old girl can already distinguish the sound of the mother's voice and hears when another baby cries. Boys don't need that.

Women recognize tone changes better than men and therefore know very well when men are lying.

Men, on the other hand, specialize in the sounds of the wild (this skill is not so necessary in the city) and perfectly “hear” the direction. If a woman hears a kitten's meow first, then it is the man who will indicate where to look for him.

6. Such a different sensitivity

A woman's skin is 10 times more sensitive than a man's. Studies by British scientists have shown that even the most sensitive man in this sense does not reach the most insensitive woman. But men's skin is thicker than women's and therefore men have fewer wrinkles. On the back of an adult male, the skin is four times thicker than on the belly. And if a man is busy, then the sensitivity of the skin falls even more, and he almost does not feel pain.

5. Electricity in us

People have great prospects as generators of electricity, it can be generated from almost any of our actions. So, from one breath you can get 1 W, and a calm step is enough to power a 60 W light bulb, and it will be enough to charge the phone.

4. Lungs - the "oven" of the body

One of the luminaries of Soviet tempering systems was the Austrian-born Soviet scientist Karl Trincher. He spent five years in the Gulag, and knew about the cold firsthand. Treacher once noticed that in laboratory animals with a lack of oxygen, the temperature in the lungs rises. From this he drew an ingenious conclusion: “The lungs are the only organ where fats, reacting with oxygen, burn directly. Without any enzymes. "

Today, even physiologists do not deny that the lungs are a "stove" capable of warming the body in the cold. Or rather, not to warm, but to keep warm, to resist the pathogenic dominant of cold. Therefore, in the cold, first of all, you need to monitor your breathing, breathe slowly, evenly and deeply.

3. Color perception of floors

The retina of the human eye contains nearly seven million “cone” receptors that are responsible for the perception of color. The X chromosome is responsible for their action. Women have two of them, and the palette of colors that they perceive is wider. In conversation, they operate with shades: "aqua", "sandy", "light coffee". Men talk about fundamental colors: red, white, blue.

2. Big skin

The skin is the largest organ of the human body. Its average surface area is 1.5 to 2 square meters. In different parts of the body, the skin has different thickness and sensitivity. The thickest skin on the feet and palms, the thinnest on the eyelids. At the same time, the sensitivity of the skin is not directly dependent on the thickness. So, on the fingers and palms, the skin, although quite thick, can feel pressure from 20 milligrams, which corresponds to the average weight of a fly.

1. Worker heart

Extremely high-speed processes occur in our body every second. When the body is at rest, the path of blood from the heart to the lungs and back takes only six seconds, from the heart to the brain and back - eight seconds, sixteen seconds from the heart to the fingertips and back. published

Most species of living things are unrecognizable because of their uniqueness, special abilities, appearance and the very fact of their existence. We no longer pay attention to the diversity and uniqueness of many living organisms that exist today. In this photo collection, we will show the unusual living creatures of the planet.

Narwhal or Unicorn (lat.Monodon monoceros) is a mammal of the narwhal family, the only species of the genus of narwhals. The body length of an adult narwhal is 3.8-4.5 m, newborns are about 1.5 m. The weight of males reaches 1.5 tons, of which about a third of the weight is fat; females weigh about 900 kg.

The muddy jumper (lat.Periophthalmus) is a genus of fish from the goby family (Gobiidae).

Guidak is a species of marine bivalve molluscs from the Hiatellidae family. These large (up to 1.5 kg in weight) organisms have very long intergrown siphons (up to 1 m in length) and a relatively small (up to 20 cm) fragile shell. It is considered the largest burrowing mollusk. The name "geoduck" ("gweduck") is borrowed from the Indians and means "digging deep"

Grimpoteuthis (Latin grimpoteuthis) is a genus of deep-sea octopuses.

Usually in adulthood, these octopuses reach a length of 20 centimeters, but the largest ever recorded representative of this genus was about 180 centimeters long and weighed about 6 kilograms.

Brevicipitidae (lat.) - a family of frogs.

The giraffe weevil (trachelophorus giraffa (lat.)) Is a species of coleopteran insects from the tube-worm family.

