What are the Most Incredible Things the Human Body can do?

ever stepped foot in that stadium. I was in high school at the time, and my family had made the trip over from Birmingham to watch some Olympic track and field and it is an experience I will never forget. That was the year Michael Johnson and those bright yellow shoes just destroyed the competition and pretty much every race

he ran. You remember this. I definitely remember watching him in a few of the heats leading up to his gold medal races and seeing some of the best athletes in the world honestly just look like children, as he was just that much better than everybody else. Yeah, he was incredible. I remember watching him from home. Well, I remember thinking, how could somebody's body be that much better at doing what it was doing than every other runner out there and these are some of the best in

the world. It was just wild. But as we've done our research in recent weeks, we've realized that all human bodies do some pretty incredible things. So today we're going to talk about some of the most incredible and weird things our bodies do. And Michael Johnson, if you're listening, and I'm sure he is, definitely, it's time you knew that we're pretty special too. So let's get started, right

he their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good friend man Guesh Ticketer on the other side of the soundproof glass doing that weird thing where you like waves with his ear. It's not like a twitch. How does he do that? It's like wave? It is so strange. So but we're talking about things we do with our bodies, and so that's appropriate. That's our friend and producer Ustan McNeil.

So today we're taking a long, hard look in the mirror to find out just how weird the human body really is. You know, we tend to think of our brains as being the most remarkable and defining features of our species. And you know, for good reason. But the human body is no slouch when it comes to these unusual qualities either. So with our own weirdness in mind, we thought it'd be fun to take this anatomical tour

of our most peculiar physical abilities. Yeah, and along the way, we'll try to figure out what our bodies are actually made of, as well as what happens to them once we kick the bucket. All right, So I thought we could start by looking at the building blocks of our bodies, you know, which are of course these hundreds of different

types of cells that make us up. And I think it'll be a good refresher because you know, we usually take our body at face value and kind of think of it as this one continuous thing rather than maybe, I don't know, like this composite mass of microscopic tissue blobs that it it really is. I mean, I feel like we're always hearing about these building blocks, But how many does actually take to build a complete person? Do you know? Well, as you i'd expect that it's not

the easiest thing in the world to calculate. So I was looking into it, though, And the best guest comes from a group of researchers who actually broke down the number of cells in the human body according to organs and cell types. So, for example, the average body contains about fifty billion fat cells, two and forty billion liver cells, and so on, And when you add up all these different cell counts, the total comes to an astounding thirty

seven point two trillion cells. It's unbelievable. That's a lot of trillion cells. But it's actually insane to think that that many cells can get along and like function in a single human body. And they do it for decades. But aside from having this impressive figure to throw around, is there any real benefit to knowing how many cells

compose the body? Well, there actually is, you know, according to the authors of the study quote, knowing the total cell number of the human body, as well as the individual organs is important from a cultural, biological, medical, and comparative modeling point of view. So imagine a doctor who measures a patient's liver cell and they find that it's, you know, maybe way below average. Well, that kind of quick comparison makes it easier to identify potential health problems

earlier on, and that's pretty cool. And obviously cells carry out all kinds of vital functions that go overlooked. But they also have this other impact on our bodies that's even easier to miss. Have you ever heard of the blatch Co lines? No, I can't say that have So it's actually the term for this swirling pattern of invisible stripes that covers the human body from head to toe. Invisible stripes. I'm pretty sure you're making this one up. No,

it's true. So one of the first people to notice them was this German dermatologist named Alfred Blatchko, which is where the name comes from. But in the early nine hundreds, he observed similarities and patterns of many of his patients rashes and blemishes, and it was almost like these formations were following these invisible lines on the skin, but the paths didn't exactly coincide with underlying nerves or blood vessels. And the truth about the lines wasn't discovered until way later.

