Your body is made up of billions of cells working together to form tissues and organ systems which perform specific jobs – making up what could be considered an organized team working behind-the-scenes!
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Organs and Body Systems
Human bodies are complex systems made up of trillions of cells working in concert. Cells combine to form tissues, which in turn are organized into organs – each organ consisting of connected structures joined structurally together for specific functions. Organs are found across multicellular organisms such as humans and other animals as well as plants and single-celled organisms like bacteria.
Your body’s organ systems work in unison to maintain health. For instance, the circulatory and respiratory systems collaborate in providing oxygen to your cells while clearing away carbon dioxide; similarly, digestive and excretory systems work hand in hand to break down nutrients while clearing away waste products from your system.
By studying anatomy, you can gain more insight into your body and its organs and their workings. Anatomy encompasses bones, muscles, skin and blood vessels – it serves as the basis of medical science.
There are many interesting facts about the human body you may not be aware of. For instance, you’re born with approximately 300 bones; over time some of those will fuse together. Furthermore, we shed between 30-40K skin cells per minute, take 12 years for our teeth to fully develop, and the only areas without hair growth being lips, palms of hands and soles of feet.
Your organs are organized into eleven organ systems that all perform similar functions, like your kidneys filtering out waste from your blood and balancing levels of water and sugar, your lungs delivering oxygen into the blood and carbon dioxide from being removed, while the endocrine system produces hormones which control bodily processes such as sexual reproduction (testes/ovaries produce sexual hormones). Furthermore, heart, lungs, stomach and intestines all comprise part of your cardiovascular system.
Senses
Sensations provide our bodies with information about their environment, both internally and externally. Human beings possess five senses that provide information: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. Each has special organs dedicated to collecting data before transmitting signals back to the brain for processing.
Sight is the ability to perceive light, color and shapes through eyes. Eyes rely on rods and cones containing light receptor cells called rods and cones to detect light; humans primarily rely on cones located behind their retina which detect red, green and blue wavelengths; photoreceptors also detect ultraviolet and infrared light wavelengths but these do not contribute directly to human sight.
Hearing is the ability to perceive sound waves through one’s ears. Human ears feature a spiral-shaped fluid-filled tube (cochlea) with various regions that respond to different sound frequencies (wavelengths), so hearing can range from 20 hertz (Hz), which is considered the lowest frequency heard by humans, up to 28,000 Hz – this includes high pitched noises such as 28,000Hz high frequency sounds heard by animals and birds alike. Furthermore, hearing also detects vibrations and changes in air pressure.
The sense of touch enables humans to detect pressure, temperature and vibration through skin. Babies initially develop this sense first as part of their early bonding with caregivers and it plays an integral part in early bonding as adults. Our sense of touch relies on special nerve cells located throughout our skin that detect pressure and temperature through proprioceptors while those that detect vibration and pain through mechanoreceptors.
Humans possess over 400 odour receptors in their nasal cavities to detect smells through smell receptors in their nose. Chemicals such as those produced by some cleaning products and certain medications may impair our sense of smell, while our sense may gradually decline with age and/or health conditions like sinus infections or medications taken for specific health problems such as sinusitis. Smells may also be perceived through food items that contain salty or sweet flavors, and other smells may even come through from within our bodies through our mouth.
Bones
Bones provide our bodies with shape, provide us with mobility and protect vital organs. These structures consist of hard, strong tissue similar to what supports a house; yet bones remain living tissue which changes and adapts throughout our lives.
Bones consist of three layers made up of different cells: osteoblasts, osteocytes and osteclasts. Osteoblasts create new bone tissue while helping repair existing ones while osteocytes are mature bone cells that help newborn babies form correct shapes as they develop. Finally, osteoclasts break down old tissue to create new ones – the outermost layer known as cortical bone makes up approximately 80% of total mass in human skeleton and has a tough outer coating called the periosteum covering it.
The skeletal system serves as a storehouse for two essential minerals – calcium and phosphorus. When needed by other tissues in the body, calcium and phosphorus are released by way of blood stream delivery systems into circulation for use by various organs and systems. As its main storage facility for these essential elements, the skeleton has developed an impressive control system to regulate how much of each mineral enters circulation at any one time.
There are 206 bones in a human body. The longest bone is your leg’s femur; while your ears contain only four. Stirrup (also called stapes) bone is considered one of the 206. Your skeletal system is the toughest part of your body but also very flexible.
The human body is an endlessly fascinating subject to explore. Science facts on the body can spark curiosity about its inner workings and can be used as an engaging part of classroom learning in grades 4 through 6 classrooms. Students can study these facts on their own or use them as an engaging Kahoot! Quiz in class; teachers may even incorporate this information into lesson plans!
Teeth
Teeth are an integral component of our bodies, performing numerous essential functions including mechanically breaking down food before swallowing. Our digestive system contains several different teeth types -incisors, canines, premolars and molars – each serving their own specific function: cutting food up before being swallowed down; canines tearing food apart; premolars crushing before it’s swallowed in order to be digested more effectively;
The outermost layer of teeth are protected with enamel, the hardest substance in the human body. Only found among vertebrates (like humans and other mammals), such as humans and other mammals, it consists of minerals. Enamel may even be harder than bone! However, enamel isn’t impervious to damage; even minor scratches from fingersnails or bottle caps could compromise it.
Teeth contain nerves which allow us to sense temperature and pressure. Our sense of taste relies on chemical receptors called taste buds located on our tongue that detect five types of tastes – sweet, salty, bitter, sour and umami.
Humans possess approximately 206 bones that comprise their skeleton. Bones are living tissues composed of protein collagen and mineral calcium phosphate; within each bone lies bone marrow that creates red blood cells to transport oxygen throughout their bodies.
As bone marrow depletes, our bodies respond by creating new bone tissue to replace what has been lost – thus keeping bones constantly remodeling themselves by replacing old with new bone.
Under a microscope, when looking at a cross section of a tooth root, its layers appear as light and dark rings like tree rings. Scientists can count these layers and combine this information with when it was formed to accurately ascertain an individual’s age.
1) Teeth are full of fascinating facts: baby (also called deciduous or milk teeth) begin developing before birth and typically don’t erupt until around six months of age, though most babies possess both baby teeth and permanent ones.