Axolotl (Axolotl) is a neotenic larva of some species of ambistom, amphibians from the Ambystomidae family of the Caudata order. Literally translated from the Aztec language, the axolotl (axolotl) - "water dog (monster)"

Ophiura, or snake-tails (Latin Ophiuroidea) are a class of benthic sea animals such as echinoderms. They got their name for a peculiar way of movement - when they crawl along the bottom, their "arms" wriggle like snakes. The Russian name "snake-tail" is a tracing paper from the scientific name of ophiura (from the Greek ὄφις - snake, οὐρά - tail).

Ottomans, or mantis shrimps (Latin Stomatopoda) are a squad of crustaceans.

Spirobranchus giganteus (lat.) Is a species of polychaete worms from the Serpulidae family. Widely distributed in the tropical seas of the World Ocean.

Sea bat (Latin Ogcocephalus). Distributed widely, except for the Mediterranean Sea. They live in subtropical and tropical seas, at the bottom, often at a depth of up to 100 m.

Imago is a dark brown moth. On both ends of the body, the caterpillar has a pair of fleshy outgrowths - "horns" with sting hairs containing venom. The injection can be painful and cause swelling, nausea, and a rash that lasts for several days.

Pugaportsinus (lat. Chaetopterus pugaporcinus) is a deep-sea worm that will easily bypass all its rivals in the competition for the title of "Strangest Worm". And not only because of the quirky appearance. This amazing inhabitant of the ocean depths is known in narrow circles as the "flying buttocks". The world learned about its existence quite recently, in 2007, when scientists from the Aquarium Monterey Bay Research Institute in California found and described about ten specimens living in the waters of Monterey Bay.

Toothed squid (officially named Promachoteuthis Sulcus). These are not teeth at all, but a special fold of tissue that covers the mollusk's beak. And that's not it. This species is represented by a single individual, so little is known about it. The squid was caught by the German research vessel Walther Herwig in the South Atlantic Ocean. It was pulled to the surface from a depth of 1750-2000 meters.

It is generally accepted that the necessary conditions for the emergence of life are the presence of light, oxygen and water - at least with most species of living beings on our planet, this is the case. But the Earth is an amazing place, and life here sometimes exists in completely unimaginable conditions, which is encouraging: it is quite possible that someday we will find life on other planets where conditions are not at all so favorable. We hope that we will be able to tell you about this in a few years, but for now we bring to your attention a selection of the most unusual places on our planet, where living organisms also managed to emerge and survive.

1. Asphalt lake

In the Atlantic Ocean there is the island of Trinidad, it is unusual, first of all, in that it has the only lake in the world, in which instead of water there is liquid asphalt. Local residents use the lake for their own needs: every year about 100 tons of asphalt are mined here, while the lake does not become shallower - the depth of the basin is also unknown. One can only guess about the reasons for the origin of this mysterious natural phenomenon.

However, the most surprising thing is not even that. Tiny extremophile bacteria live in completely unsuitable conditions for life: about 10 million individuals live in each gram of lake substance. Note that the temperature of asphalt is about 50 ° C, water, which is considered a prerequisite for the emergence of life, there is almost no such meager amount that can still be found, produced directly by lake inhabitants. In addition, bacteria have to live in an oxygen-free environment - instead, they use metals and hydrocarbons to breathe.

2. Radioactive water

Bacteria of the species Deinococcus radiodurans can withstand ionizing radiation of the order of 10,000 gray (a person dies when receiving five gray). Moreover, these bacteria prefer to live in precisely those places where, one way or another, radiation is present - in natural waters containing colossal amounts of radioactive substances like radium, radon or uranium. Deinococcus radiodurans survive by constantly copying their DNA: by the time radiation destroys one genome, another similar molecule has already begun to work, and the creature continues to live. In fact, one individual can exist almost forever, constantly renewing itself.