But we now know that they're actually the lingering signs of our cellular development. And how's that. Well, we may have what was a thirty seven trillion cells, you said, yeah, but each of us just started as one and then this is a single cells zygote then divided into a small bundle of cells. And from there the cells divide again and again, you know, sometimes differentiating into specialized cells. What ones that would form are various muscles or bones

and organs. But skin cells, like, they're scarcer than other kinds of cells, and they have to stretch and expand as they divide in order to cover our fast growing bodies. And when this happened, lines of different cells begin to intersect, knocking into each other and creating molecular swirls in our skin. And so does this happen all over our bodies? And and why can't we see these? Yeah? So these lines are everywhere, you know, They're up and down your arms

and legs and around your head and torso too. I mean, the reason we don't see them is that all of our cells tend to carry the same DNA instructions on how much pigment to use in our skin. So these subtle differences in the color between the lines of skin cells are there, but they're really hard for us to

see unless you're checking for them under UV light. That said, there are people with certain skin conditions that cause these stripes to be visible to the naked eye, and This is because there are skin cells actually disagreed about which color to make the skin, with some saying they should make it lighter, others making it darker. It's so interesting.

That's bizarre. I mean, I mean, our bodies shed about a pound and a half of skin every year, which means that our surface skin cells are replaced every couple of weeks. So given that quick turnaround, it's pretty wild to think that we're also just wrapped in these invisible lines that you know, kind of date back to the dawn of skin. I know, it's it's really weird to think about, but honestly, the whole body is this mishmash of cells of all different ages, Like you know, the

lining of our stomachs and intestines. We literally burned through those cells every few days because of all the bile and acids that we use to digest our foods. And we're just really lucky that replacement cells are always at the ready, or else we'd be digesting our own stomachs too. And some cells do stick around longer than others, like red blood cells have I think it's a four month lifespan before new ones are produced to take their place.

But given a long enough timeline, just about every part of the human body is replaced like this. Yeah, you know, I mean it's sort of eerie how influx our bodies are constantly undergoing this cycle of cellular death and birth. And it actually makes me think about that ancient Greek

thought experiment about the Ship of Theseus. You remember this, right, We've talked about a little bit before, But the story goes that Athenians preserved the ship of Theseus, who was the mythical king and founder of Athens, after he passed away, but his time went on, they had to gradually replace the ship's rotting wooden planks, and finally no piece of

the original ship was left. So philosophers have had a field day with this ever since then, because you know, it raises all kinds of questions about permanence and identity, and namely, you know, if if none of the original pieces are still in place, can you really still call it the ship of Theseus? Yeah, that's right, And it's kind of why so many people have this like brain over buddy bias when it comes to the self identity.

I mean, the vast majority of the neurons in our brains form before birth, and stay with us our whole lives, unlike this constant turnover we experience in like red blood cells and almost every other part of the body. Maybe it's comforting, even on this like unconscious level, to tie your sense of self to something that's a bit more long lasting. That's an interesting thought. And this is kind of a tangent, but you mentioned red blood cells before, and it it reminded me of this weird study I

found while we were doing our research. So, you know, you get dizzy or lightheaded when you move to higher altitudes, you know, like if you're hiking on a steep trail or heading up into the mountains or something. So this is hard for me to admit, but I never get tired when I'm climbing mountains. But I think, I think, I know what you mean. I'm sure that's true. Well, anyway, there's a special protein and our red blood cells that

gets depleted when we're exposed to low oxygen levels. And when that protein is gone, other substances in our blood are then able to help us adapt to the change in oxygen. But here's the cool part. So our red blood cells don't replace that protein wants it's in which means that they're able to actually like remember their exposure to higher altitudes for the next time you had to higher ground. Wait, that's crazy. So when I head back

to the mountainline body actually acclimate's faster than before. That's exactly what happens. I mean. The only catch is that four month lifespan you mentioned before. So if you wait longer than that before you return to the higher altitude, those red blood cells that remembered your last excursion, they'll be gone, and you know you'll have to teach a whole new crop of cells about that shortcut to being acclimatized.

