40 Fun Facts About The Human Body

Published June 5, 2021
Updated June 16, 2021

Your body is a wonderland. A weird, miraculous, disgusting, wonderland. Learn all about it with these interesting human body facts.

Human Body Facts

Public DomainCheck out these interesting human body facts.

Ever wondered how many times a minute a baby blinks? Or why babies have more bones than adults? Or how big your brain is without all those wrinkles? Or how long your intestines would be if you stretched them out? Well, now you can find all of these things out from the comfort of your own home, while keeping all of your internal organs safely internal.

Check out these weird human body facts, and impress all your friends with how much you know!

1. The cornea is the only part of the body with no blood supply – it gets its oxygen directly from the air.

Soap

Public DomainThe human body contains enough fat to make seven bars of soap.

2. The human body contains enough fat to make seven bars of soap.

3. Embryos develop fingerprints three months after conception.

4. Between birth and death, the human body goes from having 300 bones, to just 206.

Baby Feet Body Facts

Public DomainA quarter of your bones are in your feet – and, bonus, babies have 94 more bones than adults do.

5. Hearts can beat outside of their bodies.

6. When you blush, the inside of your stomach does too.

Diving Mechanism Body Facts

Public DomainAnother human body fact? All mammals have “diving mechanism” that keeps them from drowning.

7. Humans have a “diving reflex” that shuts down bodily functions when submerged in water to prevent drowning.

8. There are certain kinds of tumors that can grow their own teeth and hair – they’re called teratomas.

9. Humans are bioluminescent, the light just isn’t perceptible to the human eye.

Scott Kelly Shot

NASA/Getty ImagesAstronauts can grow up to two inches in space, just ask Scott Kelly.

10. Astronauts can grow up to two inches taller in space.

11. Your brain can survive for five to 10 minutes without oxygen.

Brain

Wikimedia CommonsYour brain can survive five to ten minutes without oxygen.

12. In cases of extreme starvation, the brain will begin to eat itself.

13. When listening to music, your heartbeat will sync with the rhythm.

Intestine

YouTubeYour small intestine can be up to 23 feet long.

14. The small intestine is roughly 23 feet long.

15. One quarter of your bones are in your feet.

16. Every organ you have two of, you only need one of to survive.

17. There are more than 100,000 miles of blood vessels in your body.

Circulatory System Arm

Wikimedia CommonsYou have miles of blood vessels inside your body.

18. You are taller in the morning than you are at night.

19. You can’t breathe and swallow at the same time.

Kidney Position

Public DomainYour left kidney is higher than your right.

20. Your left kidney is higher up than your right kidney.

21. Your ears and your nose never stop growing.

Pinocchio Nose

YouTubeYour ears and nose never stop growing, even through adulthood.

22. “Pregnancy brain” is totally real – Women’s brains actually shrink during pregnancy.

23. If you smoothed out all of the wrinkles in your brain, it would lay flat the size of a pillowcase.

Stomach Acid Penny

Stomach acid is so strong it can dissolve metal. This penny was taken from a dog’s stomach.

24. Stomach acid can dissolve metal. If it touched your skin, it would burn right through it.

25. At some point, you may have fought cancer.

26. The average person produces enough saliva in their lifetime to fill two swimming pools.

Tongue Print

Wikimedia CommonsTongue prints are as unique as fingerprints.

27. Tongue prints are as unique as fingerprints.

28. Humans shed about 600,000 particles of skin every hour.

29. Babies only blink once or twice a minute, while adults average 10 times a minute.

Baby Eyes

Public DomainBabies only blink about one a minute.

30. The jaw muscle is the stongest in the human body.

31. While awake, your brain produces enough electricity to light a lightbulb.

Untitled 1

Public DomainWhile awake, your brain produces enough electricity to light a small bulb.

32. In camera terms, the human eye is about 576 megapixels.

33. You carry, on average, about four pounds of bacteria around in your body.

34. The highest recorded fever ever was 115 degrees Fahrenheit.

Pinky Swear

Public DomainFifty percent of your hand strength comes from your pinky finger.

35. 50 percent of your hand strength comes from your pinky finger.

36. Men’s testicles hang below their bodies because sperm dies at body temperature

Cornflake Genes Body Facts

Public DomainCornflakes have more genes than humans do.

37. Cornflakes have more genes than people do.

38. You might feel like you got a workout, but sex only burns about 3.6 calories a minute.

39. Humans can’t digest grass. Despite health fanatics claiming wheatgrass aids digestion, humans would actually need several more stomachs to digest it, like cows have.

Goat Eating Grass

Public DomainHumans can’t digest grass, despite health fanatics believing otherwise.

40. The scientific name for stomach growls is “borborygmus.”


Enjoy this look at interesting human body facts? Next, check out what happens to your body when you do Krokodil, and what happens to you when you get struck by lightning. Then, dive into our collection of facts perfect for trivia night.

author
Katie Serena
author
A former staff writer at All That's Interesting, Katie Serena has also published work in Salon.
editor
John Kuroski
editor
John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.