Now researchers are looking for a way to use bacteria beneficially for human needs: since bacteria, in fact, feed on radioactive waste, they can be used for biopurification of radioactive contamination. Moreover, after a nuclear catastrophe, bacteria for obvious reasons will survive, so they could well serve as a carrier of information for the remnants of humanity. By the way, such an experiment has already been carried out and was successful: in 2003, scientists encoded a song into a number of DNA segments and inserted them into bacteria - the information was exactly transmitted through a hundred generations of bacteria, and scientists were able to read it.

3. Ocean floor

Deep under water, where not a single ray of light can break through, there is also life, and this life is represented not only by bacteria, as in the two previous cases. Amoebas and strange deep-sea fish live on the ocean floor - they somehow manage to survive in conditions of incredible pressure and in an almost complete absence of oxygen. True, there is a theory that at great depths life did not originate, but rather migrated here - some species could not withstand competition and were forced to sink to the bottom in search of a new habitat. However, this does not explain the existence of living organisms, say, in the Mariana Trench: it is rather difficult to assume that some species, in search of a place to live, would descend "of their own accord" to such a depth. Back in 1960, two researchers, Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh, were able to see flat, flounder-like fish at a depth of more than 10,000 m, and James Cameron in 2012 even managed to deliver microorganisms from the "Challenger Abyss" to the surface. Note that at great depths not a single species was found whose age would be less than 200 million years, and scientists believe that since then they have practically not changed.

Basically, deep-sea inhabitants are scavengers, feeding on all organic matter that falls to the depth "from above".

4. Dead Sea

The Dead Sea is one of the saltiest bodies of water on the planet: according to studies, the salinity of water in it is 35%, in composition it is mainly chlorides of magnesium, calcium, sodium and potassium. Unfortunately, as a result of the deterioration of the ecological situation, pumping out of groundwater and climate change on the planet, the Dead Sea is gradually drying up, and, possibly, will completely disappear already in our century. And along with it, the living organisms inhabiting it, unique in nature, will disappear.

Halophilic microbes live in the Dead Sea - the salinity of the water in no way prevents them from living and reproducing in seemingly completely unsuitable conditions for this, on the contrary, the higher the salinity, the better they grow. These microbes are very resistant organisms: in fact, they could withstand ultra-low temperatures or remain alive even in the vacuum of space due to their ability to osmoregulate.

5. Boiling waters

Reservoirs where the water temperature is close to 100 ° C are not so rare on our planet: in particular, geothermal springs exist in the Caribbean Sea at a depth of about 5000 m, and here the water temperature is close to 400 ° C - these are the deepest boiling springs on the ground. Not a single terrestrial organism can survive in such conditions, but bacteria, some species of mollusks and polychaete worms have perfectly adapted to life in boiling water.

Worms, for example, do not have a mouth or intestines, and they receive energy for life not as a result of eating food, but due to the processing of hydrogen sulfide. Their bodies are protected from the possible adverse effects of ultra-high temperatures by chitinous shells. Surprisingly, if the water for some reason cools down or the colony of polychaete worms leaves its habitat, then they stop multiplying and die after a while. In "ideal" conditions, they live a long time - the researchers managed to find individuals more than 250 years old.

6. Ice

Strictly speaking, the organisms found in the ice do not quite live - the processes necessary for their life are "frozen" in the literal and figurative sense. In particular, ancient bacteria were found in the ice of Antarctica, they live directly in the ice mass - glaciers and icebergs: if an iceberg drifts in the ocean, then the bacteria inhabiting it drift with it.

Once a piece of ice with such bacteria was delivered to the laboratory. After thawing, the bacteria almost immediately began to move, began to multiply and look for food: the fact that they were in a state of suspended animation, perhaps for about a million years, did not harm them. The researchers concluded that this is possible thanks to the genome of ancient microorganisms: it was shorter and more primitive than the genome of modern bacteria - they have only 210 base pairs, while other bacteria usually have three million pairs.

7. Dry valleys of Antarctica

Living organisms sleeping in the ice are not the only mystery of Antarctica: on the southernmost continent there are dry fields, also called "Martian valleys". Dry fields can rightfully be called the driest place on Earth, since there has been no precipitation here for two million years, the air temperature does not rise above -20 ° C, and the normal wind speed is 300 km / h. Accordingly, the soil of the valleys is not covered with ice or snow.