Well that's pretty amazing, But did you realize that human fat cells last ten years on average, So we could take a full twenty five years before they're all finally replaced. Really that long? So what happens if we like exercise like crazy? Wouldn't that help some of them go away more quickly? Afraid not, our fats all count is this constant, So when we gain or lose weight, that doesn't actually

affect it at all. The ones we have just grow bigger or smaller, depending on which way we're tipping the scales. So you're saying, no, matter how overweight or underweight or whatever we are, we would still have the same number of fats. Yeah, exactly the same number. We're stuck with them. That is crazy. So, I mean, it's it's it's bizarre that they can last more than a quarter of our

lifespan compared to these other cells. I know. It's even longer than the turnover on our bones, which are completely refreshed with new cells every ten years. And it's similar our muscles, which tend to make it fifteen years before being replaced. That's so weird to even think about, Like our bones being replaced from our muscles, that's bizarre. But but not every muscle. I mean, our hearts are actually one of the few things that last our entire lives,

or at least most of it. See, our heart cells regenerate very slowly. I think it's about one per cent of a year old's heart cells are replaced each year, and that number actually continually decreases as you get older. In fact, less than half of your heart cells will actually be replaced over the course of your entire life. Well, I kind of like that there's at least one body

part we can depend on for a little constancy. Right. Actually, I read the study a new scientist that gave me yet another reason to appreciate the human heart, because apparently listening to your own heartbeat can actually help you read someone else's mind. All right, I think you're gonna need to walk me through this when I'm trying to process

what you just said. Sure, so, most creatures have this weird ability called inter reception that that it lets us sense the internal states of our bodies, like when we feel hungry or thirsty, you know, that kind of thing. And many researchers think this ability is actually what allows humans to generate emotions. For example, like imagine you're walking alone at night and you hear the footsteps of someone

sticking up behind you. Like, the idea is that you're only going to feel afraid once you've noticed your own body's internal state, like the increase in your heart rate or the hair is standing up on the back of your neck. Yeah, but I mean that kind of just sounds like reading your own mind or something. So how do other people figure into this? So that's what I

was thinking too. But there's this researcher at Oxford named Jeff Bird, and this is what he wanted to know, so he assembled a group of seventy two volunteers and measured their inter reception abilities by having them uh, they had to count their own heartbeats without actually taking their pulse, and then the participants watched videos of different social interactions and answered questions that were meant to test how well

they could I guess infer the mental states of the characters. So, for for example, one scene showed this man making a pass at a woman who was clearly interested in someone else, and the question post was is she feeling annoyed? And as it turned out, the participants who were better at counting their own heartbeats actually performed better at this kind of question, like their ability to track their own internal

states made them more empathetic to the feelings of others. Wow, that's pretty crazy, and I don't want to name any names, but I feel like we know a few people who must be horrible at counting their heartbeats. But but just their feelings, right, I mean, they couldn't tell what a person was planning to have for dinner or something just because they were, you aware of their heartbeat or so

definitely not. I mean, when participants were asked questions about a character's thoughts that didn't involve emotion, the more terraceptive people lost their edge. But either way, I thought it was amazing that being in touch with your physiological state not only makes you more aware of your own emotions, but also of those of other people. That is a pretty awesome ability. You're listening to part time genius and we're talking about many of the eccentricities of the human body.

All right, mago, So before we leave the cellular world behind for good, I do want to mention what is maybe the weirdest thing about the human body, and that's just how little of it is actually human at all. Wait, what are you talking about. Well, according to estimates from multiple scientific studies, there are ten times as many bacterial cells in our bodies as there are human cells. And we talked a little bit about this in our Clean episode way back when one of our first episodes where

we talked about the microbiome. I mean, just think about for a second. Most of our bodies are not actually our bodies, and from the outer surface of our skin to the pits of our stomach, we're literally crawling with far in my grow organisms. Yeah, I mean an infestation of body bugs is deeply unsettling to me, and it might be another reason why we prefer to think of

ourselves as brains and not bodies. But you know, on the bright side, the bacteria inside as do help with all kinds of important bodily functions, like I don't know, channeling the nutrients from our food and supporting our immune systems. Yeah, and and thankfully they're pretty easy to ignore to you know, since bacterial cells are so much smaller than human cells, we we really don't ever have to look at them, although honestly, I don't know if I can forget about

