Hula-Hoop Intestine

In 1992, a Beijing man had to have hospital treatment for a twisted intestine. Xu Denghai had been using a hula-hoop for many hours. This was apparently the third case of its kind since the hula hoop craze hit China. Doctors warned people to warm up properly as in any sporting event and to avoid using a hula hoop for two hours after eating food.

Cutlery Eating

The desire to eat metal is actually quite common but sometimes this behavior becomes extreme. A 47 year old Englishman named Johnson has had more than thirty operations to remove metal objects from his stomach. In 1992 he had a problem with eight forks and the metal part of a mop head. He also has a strange behavioural pattern in restaurants. The man has been arrested and jailed several times and each time he is released he goes to a restaurant, eats and then says he can't pay. While he waits for the police to arrive to arrest him, he eats the cutlery.

This is an extreme example of a condition called 'Pica' where the patient has an overwhelming urge to eat things that are not 'foodstuffs'. Another excellent example here is the strange urge that sometimes drives pregnant women to eat things like paper and coal.

Alien Hand Syndrome

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An alien hand sufferer can feel the hand affected quite normally but believes that the hand literally does what it wants to do and that they have no control over it. Alien hands can do very complex tasks like operating machinery and doing up buttons while sufferers feel they have no control. Studies of this complaint have recorded patients who seemingly have no idea what the hand is doing until it is brought to their attention. It is thought that this condition is caused by damage to the frontal area of the brain which controls motor movement.

Mud Wrestlers Rash

After a mud wrestling competition at the University of Washington, twenty-four people became covered in red bumps like pimples within thirty-six hours. The bumps were only on the areas not covered by bathing costumes, although one unfortunate participant had wrestled in the nude. The cause of the problem turned our to be an unusual form of dermatitis called dermatitis palastraie limosae, or 'mud wrestlers rash ' which is thought to be caused by small amounts of manure in mud.

Electric People

The human body contains a lot of electricity and sometimes this static electricity can cause problems. Rubbing the hair with a balloon, or sliding down a plastic slide can demonstrate this by causing the hair to stand on end. In severe cases, the static electricity in a person can cause problems with machinery. One of the most famous examples of this is the story of Angelique Cottin who could make compass needles deviate widely just by being near them. Some people have problems with wrist watches and can cause faults in electrical appliances because they discharge too much static electricity.

Hair Felting

Photo credit: Mahalo.com

In 1993 a thirty nine year old woman reported that all her hair had fallen out and been replaced with dry, coarse, curly hair that was so tangled up that she couldn't comb it. It had no knots, kinks or twists in it. The hairs themselves had changed shape and become triangular, grooved, or kidney shaped, instead of being circular. The only solution to this condition is to cut off the hair and lubricate the scalp until the hair returns to normal. This condition, also known as 'Uncombable hair syndrome' is caused by a dermatological malfunction where the hair follicles change shape.

Alice In Wonderland Syndrome

This occurs where the sufferer has a totally distorted idea of his, or her own size in relation to other things around them. This can be caused by drug use, or severe migraine headache and usually only lasts for a short time. It can also be a symptom of a brain tumor, or delerium tremens which would require immediate medical help.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia: Creative Commons License, unless otherwise stated.

A typical DNA molecule is so long and thin that if it were the thickness of spaghetti, it would be 5 miles or 8 km long.

There are 26 billion cells in a new born baby and about 100 trillion cells in an adult. There are about 210 known distinct human cell types.

There are 206 bones in the average body. However, there are a few people who have more, such as an extra pair of ribs, making 13 pairs instead of 12 and therefore 208 bones in total.

At least 21 different organs - such as heart, liver and kidneys - can now be successfully transplanted into patients. Kidneys are the most common organs to be transplanted; they remove waste products from the blood stream.

Nails grow at an average rate of 3 millimeters a month. The slowest growing finger nail is on the thumb nail and the fastest growing is the fingernail on the middle finger.

The strongest muscle in the body is the masseter muscle, which is located in the jaw.

The brain sends messages to other parts of the body at the rate of 240 mph.

The tongue has 3,000 taste buds, each with a sensory nerve connected with the brain that carries impulses which the brain interprets and passes judgment.

The ears have 100,000 auditory cells. Minute nerves ending in the inner ear pick up a particular sound frequency and start vibrating.

Other interesting things about the human body:

• During a night's sleep a person may change position as many as 40 times and have around 5 dreams
• One in three children in America has a weight problem, and over 9 million are obese or overweight
• Eating lots of eggs, meat, or cauliflower can lead to really stinky farts

The cuticle of the fingernail. This is a very thin band of tissue that goes down underneath the nail wall.

