SKELETAL SYSTEM

1. When you are born you have more bones in your body than an adult does.

2. The spine alone contains around 33 bones.

3. Many may think that skeletons are just meant to help us hold the shapes of our bodies. However,
skeletons also help to produce red blood cells, protect our organs, and help us to physically move.

4. Teeth are not counted as bones. They are considered part of the skeletal system, though.

5. Bones are a very light and a very strong material. This is why they can withstand movements like
jumping.

6. If a bone breaks it can easily heal itself. Casts are used by doctors so that your bone grows straight
and correct again.

7. Skeletons of an adult have around 206 bones.

8. Each bone is made of 3 layers. The outer layer (compact bone) is the hardest. The second layer
(spongy bone) is not as hard or heavy. The last layer is known as bone marrow and appears a bit like jelly
in the middle of the bone.

9. Exercising and adding more calcium to your diet (found in milk and dairy products) helps to keep your
bones healthy. You should also do your part to keep your bones safe from injury.

10. The jawbone is the only bone in your body you can actually move. It does so when you speak or eat.

11. You can find the smallest bone in the body in your ear. It is called the stirrup bone. The longest bone
is the femur, which is connected from your hips to your knees.

12. Where bones meet (places you can bend in your body) you will find joints. Joints are made of bones
padded by cartilage. Cartilage allows you to move your bones without pain.

13. There are slight differences between the skeleton of girls and boys.

14. Every 7 years, your skeleton is basically replaced by new cells.

15. Orthopedics is the name for the medical study of human bones.

16. Hands, fingers, and wrists contain the most number of human bones in the smallest area of the
body. You will find over 50 bones there.
Muscular system

Fact: Your eye muscles move more than 100,000 times a day.

Fact: It takes 17 muscles to smile and 43 to frown.

Fact:
You use 200 muscles to take a single step.
Fact: Your heart muscles are the hardest working muscles in your
body.
Fact: Muscle memory is a type of movement to which muscles
become accustomed to over a period of time.
Fact: Your muscles account for 35-40 percent of your total body
weight.
Fact:
Artificial muscles that can lift 100 times more weight than normal
human muscles have been created in a lab.
Fact: Your muscles contract involuntarily when you feel cold.
Fact:
If all 600 of our muscles pulled together in one direction, we could lift
as much as 25 tonnes.
Fact:
Getting electrocuted causes your muscles to contract violently.
Fact:
The smallest skeletal muscle in the human body is the stapedius, in
the ear.
NERVOUS SYSTEM

1. Despite being slower than electrical synapses, chemical synapses greatly increase
behavioural flexibility.
2. Electrical impulses produced in neurons can be initiated by neurotransmitters (such as
serotonin).
3. Electricity produced in the axons of our neurons is the increase and decrease of sodium
and potassium levels in a cell.
4. Neurons in your body use electricity to send messages.
5. Microglia cells float around the brain, monitoring it for damage and helping to repair it
and remove any foreign matter.
6. Astrocyte cells protect the blood-brain barrier by keeping its junctions tight, preventing
the introduction of foreign bodies.
7. Cerebrospinal fluid is produced by ependymal cells that line the brain’s ventricles.
8. Cerebrospinal fluid does more than protect your brain. It also helps remove waste and
helps keeps the brain cool.
9. There are 3 types of neurons: sensory, motor, and interneurons (talk between the other
two).
10. Each neuron has tens of thousands of dendritic spines, which allows it to receive
information from thousands of other neurons.
11. Most neurons in our body are with us for life and cannot be replaced if they are lost
through brain or spinal cord damage.
12. Neurons change their shape many times throughout their life, growing and eliminating
dendrites as needed.
13. The longest neurons in your body are part of the sciatic nerve, running from your spine
to your big toe.
14. Our organs are controlled by collections of neural cells called ganglia, which act like mini
brains.
15. The autonomic nervous system has 2 divisions: sympathetic (arouses body for action)
and parasympathetic (calms body down).
16. Your body below your head and neck is controlled by 30 spinal nerves.
17. There are 12 pairs of nerves that control the head and neck.
18. Parkinson’s and Tourette’s are both disorders of the basal ganglia because they make it
difficult to control movement.
19. The cortex has 6 layers: 1–3 are integrative, 4 receives info from senses, and 5–6 send
info to the rest of the brain.
20. Neurons are made of 3 parts: dendrites (receive information), soma (process
information), and axons (send information).
21. The cortex makes up 80% of the human brain and is the region that has expanded the
most throughout human evolution.
22. The cortex is made up of 2 parts: the neocortex creates our perceptual world and the
limbic cortex controls motivational states.
23. The limbic system of the forebrain controls emotion, as well as behaviours that create
and require memory.
24. The neocortex (cerebral cortex) processes the most complex information the brain
receives, including perception and planning.
25. Sometimes your spinal cord acts independent of the brain.
CIRCULATORY SYSTEM