them after reading that. If you somehow managed to gather up all the bacteria living inside you, it would be enough to fill up a half gallon jug. That's so disgusting, and I don't know why, but stuffing them into a jug makes them even gross. Although do you know, according to the Belly Button Biodiversity Project, out of robbed on lab our navels are actually one of the best places to store our microbes. In fact, there are more than bacterial strains living in there. That's pretty gross and kind

of amazing. But actually I think I'm more blown away by the fact that there's a program devoted to the biodiversity of our belly buttons. You said it was called the Belly Button Biodiversity Project. I love that. Well. So did they figure out if it makes a difference whether you have an any or an audie? They did, so it turns out bacteria doesn't discriminate between belly buttons because

the same amount turns up in both kinds. All right, So, now that we've done away with the pesky misconception that we're independent living beings instead of these walking, talking Petrie dishes, why don't we talk about some other things that our bodies do that we've been totally wrong about all along. Sure, and I've actually got a great one. So this is something I've been wrong about for a long time, and it's why are fingers and toes turn all pruny and

wrinkled when we go swimming or take a bath. I've always heard that it had something to do with like water being absorbed into your like outer layer of skin and so the bulge in some places or whatever. But that's all wrong. Apparently, um I saw I saw this from researchers at two AI labs, and wais the Idaho,

and they confirmed a different theory. They had these volunteers pick up a bunch of wet marbles of all different sizes, and some people use their regular dry hands to grasp the marbles, and others used wrinkly, pruny fingers that they had soaked in warm water for half an hour. Like, I just love that someone designed this experiment. But as it turned out, the participants with wrinkled fingers were way faster at picking up wet marbles than people with dry fingers.

So all right, so our fingers and toes get pruney to help us grip wet things. Yeah, I mean, the process basically works the same way that rain treads do on car tires. But the really cool thing is that the wrinkling is this involuntary reaction that's controlled by the same part of the body's nervous system that that actually handles stuff like breathing or or us sweating. The blood vessels blow our skin constrict automatically, which tightens the skin

above them to form the wrinkles. That's pretty interesting. But but why do our bodies play so much importance on getting a grip on wet objects? I mean, it seems strange that it's lumped in with these crucial access He's

like breathing and sweating and things like that. So I was curious about that too, And the researchers in Boise suggests that the wrinkling might be this evolutionary holdover back from when our ancestors had to gather wet vegetation from shores like streams or river beds, and it was the same with their toes. I mean that was helpful because

it was useful for getting around on slippery rocks. It actually reminds me of another body misconception, and that's the idea that fingerprints are there not only to help us keep tabs on criminals, but to improve our grip. So on the surface, it makes sense that the grooves of our fingerprints might improve the friction rate between our skin and whatever it is we're holding, you know, like a

glass of water or something like that. But according to a two thousand nine study from a group of researchers in Manchester, fingerpads with prints actually provide a third less contact with the glass than completely smooth fingerpads. That's so crazy that they actually hinder our grip, So why do we have them? Then I mean, I'm guessing they're not just for detecting crimes or whatever. Right, well, they're there. Their true purpose is still a little bit of a mystery,

but there are definitely some prevailing theories out there. One of them is that when we touch something the skin vibrations that occur between the ridges of our prints, will they help us to feel these fine textures that we'd otherwise miss. There's another suggestion that fingerprints wick water away from our fingertips, and that allows the skin to stretch more easily, so it can keep from becoming blistered or torn through use over such a long period of time.

That's pretty cool. So while we're talking about misconceptions, this is other one I came across, and it's what should be considered our most valuable body part. And what do you mean by valuable? Like how much you can sell a kidney for on the black market or no, I mean, although you know you can get two for one of those. So this is about skin, and particular it's the foreskins

from freshly circumcised newborns. So there was this time when these little pieces of excess skin were just thrown out in the trash, But now that scientists understand the growth potential of embryonic stem cells, like the ones in an infant's foreskin. They're actually being used to grow all kinds of skin for medical treatments. And in fact, a bit of foreskin the size of a postage stamp can actually