Glabella

The area between the eyebrows. This is a flat area just above the nose.

Lunula

The white half moon on the bottom of your fingernails.

Phalanx

Any one of the bones in the toes, or fingers. There are three phalanges in each finger and two in each big toe and thumb.

Philtrum

The groove right in the middle of the upper lip.

Canthus

The corner of the eye where the two lids meet.

The cell membrane is like the control tower at an airport. The cell membrane regulates what enters and leaves the cell, just like a control tower at an airport is sees what plane land and what plane takeoffs from the airport.

Nucleus:

The nucleus of a cell is like a teacher in a class room. The nucleus controls the cells activities, just like a teacher controls the activities in their class room.

 

Chloroplast:

Chloroplasts of a cell are just like solar panel. The chloroplast contain green pigments that trap energy for use of photosynthesis, just like a solar paneluses the sun's energy and change it to energy that we can use everyday.

Mitochondria:

Mitochondria of a cell are like a turbine. Mitochondria are small compartments partitioned by membranes; these organelles are often called the "power plants" of the cell because their main job is to make energy, just like a turbine makes energy for peoples use.

Ribosome:

A ribosome is like honeybees. Ribosome builds proteins according to mRNA instructions, just like honeybees produce honey according to the directions given to them.

Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum:

The endoplasmic reticulum is like a subway. The endoplasmic reticulum is a series of channels that transport material from one area of the cell to another, just like a subway transport people from one place to another.

Golgi Apparatus:

A Golgi apparatus is like Santa Clause's workshop. The Golgi apparatus packages and sores various molecules produced by the cell, just like how elves in Santa's workshop make toys for little kids.

Vacuole:

Vacuoles are like water bottles. Vacuoles are storage area in cells, plants cells often have a big one for water, just like how water bottles hold water for people and you can carry it around.

Lysosomes:

Lysosomes are like a garbage disposal system. A lysosome are compartments that contain enzymes to break-down old cell parts and other cellular debris, just like a garbage disposal breaks down your food and garbage.

 

1. The human body is made up of 6 chemical elements; oxygen - 65%; carbon - 18%; hydrogen - 10%; nitrogen - 3%; calcium - 2%; and phosphorous - 1%
2. At the time of birth the head is about ¼ the length of the body when we reach adulthood it is 1/8 the length of the body



3. If one parent has blue eyes and the other has brown, the child will normally have brown eyes because brown is genetically dominant
4. The inner ear is responsible for the sense of balance



5. Three of the smallest bones in the body are located in the ear; the hammer, the anvil and the stirrup.



6. No two brain cells are alike



7. Glucose is the main source of energy of the brain



8. The brain of average human male (3 lbs) is heavier than human female (2.7 lbs).



9. The thinnest skin in the body is the eyelids - with an average of 1/32 of an inch (0.8 mm).



10. The thickest skin in the body is the sole - with an average of 1/8 of an inch (3.2 mm).



11. The tallest species of man are the Watusi of Burundi and Rwanda in Africa

    

    

According to the foreign media reports, Newcastle University researchers have successfully created the first human mixed-breed animal embryo or known as cytoplasmic hybrids or cybrids.

These are procedures on how human DNA is inserting into the cow egg cell from which its nucleus has been removed.

In this research, the researchers extracted DNA from the human skin cell before inserting into a hollowed-out cow egg derived from a cow ovary. All the genetic and species properties of this egg have been eliminated, meaning that the cow's nucleus DNA was being removed so that it has no longer a cow as explained by Dr. Minger. After 4 days of its growth in the laboratory, researchers eventually obtained the so-called human-animal hybrid embryo. An electric shock then induced this hybrid embryo to grow.

It is said that this embryo has a characterization of 99.9% human and 0.1% other animal after being grown for 3 days until it had 32 cells. The embryos were continue to grow for another 6 days before extracting stem cells out from them which could be used to investigate debilitating and untreated diseases such as Alzheimer's, cystic fibrosis, Parkinson's, Lou Gehrig's, Huntington's and motor neuron diseases. The researchers claimed that the research is due to the scarcity of human eggs and they further insisted that the embryos would not be planted into the woman.

In accordance to the current regulation in Britain, the hybrid embryos have to be destroyed after 14 days.

These embryos have a characteristic of 99.9% human and 1% animal.

The half-human-animal hybrid embryo viewed under the microscope.

These are embryos first cloned by the Newcastle University team. These are also the early embryos that will then use to yield stem cells

The diagram shows how the human cybrid is created.