Until recently, it was believed that it was impossible to survive in such conditions: if there is not at least some water, there is no life. However, in 2009, soil samples were taken in dry valleys, in which living organisms - bacteria were found. There is a hypothesis that they got there with the last rain that fell in these places and adapted to live in the soil, not needing oxygen or light and ignoring the cold, but it is not yet known what they feed on and how the species managed to survive for such a long time.

8. Underground depths

Humanity, driven by economic and research interests, has long sought to conquer the bowels of the earth. Most often, people try to penetrate to an almost unattainable depth for mining: for example, in the vicinity of Johannesburg there is the world's deepest gold mine Mponeng, its depth is more than 3,500 m. The temperature in the earth's interior, of course, is much higher than on the hospitable surface - about 60 ° C. There is no light and almost no air, but will you surprise someone by the eighth point? Of course, there is life here too.

Bacteria living underground use nuclear reactions as a source of life support: thanks to radioactive radiation, water molecules are split into hydrogen and oxygen, then atomic hydrogen is restored, and the energy released as a result of this process is used by the bacteria for life. They live mainly in a tiny amount of moisture in the cracks of the rock.

9. Poisonous sludge

In the Mediterranean Sea, most of the bottom is covered with yellow and blue carbonate silt, which is saturated with hydrogen sulfide and is poisonous to all living things. Oxygen in such an environment is not and cannot be, light does not penetrate there. People without special equipment and protective suits are not able to dive here - even if we could breathe under water, a short exposure to hydrogen sulfide would have a toxic effect on the body.

The human body is unique. And most people know about the structure of the human body only the information that was obtained during school years. In this article we will tell you such information about the human body, which amazes and surprises and about which you most likely did not hear anything and did not even suspect.

The human body has not yet been fully studied, but even what is already reliably known is simply amazing. And we are not talking about some supernatural possibilities, but about quite ordinary facts and figures.

So, everyone knows that the human body mainly consists of water. More precisely, by 60%. Yes, more than half of us is water - blood, lymph, intercellular fluid. With age, the percentage of water in the body decreases by 15-20% - this is one of the reasons for aging

1. The feeling of fatigue appears at loads of 35-65% of the absolute possibilities.
2. The activity of the cardiovascular system is maximum by 18 hours, minimum at 3-4 hours.
3. The biological qualities of the offspring increase from the 1st to the 4th child, then falls.
4. During normal breathing, a person inhales 500 cubic centimeters of air, when playing a wind instrument - 3500 cm3.
5. The surface of the lungs is about 100 square meters.
6. The right lung of a person holds more air than the left.
7. An adult takes about 23,000 breaths (and exhalations) a day.
8. The composition of blood plasma in the human body resembles the composition of the water of prehistoric seas, in which life originated.
9. In one contraction, the heart pumps 200 ml. blood.
10. Complete circulation of the blood of an adult is completed in 20-28 seconds, in a child - in 15 seconds, in a teenager - in 18 seconds. During the day, the blood rotates through the body 1.5-2 thousand times.
11. In 1 cubic millimeter of skin - 40 capillaries, in muscles - 2500 capillaries, in the heart muscle - 4000 capillaries.
12. Three strength training sessions a week are most effective.
13. The norm of physical activity is 7-10 km (10,000-14,000 steps).
14. The strongest muscle in the human body is the tongue, not the heart. The heart is the most resilient muscle.
15. For a young man, the rate of energy consumption is 3000 kcal. Of these, 1700 are basic metabolism, 170 are digestion, and 130 are for muscle work.
16. The total length of hair on the head, grown on average by a person during his life, is 725 kilometers.
17. Fingernails grow about 4 times faster than toenails.

