SCIENCE
Seven curiosities about the human body
The human body is an incredible organism, full of wonderful complexities and functions.
Every day, it performs an infinite number of activities without us even realising it.
But behind these seemingly simple actions lie curious secrets and extraordinary phenomena. In this photo gallery, we explore seven fascinating curiosities about the human body that will leave you amazed.
The extraordinary power of the brain
The human brain is an incredibly powerful structure. Although it represents only 2 per cent of the body's total weight, it consumes about 20 per cent of the body's total energy. It can hold up to 2.5 petabytes of information, which is roughly equivalent to 3 million hours of high-definition video. In addition, the brain is more active at night when we sleep and dreams can be incredibly vivid.
The strength of the muscles
Human muscles can perform amazing feats of strength and endurance. The strongest muscle in the body is the maxilla-temporalis muscle, which is responsible for chewing. It can exert a closing force of over 200 kilograms on the teeth. And not only are the muscles strong, they are also very resilient. The skeletal muscles can continue to contract even after hours of intense exertion.
A labyrinth of blood vessels
If one were to end-to-end all the blood vessels in the human body, one would obtain a total length of about 100,000 kilometres. This means that we could encircle the Earth more than twice. The heart, an organ the size of a fist, is constantly pumping blood through this intricate network of arteries, veins and capillaries to nourish every cell in our bodies.
The uniqueness of fingerprints
No two people in the world have the same fingerprints. Fingerprint formation begins during foetal development and is influenced by genetic and environmental factors. This uniqueness has been a valuable resource for forensic science, as fingerprints are used to identify individuals with almost absolute precision.
The power of gut bacteria
Our gut is inhabited by a vast ecosystem of bacteria known as the gut microbiota. These bacteria play an essential role in our health, helping with digestion, metabolism and strengthening the immune system. Surprisingly, the number of gut bacteria in our bodies is greater than the number of human cells.
A heart with a unique rhythm
The human heart beats constantly and regularly, pumping blood throughout the body. However, the heart is affected by emotions: the heartbeat can increase when we are excited or scared and slow down when we are relaxed. An adult heart can pump up to 7000 litres of blood per day, which is enough to fill about 98,000 balloons.
The potential of neurons
The brain consists of billions of neurons, the nerve cells responsible for communication and information processing. Astonishingly, the total number of neural connections in the human brain is estimated to be greater than the number of stars in the observable universe. This vast network of neural connections is responsible for our cognitive, emotional and motor abilities.
Nature
22/09/2023
Climate change is presenting us with greater and different challenges than ever before. In fact, the lack of rainfall and snowfall is pushing the world towards water shortages. Of course, we are not only talking about drinking water, which is used to quench our thirst, but also the water needed for energy plants and agriculture.
Some of our behaviors in fact, still linked to the old habits of abundance of our parents, are totally detrimental to the environment, as well as useless for practical purposes. Of course, there is a lack of proper environmental culture in schools in the first place, and that is where we step in.
In this little guide, we want to give you 10 quick tips on how to save water in everyday life.
science
20/09/2023
It often happens, especially during adolescence, that one realizes that one is more gifted in languages than in mathematics, or vice versa. Or that one's thought processes are different from those of a friend or classmate. This aspect depends not only on personal interests, but also on the way our brains work.
In fact, the way to process information is different from person to person, but it can be grouped into some predefined categories. Some are more predisposed to creative work, others to relationships with other people, and still others can hear and understand music in a way unthinkable for others.
According to a study carried out since the 1980s by the American psychologist Howard Gardner, we have as many as nine different types of intelligence, to which the tenth would be added. These intelligences could also theoretically be linked to certain types of jobs.
Art galleries private collections
19/09/2023
Food has undoubtedly been of paramount importance in the development of our modern civilization. Food in particular made our bodies stronger and helped extend the average lifespan of early humans by many decades.
The ability to create particular foods and dishes, in short, to process food, is still valued today, and, interestingly, many of the things that are the basis of our meals go back to ideas far into the past. Bread, wine, beer, oil, cheese, so many things go back even thousands of years.
In this short article, we will take you along with us to discover the origins of our most common foods.
Tablet computers and tech gadgets
science
17/09/2023
The Six Degrees of Separation Theory, which assumes that each person can be connected to any other in the world through a chain of knowledge with no more than five intermediaries, is one of the most popular and suggestive social theories ever created, and may still be valid today in the age of social networking.
It was in the mid-1960s when a Harvard professor sent a letter to an unknown farmer in Nebraska, hoping that, through a completely random network of contacts, the letter would reach its true recipient in Boston.
Today, a study co-ordinated by the Institute of Complex Systems of the National Research Council in Florence (CNR-Isc) - signed by researchers from Spain, Israel, Russia, Slovenia and Chile - has shown that connections on social networks resemble those found by Milgram in the 1960s.
Art galleries private collections