produce about four acres of new skin tissue in a lab. Yeah, and and that can be used for like grafts for burns and other injuries. Alright, So so you meant valuable as in like beneficial, So that yeah, that that makes a lot more sense. I just wanted to clarify that that makes sense though. Well, I mean, the medical benefits are obvious, but you're crazy if you don't think there's money to be made there too. I mean, labs and cosmetic companies making millions in profit thanks to the skin

they received from hospital donations. Yeah, but what are you saying? We talk a little bit about what happens to the rest of our bodies once we're done using them, all right, Well, before we get started with that, why don't we take a quick break. Hey, there, So we're talking about incredible things our bodies can do, and I wanted to invite one of our fellow hosts here Jonathan Strickland, who's the host of the wonder full podcast tech Stuff here in

the office. Uh, and I thought he could tell us a little bit about bodies and technology and and also play a dumb quiz with us. I love all of these things. I am very pleased to be here for I love dumb quizzes, and I love talking about tech. I'm into that. Yeah. And and Will is off right now. He's he's in lots of important meetings, but he'll be back on the show later. So tell me something incredible

that tech is aiding human bodies to do. Okay, so you've heard about technology using things like, you know, exo skeletons in order to help move larger pieces of equipment, things like being able to lift more weight than you normally would. Have you ever heard about an exoskeleton that does the opposite of that. No, okay, so I actually got to wear this. There is an aging exoskeleton, and the purpose of it is to give people who are able bodied young people and experience of what it's like

to have are gone the effects of aging. And the exo skeleton itself uses various joints to create resistance so that it's harder for you to move around. It's like you've got you know, your your joints are all stiff, your balance is off. You wear a headset that actively starts to obscure your vision, as if you have cataracts or have developed other vision problems. The headphones will start to create statics so it's harder for you to hear.

And the whole purpose of it, it's actually a bankrolled by an insurance company, but the purpose of it is to give people an appreciation for the challenges that the elderly face day to day just through the process of aging, what our bodies typically go through in this aging process. So do they like, uh, dial it up to this is what you at sixty, this is a seventy they do. And I experienced this in front of a live audience. It was a humbling experience because I had to be helped.

I could not, I couldn't. I suddenly could not walk across the stage the way I thought I would be able to because my balance was off, my my knees weren't working the way I would expect them to. I couldn't really see very well even in a brightly lit environment. Do you feel like a distinct difference at any particular age, Like was the difference between fifty and sixty a bigger jomp for sixty and seventy. Sixty and seventy was probably

the biggest job sixty and seven, seventy and eighty. Once you get to that point, it's it's it's increasingly difficult. But six seventy they and obviously this is all based off of averages. You know, we don't not every human body is going to age exactly the same way. Obviously, your activity levels and your diet and lots of other factors are going to play a part in that. But to me, it was an incredible use of technology to not only get across this this idea that we all

are familiar with. We all know as we age, our physical capabilities will decrease. That's that's an element of aging. But knowing an ex periencing are two different things. And being able to experience that and have a deeper appreciation for what the elderly around me go through just on a daily basis, it was really eye opening. And uh, obviously this is not an experience that everyone can have easily.

They're not going to market these It's not like you're going to go out and buy Hey, guys, let's find out what it's like to be eighty today. You know, you're not gonna go out and buy an exo skeleton and do that. But it really was an interesting way

to open up this conversation. And of course, for the purposes of this demonstration, it was to have sort of end of life insurance planning, that sort of thing, to help to help prepare people and to care for people as they're entering, uh, the advanced years of their age, and to two explain to younger people, this is why

this this kind of product is important. That was that was their their rationality for doing all of this, And I found it fascinating because I usually talk about technology as a way of augmenting our ability, not to remove them. But in a way you could argue this is to augment compassion. Yeah, I love that. That's really wonderful. Um, And I know one of the things I admire about you is that you walk like three miles a day right to the office here. When you left that, did

you just appreciate your walks more? Definitely? Yeah. So so for those who do not live in the bustling metropolis that is Atlanta. There are certain areas where the sidewalks are not terribly level, and once in a while I might have a little stumble if I'm not really paying attention right wearing that suit. If I were wearing that suit and trying to take take that same pathway home, I'm not sure that I can make it to the house, at least not without lots and lots of stops. I

love this idea of augment and compassion. I think that's really just a wonderful way to put it. So before I get to a quiz, because I do want to get to a quiz, I know you're a big game players, board games, video games, everything, uh, and the holidays are coming up. I was curious if you had one or two recommendations for our audience that you could sort of, uh say, has the Jonathan Strickland Seal of Approval? Sure.