18. A person generates so much heat per day that it is enough to bring 33 liters of ice water to a boil.

9. It is estimated that a person consumes 2.5 tons of protein, 1.3 tons of fat, 17.5 tons of carbohydrates and 75 tons of water in a lifetime.
20. Sneezing with open eyes is impossible.
21. A person who smokes a pack of cigarettes a day drinks half a cup of tar a year.
22. Each finger of a person bends approximately 25 million times during its lifetime.
23. Women blink about 2 times more often than men.
24. In terms of hardness, tooth enamel can be compared to quartz. It is known that even the point of a saber dulls when it hits the enamel.
25. There are 100 pain points per 1 square centimeter of skin, and there are about a million of them on the surface.
26. Scientifically, the navel is called "umbilicus".
27. Man is the only representative of the animal world who is able to draw straight lines.
28. Men with blond hair grows faster than dark-haired men.
29. When smiling, a person uses 17 muscles.
30. Human DNA contains about 80,000 genes.
31. Men are classified as dwarfs with a height of less than 130 cm, and women - 120 cm.
32. The life span of leukocytes in the human body is 2-4 days, and erythrocytes - from 3 to 4 months.

33. The names of the fingers of the French hand are as follows: pus, index, major, anyuler, oriculair.
34. The size of a person's heart is equal to the size of his fist, and his weight in an adult will be 220-260 grams.

35. There are only 4 minerals in the human body: apatite, aragonite, calcite and cristobalite.
36. In one day, the human brain generates more electrical impulses than all the phones in the world put together.
37. "Snow blindness" - the effect of blinding a person from a strong direct beam.
38. Bacteria living in the human body, in total, is 2 kilograms.
39. 100,000 chemical reactions occur per second in the human brain.
40. Babies are born without knee caps. They form only at the age of 2-6 years.
41. The surface area of ​​human lungs is approximately equal to the area of ​​a tennis court.
42. At the moment of birth, there are already 14 billion cells in the child's brain, and this number is no longer increasing, but on the contrary. After reaching the age of 25, this number decreases by 100 thousand per day. For example, in a minute spent reading a text, about 70 cells die. At the age of 40, the process of brain degradation accelerates sharply, and after the 50-year milestone, neurons (nerve cells) dry out, and the volume of the brain shrinks.
43. In psychiatry, a syndrome accompanied by depersonalization, impaired perception of time and space, one's own body and environment, is officially called "Alice in Wonderland."
44. The length of the human small intestine during life is 2.5 meters. After death, the muscles of the intestinal wall relax, and its length becomes 6 meters.
45. A person has about 2 million sweat glands on his body. The average adult loses 540 calories for every liter of sweat. Men sweat 40% more than women.
46. ​​During the entire life cycle, the female body reproduces 7 million eggs.
47. The human eye can distinguish 10 million different color shades.
48. About 40,000 bacteria “live” in the human mouth.
49. Papaphobia is the fear of the Pope (of Rome). It's not a joke.

50. The human spine consists of 33 or 34 vertebrae.
51. Sperm cells are the smallest in a man's body.
52. There are about 2000 taste buds on the human tongue.
53. In Mesopotamia, there was a strict law for doctors. If the patient died, the doctor was executed. If the patient went blind, the doctor was also blinded.
54. There are about 300 bones in the body of a newborn, while in an adult only 206 remain.
55. In one year, the human heart beats 36,800,000 times.
56. Men are 10 times more likely to be color blind than women.
57. About half of human bones are located in the feet and wrists.
58. During the Middle Ages, doctors, in doubt about the diagnosis, diagnosed "syphilis".
59. The total length of blood vessels in the human body is approximately 100,000 km.
60. The bone marrow of an adult, a loose mass that fills the internal cavities of some bones, weighs an average of 2600 grams.
For 70 years of life, he gives 650 kg. erythrocytes and a ton of leukocytes.
61. In a calm state, lying down, a person consumes 400-500 liters of oxygen per day, making 12-20 breaths and exhalations per minute.
For comparison: the respiration rate of a horse is 12 respiratory movements per minute, of a rat - 60, canaries - 108. In spring, the respiration rate is on average one third higher than in autumn.
62. The normal pulse in a calm state is 60-80 beats per minute, and in women, the heart beats at 6-8 beats per minute. more often than men. With heavy physical exertion, the pulse can accelerate to 200 or more beats per minute.

