17: The Body Systems Video
Transcript:
Chapter 17 Video
ANNA: Hi Keilyn.
KEILYN: Hi Anna.
ANNA: You have an amazing body. Did you know that?
KEILYN: Well, I did do a push up yesterday.
ANNA: No. I mean anyone’s body—the human body—is pretty amazing in terms of what it can do and how it all works together.
KEILYN: I knew that’s what you meant.
ANNA: In fact, there are probably a thousand things your body is doing right now that you aren’t even aware of. That’s why today’s top ten list is all about the human body and just how cool it is.
KEILYN: Awesome. Let’s get started.
ANNA (voice over): Your skin is the largest organ you’ve got. It could cover, like, 20 square feet.
KEILYN: You could make a blanket out of that!
ANNA: That’s really disgusting.
KEILYN: Yeah, but it would probably keep you warm.
ANNA (voice over): On a related note, if you could somehow spread out all the wrinkles in your brain, it would cover an area the size of a pillowcase.
KEILYN: So you could have a matching set!
ANNA (voice over): You’ve got 62,000 miles of blood vessels in your body. That’s enough to stretch around the world two and a half times!
KEILYN: Seriously? Somebody actually measured all of that? Who has the time to measure 62,000 miles of blood vessels?
ANNA: Really bored scientists. And people who write health textbooks.
ANNA (voice over): Digestion doesn’t just happen overnight. It takes anywhere from 24 to 72 hours for your body to fully digest food. And most of that time is spent in the large intestine.
KEILYN: So you’re saying the taco I ate for lunch yesterday is probably still in here somewhere.
ANNA: I don’t know. School tacos may move a little quicker.
KEILYN: Ain’t that the truth.
ANNA (voice over): The appendix is an organ in your body attached to your large intestine. And after all these years of scientific study and gazillions of dollars of research, we still aren’t entirely sure what it does.
KEILYN: Wait. What’s the point of an organ that doesn’t do anything?
ANNA: Well, that’s kind of the idea. We don’t know what the point is.
KEILYN: Kind of like how I don’t know what the point of algebra is.
ANNA: Too true.
ANNA (voice over): Scientists believe that our noses can detect over one trillion scents.
ANNA: That’s twelve zeroes. Isn’t that amazing?
KEILYN: Unless you are in the boy’s locker room. Then it pretty much only detects one.
ANNA (voice over): Nerve signals can travel up to 268 miles per hour. That’s four times as fast as a cheetah!
KEILYN: And bonus fact: the human brain contains about a hundred billion neurons.
ANNA: Well...
KEILYN: Well what?
ANNA: Let’s be honest. Not everybody’s brain. I mean, some people are probably short a few.
ANNA: Take a breath.
ANNA: About five million cells just died in your body.
KEILYN: That’s horrible!
ANNA: No. It’s okay. They get replaced. That’s what’s so amazing about our bodies. Cells are constantly dying, but new ones are created to take their place.
KEILYN: Yeah, but it’s still sad. Goodbye little cells. I’ll miss you.
ANNA: Hey Keilyn. What color am I wearing?
KEILYN: Blue.
ANNA: But what kind of blue?
KEILYN: Um dark blue?
ANNA (voice over): Well, believe it or not, most human eyes can tell the difference between two and a half and seven and a half million different colors.
KEILYN: Then how come Crayola only makes 120 different crayons?
KEILYN: Those people need to get on the ball.
ANNA (voice over): Keilyn, you probably already know that humans have unique fingerprints. But did you also know you have a unique tongue print?
KEILYN: Seriously?
ANNA: Yep. Nobody in the world has a tongue exactly like yours.
KEILYN: So, like, if I was arrested I could just lick the ink pad and get tongue-printed instead of finger printed.
ANNA: Mm, I don’t think so.
KEILYN: Yeah, probably wouldn’t taste good.
ANNA: And the number one fun fact about your human body that you probably didn’t know.
ANNA (voice over): The average person has about 65 different species of bacteria living in their belly button.
KEILYN: What if you have an outie?
ANNA: I don’t think it makes any difference. So wash those belly buttons, folks. Until next time, I’m Anna.
KEILYN: And I’m Keilyn.
BOTH: Any this has been, Today’s Top Ten.