On March 25, the public came to realize the issue of human-animal hybrid embryo in a lecture first presented in Tel Aviv. According to the Newcastle University which is situated in the northern part of the United Kingdom, this study has neither released extensively to the public nor being held for an external examination or peer review. A former head of the Medical Research Council, Colin Blakemore said, "The creation of hybrid embryos is not illegal and researchers in Newcastle and London were granted provisional license for such research in January, after extensive consultation by the HFEA...This research is at a very early stage and no results have been peer-reviewed or published." While being interviewed by the French media, a spokesman from the University of Newcastle said, "The University hasn't reached the final confirmation". The study result is said to be released within a few months later.

A paper on human-hybrid embryo was first presented in Tel Aviv on March 25.

This research has gained the permission from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) in January in order to create the embryos used for untreatable conditions. The British government also approved this research from a scientific point of view. The Liberal Democrat MP, Evan Harris, who led a campaign to ensure that research on human-animal hybrids was not banned by the parliament said, "Creating these sort of cytoplasmic hybrid embryos was deemed legal and legitimate under the 1990 HFEA Act and the 2001 Therapeutic Cloning Regulations by both the HFEA and by the science select committee, and was approved on that basis by the HFEA after a public consultation and after approval by a further unanimous select committee report. Therefore it is wrong to say that this is pre-empting parliamentary debate or a vote on the new legislation in this area-the statutory framework is being updated."

Nevertheless, this research has received condemnation from Catholic bishops as they said that this research has against the human rights, human dignity and human life. The leader of Catholics in Scotland, Cardinal Keith O'Brien used his Easter Sunday sermon to denounce this research as "Frankenstein proportion." The idea of the Catholic objection towards this research is that the notion of inserting human and animal DNA in the similar entity and also to the idea of creating what the researchers regard as a life for the purposes of research to which a life that will then be destroyed. Simultaneously, this research has received opposition from some ethnic groups and churches. The objection also came from the campaign group Comment on Reproductive Ethics, Josephine Quintavalle who said, "It is appalling that the government has bowed to pressure from the random collection of self-interested scientists and change its prohibitive stance."

It is sadly to learn that most British have agreed on this project of "true hybrids" created by the so-called "human chimeras", where human cells are injected into animal embryos. Shall we allow this to happen? Shall we receive something like a part of human and a part of animal? It seems like an odd and disgusting feeling to receive this type of embryos, isn't it?
This human-animal chimera which was named after a monster in Greek mythology that had a lion's head, goat's body, and serpent's tail has undoubtedly risen up people fear and concern. I keep on asking, "Would this creation still qualify as a HUMAN?" Can you accept this half-human and half-animal creation? It is inhuman to take out human DNA and then put into a host animal egg.

The simple answer here is because people get old. Not an answer that satisfies your average child though! It is all to do with pigment and cells. The hair is like a tube that is full of both and in-between are spaces. In young people this space is filled with a fluid and this has the job of keeping the cells and the pigments in their place. That means that young people keep their hair color really well because, let's face it, they are full to brimming with fluids of one kind or another. As we get older we don't produce as many - ahem - fluids and the space between the cells and the pigment is filled with air instead. This means that the pigment is gradually lost and the process of graying reflects that.

It's all about sebum! This can produce hilarity among a group of ten year olds because they see bum everywhere and they love double entendres as much if not more than adults. Sebum is produced from the sebaceous gland (each hair has one at its, err, bottom) and it is pumped out to make a layer that stops Mr H20 getting in to our skin. It also keeps it bouncy and stretchy. However, we do not have any hairs on the palms of our hands - or for that matter the soles of our feet! The water can then get in to our skin and makes it wrinkly. The wrinkliness - rather than puffiness or swollenness - is caused because of the ridgy way the layers of our skin are joined together. A simple answer here might be simply because our palms aren't waterproof!

It's all to do with sympathy! Or rather it is when our sympathetic nervous system goes in to overdrive. This is a system of nerves that we have no control over whatsoever. The nerves become more active due to what we are experiencing in the real world. So, an ordinary encounter with a friend, someone we find attractive or a customer can turn out to be socially embarrassing due to no fault of our own! Another reason for blushing is a little simpler. When we experience heightened emotions it causes an increase of blood to the face. Blood is red and you know the rest of the story. The reason we don't stay red - now that would be funny - is that our nervous system returns to normal after a short time.

Well, for a start, you can tell the inquiring infant terrible that the funny bone is, in truth, a nerve. It runs through a ridge in the bone really close to the inside of the skin. The proper name is the ulnar nerve and it is called this because its route is directly through the ulna, which is one of the bones on your forearm. It's the bone on the outside - get them to give it a feel! The ulnar nerve is a very important nerve because it gives us the feelings we have in our hands.