Just the day before we record this, I had a chance to play through The Thing, which is based off the nineteen eight two John Carpenter horror film The Thing, and that was a huge amount of fun. It's got a bit of an identity game where someone in the game is working at cross purposes of everybody else, but you don't. You don't know the identity of the other players.

You only know your own, so you know if you're the trader or not, but you don't if you're not the trader, you don't really know who to trust and that creates an amazing dynamic as you play through this game. And it looked like both a beautifully design game, but also uh, I mean, obviously the gameplay seemed really interesting as well. Yes it was. It got to a point where we were actually doing this on live on camera, but it got to a point where we just forgot

about that. We were just playing the game. We weren't performing any know, we were just like, oh, I really think Scott Benjamin is the bad guy. Turns out Scott was not the bad guy. I an enormous apology, but but in his defense, he was really squirreling in that game session. But yeah, that that's a big that's got a big thumbs up from me. You know, there's there's also a game if you're if you like cheeky games, you like things like you know, there's Cards Against Humanity

is probably the one that everyone thinks about. But there's a game called million dollars, but and it creates scenarios where you get a million dollars, but and there's this condition and it's a it's one of those party games where you're playing with multiple people and people may give you a thing where there's a trigger something some event happens, and then there's a condition, this is what happens when

you hear that. So it might be every time a bell rings, you have to punch the person to your left. So he's like, yeah, you get a million dollars, but every time you hear a bell ring, whoever staying to your left, you're just gonna punch them and you have

to deal with the consequences after that. And uh. And then typically the way it works is that the judge for that round looks at all the different conditions and they decide, all, right, out of all of these, which is the one that I would most likely accept in return for getting a million dollars? And it tells you a lot about the people around you and how much they value their own personal safety. Yeah, well, I'll definitely look for that. I haven't hadn't heard of it before.

But before you leave, we want to put you to one of our own games. Today, we're playing a game called three Letter body Parts, and basically we'll give you a clue and you just have to tell us what body part we're talking about. Okay, and and I know you'll do great at this. So question number one instead of three. A woman from northern England has four color cones and what body part that would have to be

the eye? That's right. So because of the mutation, she can see nine million more colors than the average person. So you're one for one ready, number two. While some cultures claimed this is a sign of intelligence, the condition where your second metatarsal is larger than your first metatarsal is known as Morten's what toe? Yeah, that's right. So Morten's toe is where your second toe is bigger than your first, and it's also known as shepherd's toe or Greek foot. I guess I have that my second toe

is larger than my first toe. Well, I always knew you were smart. Question three. When sixty million people tuned in to watch Elvis Pressley's debut on The Ed Sullivan Show, sensors made sure he was only shot from the waist up because they were nervous about is what shaking that would be his hip. That's right. And less memorable is the fact that a nervous announcer on the show accidentally introduced him as Elvin Pressley. But that's absolutely right. So

you're three for three doing great here. Question four Keeleoscopy is a type of forensics that might investigate cups, water bottles, or cigarette butts at crime scenes for these prints. Lip Yeah. Um, while lip prints aren't often used at trial, women and men's prints are distinctive and everyone's lip prints are completely unique. Wow. Yeah, it's just that juries don't know about it, so they don't use it right now. But but they're sort of

gaining acceptance. And uh, question number five or four for four, I think you can go five for five. Oddly enough, this sort of piercing existed back in prehistoric times. OT see the ice Mummy had both of his pierced here. That's right. Took a took a wild stab at that one. Well, you went five for five. That's incredible. We're gonna send you home with a part time genius certificate of genius

