10 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About You

Hey everyone! Found this little article online and thought it'll be fun to share it with everyone.
www.livescience.com...

Your Skin Has Four Colors

All skin, without coloring, would appear creamy white. Near-surface blood vessels add a blush of red. A yellow pigment also tints the canvas. Lastly, sepia-toned melanin, created in response to ultraviolet rays, appears black in large amounts. These four hues mix in different proportions to create the skin colors of all the peoples of Earth.

Bones Break (Down) to Balance Minerals

In addition to supporting the bag of organs and muscles that is our body, bones help regulate our calcium levels. Bones contain both phosphorus and calcium, the latter of which is needed by muscles and nerves. If the element is in short supply, certain hormones will cause bones to break down�upping calcium levels in the body�until the appropriate extracellular concentration is reached.

The World Laughs With You

Just as watching someone yawn can induce the behavior in yourself, recent evidence suggests that laughter is a social cue for mimicry. Hearing a laugh actually stimulates the brain region associated with facial movements. Mimicry plays an important role in social interaction. Cues like sneezing, laughing, crying and yawning may be ways of creating strong social bonds within a group.

Big Brains Cause Cramped Mouths

Evolution isn't perfect. If it were, we might have wings instead of wisdom teeth. Sometimes useless features stick around in a species simply because they're not doing much harm. But wisdom teeth weren't always a cash crop for oral surgeons. Long ago, they served as a useful third set of meat-mashing molars. But as our brains grew our jawbone structure changed, leaving us with expensively overcrowded mouths.

Cell Hairs Move Mucus

Most cells in our bodies sport hair-like organelles called cilia that help out with a variety of functions, from digestion to hearing. In the nose, cilia help to drain mucus from the nasal cavity down to the throat. Cold weather slows down the draining process, causing a mucus backup that can leave you with snotty sleeves. Swollen nasal membranes or condensation can also cause a stuffed schnozzle.

Puberty Reshapes Brain Structure, Makes for Missed Curfews

We know that hormone-fueled changes in the body are necessary to encourage growth and ready the body for reproduction. But why is adolescence so emotionally unpleasant? Hormones like testosterone actually influence the development of neurons in the brain, and the changes made to brain structure have many behavioral consequences. Expect emotional awkwardness, apathy and poor decision-making skills as regions in the frontal cortex mature.

Thousands of Eggs Unused by Ovaries

When a woman reaches her late 40s or early 50s, the monthly menstrual cycle that controls her hormone levels and readies ova for insemination ceases. Her ovaries have been producing less and less estrogen, inciting physical and emotional changes across her body. Her underdeveloped egg follicles begin to fail to release ova as regularly as before. The average adolescent girl has 34,000 underdeveloped egg follicles, although only 350 or so mature during her life (at the rate of about one per month). The unused egg follicles then deteriorate. With no potential pregnancy on the horizon, the brain can stop managing the release of ova.

Much of a Meal is Food For Thought

Though it makes up only 2 percent of our total body weight, the brain demands 20 percent of the body's oxygen and calories. To keep our noggin well-stocked with resources, three major cerebral arteries are constantly pumping in oxygen. A blockage or break in one of them starves brain cells of the energy they require to function, impairing the functions controlled by that region. This is a stroke.

Body Position Affects Your Memory

Can't remember your anniversary, hubby? Try getting down on one knee. Memories are highly embodied in our senses. A scent or sound may evoke a distant episode from one's childhood. The connections can be obvious (a bicycle bell makes you remember your old paper route) or inscrutable. A recent study helps decipher some of this embodiment. An article in the January 2007 issue of Cognition reports that episodes from your past are remembered faster and better while in a body position similar to the pose struck during the event.

Your Stomach Secretes Corrosive Acid

There's one dangerous liquid no airport security can confiscate from you: It's in your gut. Your stomach cells secrete hydrochloric acid, a corrosive compound used to treat metals in the industrial world. It can pickle steel, but mucous lining the stomach wall keeps this poisonous liquid safely in the digestive system, breaking down lunch.

Originally posted by balon0
Big Brains Cause Cramped Mouths
Evolution isn't perfect. If it were, we might have wings instead of wisdom teeth. Sometimes useless features stick around in a species simply because they're not doing much harm. But wisdom teeth weren't always a cash crop for oral surgeons. Long ago, they served as a useful third set of meat-mashing molars. But as our brains grew our jawbone structure changed, leaving us with expensively overcrowded mouths.

Hmmm. Against my better judgement, I am going to admit this.
I still have my wisdom teeth, so what does that say about my brain??
I suppose, if I was a bit smarter, I would have kept this info to myself.

reply to post by BrokenCircles

I still have my wisdom teeth, so what does that say about my brain??

It means your wisdom teeth came in straight. i have mine. They are only a problem if they come in crooked, or grow too tall and throw your jaw out of alignment. Most people don't have to have them removed but dentists love to remove them. I was sure I'd have to have mine pulled but they came in straight and are not pushing any teeth so it's all good.

Big Brains Cause Cramped Mouths

Well my mouth is ultra small... i'm missing 6 teeth... they never formed...
Also, I have 4 teeth that is lodged in my gums... Don't have room for them...
Also to reduce tooth clutter in my mouth... When I was 16-18 I had 2 pulled, so that the others would fit more comfortable...

...yeah my mouth is a mess... born that way... but this article makes me feel so much better about myself...
and it explains a lot muhwahahaha

reply to post by EvolEric

I have never known or heard anyone say that they were missing teeth because they never formed, but me too. 2 on top towards the front. Not very front but near. As a teenager, I had braces to actually widen the gap, where the missing teeth were supposed to be. Being the little rebellious punk that I was, I didn't see it necessary to wear that dam retainer all the time. I was supposed to wear it for 6 months I think. I didn't hardly wear it at all until about 2 weeks before I went back to the orthodontist. I thought I would fool them lol. Didn't work, they quickly knew that I hadn't worn it properly. Doesn't matter much though really. I can eat just fine and never smile. I've known people for years who still never knew until I eventually mentioned it and showed them lol.

Originally posted by BrokenCircles
Hmmm. Against my better judgement, I am going to admit this.
I still have my wisdom teeth, so what does that say about my brain??
I suppose, if I was a bit smarter, I would have kept this info to myself.

I think there's something to the dig that "wisdom teeth weren't always a cash crop for oral surgeons". My dentist talked me into having mine removed under the guise he didn't want my other teeth to get too crowded and I trusted him and had them removed, but there was nothing wrong with them as they were coming in, and I think I probably would have had plenty of room for them if I had just let them finish coming in. My only concern would be getting floss back that far in my mouth which is obviously doable, just extra maintenance.

But I think the removal of my wisdom teeth was probably an unnecessary surgery, that perhaps only helped send my dentist's son to college and didn't do much for my mouth.

Some of the other facts are interesting, though they shouldn't have given the TSA this information, now they'll want to pump our stomachs before we board the plane to remove the hydrochloric acid.

reply to post by BrokenCircles


you think you guys have problems i have 8 teeth that never formed can't remember exactly where they all missing but i know my two at the bottom front are still baby teeth anyway i love threads like this keep them up