63. The total area of ​​the cerebral cortex varies from 1468 to 1670 square centimeters.

64. Starting from the thirtieth year of life, 30-50 thousand nerve cells die daily in a person. The main size of the brain decreases. With age, the brain not only loses weight, but also changes shape - it flattens. In men, the weight of the brain is maximum at 20-29 years, in women - at 15-19.
65. The mass of the human brain is 1/46 of the total body mass, the mass of the elephant's brain is only 1/560 of the body mass.
66. Even tough men shed 1-3 milliliters of tears every day. Tears are constantly produced by the lacrimal glands and moisturize the cornea of ​​the eye, protecting it from exposure to air and dust.
67. The total weight of muscles in a man is about 40% of the body weight, and in a woman about 30%.
68. A hole with a diameter of 3-4 thousandths of a millimeter, pierced in a sheet of tin, behind which a light bulb is lit, is well distinguished by a normal eye.
69. The eye is capable of distinguishing 130-250 pure color tones and 5-10 million mixed shades.
70. Full adaptation of the eye to darkness takes 60-80 minutes.
71. The finger is able to feel vibrations with an amplitude of two ten-thousandths of a millimeter.
72. The surface of human skin is on average about 2 square meters.
73. The skin contains 250 thousand cold receptors, 30 thousand heat receptors, a million painful endings, half a million receptors for touch and three million sweat glands.
74. Average number of hairs on the head:
blondes - 140,000, brunettes - 102,000
for brown-haired people - 109,000, for redheads - 88,000.
The total number of hairs on the body, except for the head, is about 20 thousand.
75. Hair grows at a rate of 0.35-0.40 mm per day.
76. Nails on the hands grow at a rate of 0.086 millimeters per day, on the feet - 0.05 millimeters. For a year, about two grams of nails grow on the fingers.
77. In the inner ear there are about 25,000 cells that respond to sound. The range of frequencies perceived by the ear is between 16 and 20,000 hertz. By the age of 35, the upper limit of hearing drops to 15,000 hertz.
78. The ear is most sensitive to the 2000-2300 hertz range. The best ear for music (the ability to distinguish between pitches) is in the 80-600 hertz region. Here, our ear is able to distinguish, for example, two sounds with a frequency of 100 hertz and 100.1 hertz. In total, a person distinguishes 3-4 thousand sounds of different heights.
79. We are aware of the sound 35-175 milliseconds after it reaches the ear. Another 180-500 milliseconds is required for the ear to achieve the best sensitivity - "tune".

80. The area of ​​the olfactory zone of the nose is 5 sq. Cm. There are about a million olfactory nerve endings located here.
81. When chewing food, the jaw muscles develop an effort of up to 72 kilograms on the molars, and up to 20 kilograms on the incisors. To chew bread requires an effort of 25 kg., For fried veal - 15 kg.
82. The feeling of thirst appears with a loss of water equal to one percent of the body weight. A loss of more than 5% can lead to fainting, and more than 10% - to death.
83. Is a sip of water a lot or a little? Numerous measurements have shown that a man swallows an average of 21 milliliters of liquid in one gulp, and a woman - 14 milliliters.
84. Lucia Zarate (1864-1890) is considered the smallest woman in the world. At birth, the child's height was 17 centimeters. Lucia grew to 43 centimeters with a weight of 2.2 kilograms.
85. Ventilation of the lungs (the number of breaths multiplied by the volume of air inhaled) in a healthy person reaches 5-9 liters per minute.
86. A person can live without food for a week, but without water - only three days (during this period, a person loses 10% of water, which leads to death
87. Nails grow more slowly on the feet than on the hands - due to less intense blood circulation, shoes, daily microtraumas
88. Different people have different sensitivity to tastes - someone does not feel sour, someone does not feel salty. The fewer receptors "work", the worse the sensitivity
89. Many women struggle with excessive hair growth (hirsutism), but not everyone knows that there is a reason for this phenomenon: increased levels of male sex hormones.

90. Blondes have the thinnest, but also the thickest hair. And the thickest, and the rarest are among the redheads. Brown-haired and brunettes are the "golden mean".

These are the facts about the human body. Indeed, man is a unique creature.