25 quick and fascinating facts about the human body

How often do we stop to consider how extraordinary our bodies are? These complex machines have millions of internal processes happening every second, all working together to keep us alive and well.

There are things that go on in our bodies, things we have no idea about as we go on about our day. Be it your new found height in the morning or how many times your heart beats per day.

The human body is an amazing piece of machinery—with a few weird quirks.

Here are the 25 quick and fascinating facts about the human body below:

1. A person uses 17 muscles when they smile, and 43 when they frown.

2. The human embryo acquires fingerprints within three months of conception.

3. Women’s hearts beat faster than men’s.

4. A man named Charles Osborne hiccupped for a total of 68 years.

5. About two thirds of people tilt their head to the right when kissing.

6. The average person forgets 90% of their dreams.

7. The total length of all the blood vessels in the human body is about 100,000 km.

8. On average, a person’s respiration rate is one third higher in spring than in autumn.

9. By the end of a person’s life, they can recall, on average, around 150 trillion pieces of information.

10. We lose 80% of our body heat from the head.

11. When you blush, your stomach also turns red.

12. A feeling of thirst occurs when water loss is equal to 1% of your body weight. The loss of more than 5% can cause fainting, and more than 10% causes death from dehydration.

13. At least 700 enzymes are active in the human body.

14. Human beings are the only living things which sleep on their backs.

15, The average four-year-old child asks 450 questions a day.

16. Not only human beings, but also koalas have unique finger prints.

17. Only 1% of the bacteria can result in the human body becoming ill.

18. Everyone alive on Earth could comfortably be placed into a cube with sides 1000 meters long.

19. The scientific name for the belly button is the umbilicus.

20. Teeth are the only part of the human body which cannot heal themselves.

21. The only part of the body that has no blood supply is the cornea of the eye. It receives oxygen directly from the air.

22. The human brain has a memory capacity which is the equivalent of more than four terabytes on a hard drive.

23. Your skull is made up of 29 different bones.

24. Nerve impulses sent from the brain move at a speed of 274 km/h.