1. The average heart is the size of a fist in an adult.

2. Your heart will beat about 115,000 times each day.
3. Your heart pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood every day.
4. An electrical system controls the rhythm of your heart. It’s called the
cardiac conduction system.
5. The heart can continue beating even when it’s disconnected from the
body.
6. The first open-heart surgery occurred in 1893. It was performed by
Daniel Hale Williams, who was one of the few black cardiologists in
the United States at the time.
7. The first implantable pacemaker was used in 1958. Arne Larsson,
who received the pacemaker, lived longer than the surgeon who
implanted it. Larsson died at 86 of a disease that was unrelated to his
heart.
8. The youngest person to receive heart surgery was only a minute old.
She had a heart defect that many babies don’t survive. Her surgery
was successful, but she’ll eventually need a heart transplant.
9. The earliest known case of heart disease was identified in the
remains of a 3,500-year-old Egyptian mummy.
10. The fairy fly, which is a kind of wasp, has the smallest heart of any
living creature.
11. The American pygmy shrew is the smallest mammal, but it has the
fastest heartbeat at 1,200 beats per minute.
12. Whales have the largest heart of any mammal.
13. The giraffe has a lopsided heart, with their left ventricle being
thicker than the right. This is because the left side has to get blood up
the giraffe’s long neck to reach their brain.
14. Most heart attacks happen on a Monday.
15. Christmas day is the most common day of the year for heart
attacks to happen.
16. The human heart weighs less than 1 pound. However, a man’s
heart, on average, is 2 ounces heavier than a woman’s heart.
17. A woman’s heart beats slightly faster than a man’s heart.
18. The beating sound of your heart is caused by the valves of the
heart opening and closing.
19. It’s possible to have a broken heart. It’s called broken heart
syndrome and can have similar symptoms as a heart attack. The
difference is that a heart attack is from heart disease and broken
heart syndrome is caused by a rush of stress hormones from an
emotional or physical stress event.
20. Death from a broken heart, or broken heart syndrome, is possible
but extremely rare.
21. The iconic heart shape as a symbol of love is traditionally thought
to come from the silphium plant, which was used as an ancient form
of birth control.
22. If you were to stretch out your blood vessel system, it would
extend over 60,000 miles.
23. Heart cells stop dividing, which means heart cancer is extremely
rare.
24. Laughing is good for your heart. It reduces stress and gives a
boost to your immune system.
CARDIO VASCULAR
1. The circulatory system is long!
If everything was laid out end to end, arteries, capillaries, and veins, it would stretch 60,000
miles/100,000 kilometers! All of that fits inside your body.
2. When you’re 80 years old your heart will have beat
3,363,840,000 times!
If your heart beats 80 beats per minute, 4,800 times an hour, and 115,200 times per day. That’s
42,048,000 times a year! Multiply that by 80 years of living and you’ve got 3,363,840,000 heartbeats
in a lifetime. That heart definitely works hard.
3. Your heart pumps a lot of blood!
On average your heart will pump one to seven gallons of blood a minute. That’s as much as 2,000
gallons a day. There’s 365 days in a year so that’s 730,000 gallons of blood a year! When you’re 80
years old your heart will have pumped 58,400,000 gallons of blood.
4. Blood is always red, never blue.
Blood is always red but our veins are blue because of light waves. Light has to go through the skin to
illuminate our veins. Red and blue have different wavelengths, so they penetrate at different degrees
of success. This is why our veins look blue.
5. Blood comes in different shades of red.
The blood in our bodies isn’t blue but it is different shades of red. Oxygen rich blood is bright red
where as blood with less oxygen is dark red. Veins have very little oxygen so the blood they carry is
dark red, where as the arteries carry oxygen rich, bright red blood. The blue is what we see, but
there is no blue blood in a human body.
6. The human heart is about as big as your fist.
If you’ve ever wondered how big your heart is just make a fist. That will give you an approximate
size. Even though the heart isn’t very big, it’s the strongest muscle in our body. It has to be, in order
to keep beating and pumping blood and nutrients to our body for our entire lives. Exercise and a
healthy diet will keep your heart in great shape.
7. Laughter is good for your heart.
A good hearty laugh where your belly hurts and tears run down your eyes is actually great for heart
health. It can send 20 percent more blood flowing through your body. This is because when you
laugh, the lining of your blood vessels relax and expand. Laughter also helps reduce stress. So
watch a funny movie and get a good laugh for a healthy heart!
8. The left side of the heart and the right side have
different jobs.
The right side of the heart pumps blood to the lungs. The lungs give the blood oxygen and then is
carried back to the heart. The left side of the heart pumps that now oxygen rich through the rest of
your body.
9. Your heart doesn’t literally beat.
That thumping, beating sound you hear is caused by the valves clapping open and closed. There are
four main valves in the heart, the aortic valve, pulmonary valve, mitral valve, and tricuspid valve. The
heart isn’t actually beating but clapping open and closed.
10. Heart disease is nothing new
Signs of heart disease have been found in 3,000 year old mummies. If we should take anything from
that it’s a lesson to take care of our hearts. Belly laughter, good diet, exercise, everything to keep
that blood flowing strong.