When you stick people in the ribs with your elbow, they might tell you that your bones are very sharp! That is because the ulna sticks out. So, the ulnar nerve, being so close to the surface, is easy to bump. When the ulnar nerve is knocked it can be quite painful and pain can often cause people to laugh just as much as cry. This is why it is called the funny bone.

Most kids know that women's nipples serve a purpose. They can question though, why on earth dad has them too. Until around the tenth to fifteenth week in the womb there is no evidential difference between male and female embryos. After this, the hormones kick in (strange that it is around the same time, but only in years, in children!) and if dad has passed on a Y chromosome then a boy begins to form. When the second chromosome is an X then the embryo will become a girl. Before the hormonal kick in, however, the nipples have already been produced. Once made, they cannot be dissolved back into the fluids in the womb! So, that's why men have nipples because at some point (for a very short amount of time) everyone is a girl!

For the answer to this question we have to look inside the body to the kidneys. The kidneys are there to do two things - the first is to make sure that waste is filtered out of our blood. The second is to keep the amount of salt we have in our blood at the same level. So, when we take a leak the main stuff inside the urine is water, salt and the rubbish our body doesn't need. The main substance that we don't want from the cells in our bodies that we get rid of through our urine is ammonia. From blood it is the “hem” bit of the hemoglobin (Who put the “heem” in the hemoglobin?” as the old song goes!). This is called bilirubin and was discovered by a gentleman called William Rueben. That very poor joke aside, the ammonia and the billirubin get to the liver and are converted in to substances that are much less dangerous to us.

Urea comes from the ammonia and the bilirubin is converted to something called urobilogens. Salt, urea and water have no color. But! Urobilogens are yellow! So if you have had a lot of water to drink your urine will appear lighter. If you haven't had much water to drink then your urine will appear yellow, getting darker and darker the more dehydrated you are. If this is too much information to take in, tell the kid it depends on the amount of bananas we eat.

Very fast. That's 43 kilometers per hour, which is twenty seven miles an hour. This, of course, is only over short distances. At this point reflect that although the adult male can run at this speed for only a short amount of time a small version of an adult can ask questions ad infinitum. Then go try and figure out why.

Sometimes! The only parts of the ear that can continue to grow are the lobes. Most people will not experience this as once the head stops growing (although with some people it never seems to!) then so do the ears. The only organ of the human body that continues to grow throughout life is the nose - and this only a teensy weensy little bit. You could perhaps punish your offspring for their interminable biological questioning by telling them that their ears and nose will grow a millimeter a year for their whole life. That will stop them asking questions for a while as they ponder a Pinocchio like future!

The egg swims through a 15cm long, narrow fallopian tubes before reaching the uterus. Its adjacent nutritional cells seem as though a beautiful ring that engulfs around it. Very soon, it will meet with the sperm to start the process of fertilization.

Approximately 5 million of sperms will swim through their final target- the egg that is hidden in the fallopian tube. These sperms have some tremendous forces and large in volumes, nevertheless, only one of them will achieve its mission by reaching the egg.

The outer layer of the egg is protected by a layer of transparent coating, which looks like a beautiful planet suspending in the universe. After crossing more bridges successfully, the sperms finally meet the egg. Nevertheless, the egg membrane becomes a hurdle for the sperms to pass through. At this moment, the sperms plunge their heads to drill deep into the membrane layer of the egg. Simultaneously, they hit their tails by swaying around the egg. Then, the egg follows gradually their tails' movements in a counterclockwise direction to rotate around them.

This time, the sperms have their heads plunged into the egg. We can clearly see their middle and end parts that are revolving around the egg. They are just like rotating drills moving non-stop while flapping their tails by putting more efforts in order to squeeze through the centre of the egg.

After being fertilized for eight days, embryo completed its “landing” mission. It tries to embed itself into the endometrium (inner membrane of the uterus). This time, it starts to split into a few hundred of cells.

After having fertilized for nearly 6 weeks, human shape is formed. Its heart beat is 140 to 150 beats per minute. Its heartbeat is two fold of its mother's.

This is a 10-week fetus developed in the mother's womb.

This is a fetus that has developed within 11 weeks. During the forth month of the pregnancy, the fetus grows from 5cm to 10cm in length.

This is a four-month-and-a-half fetus in the mother's womb. He moves his arms flexibly and he tends to place his finger near his lip to start sucking on it.

This is a 28-week fetus developed in the mother's womb.

This 7-month fetus is sleeping quietly and peacefully in the mother's womb. It looks like a tiny sleeping handsome prince.

The fetus has its legs clearly seen in the mother's womb.

This is a charming look of the fetus in the mother's womb.