when we actually get those printed off. But I'm so glad that it's that and not body part that starts with that has three letters, and that would have been awkward. Down Jonathan, thank you so much for coming by, Thanks for having me. Okay, well, so it's time to find out what kind of weird stuff our bodies get up to once we've vacated the premises. And to start, I thought we could debunk a long running postmorte, a myth that gets passed around way too frequently, the idea that

our hair and fingernails continue to grow even after death. Hey, that's not true. I mean I've read that so many times before. I know it's everywhere, but it's actually impossible. So after your heart stops beating, our cells start to die from a lack of oxygen and putrefy within a matter of minutes. And without that fresh oxygen in the bloodstream, the cell division in our nails and hair growth simply can't happen. So there's all this definitive proof that you're

talking about. But why have I heard this so much? Well, I mean sometimes books and other media helped perpetuate the myth. So there's this part in All Quiet on the Western Front where the narrator imagines the dead friends nails continue to grow. I mean they grow into these long spirals, and and the hair and the skull just keeps lengthening. And that's just one of a ton of cultural references.

But really, I think the biggest reason for the misconception is the fact that our skin shrinks as it dries out in the hours after our death, and that causes the skin to retract, which makes it look like our hair and nail are actually getting longer. No kidding, Well, I guess I can accept that explanation. That makes sense, though, given how so much about death remains unknown to the living, I guess it makes sense that all kinds of crazy

theories would spring up about it. You know. For example, have you ever heard the idea that caught on the eighteen hundreds, this miasmatic theory? No, what is that? Well, it comes from the ancient Greek word miasthma, which means pollution or bad air. And and so the prevailing belief during the nineteenth century was that dead people produced miasthma

on their own. So most people, doctors included, Really, we're we're convinced that rotting corpses expelled little toxic clouds that then hung around the grapes, and people would get sick in this and lead to the spread of diseases like cholera. And of course all of this was later disproven, but miasmatic theory did leave its mark on culture in a

major way. You know, the regulation that requires bodies to be buried six ft under, so that was the recommended depth for preventing the miasma fumes from reaching the surface. That's so funny. I just think about that like rain cloud following Charlie Brown around, right, that's his nasma. But I actually came across a few real life horror stories about air tight caskets and I wanted to share them with you because it's about the kind that's in above

ground mausoleums. So the setup might keep you safe from like hungry bugs in the ground, but your body is still sealed inside this box, and that box locks in heat and humidity, which means they're going to decompose regardless. But once anaerobic bacteria step in to do their thing, the bodies produced to this gelatinous brown goop. And while disease written corps there might be a myth there's still

plenty of gas involved in this decomposition process. So even enough time, the pressure from the gas builds and builds while you're still being liquefied until finally boom boom, well maybe more pop. Either way, the pressure inside can get so strong that the little square door at the front of the burial chamber blows open and out spills the foul, soupy mess. That's you, good lord. I mean, this is stuff of nightmares. But so so this really happens way

more than you'd like to think. So sometimes you hear about them getting sued when like a family catches them opening a loved one's casket in order to let the gas out. I mean, I get how that's a violation at all, but it really sounds like the owner is trying to save your family from some serious lifelong trauma. Yeah. I mean, I'd much rather have someone occasionally burnt my casket, like you know, having people weighed around in this ankle

deep soup of me. It's so disgusting. I mean, if nothing else, there's just better ways for your body to spend its time after its death. I mean, for example, I remember this story from Mental Floss a few years ago about creative ways to keep your dead body busy.

You remember this story right, definitely, and you know one of the entries was just about how having your body cremated could help fuel a whole city, and that that was in Sweden, right, yeah, yeah, So that the incinerators used for cremation demand a great deal of energy, so crematoriums are always on the lookout for ways to make the process greener. And one solution that a few European facilities came up with was to have the heat from the fires pulled double duty so that the energy could

be saved elsewhere. So, with this idea in mind, the Swedish city of Helsingborg they began sourcing as much as ten percent of the heat for its homes from local crematoriums. That was back in and you know, the idea has cropped up a bunch of times since then, but sometimes town council shoot it down over like ethical concerns. Well, i mean, I'm all for greener tech, but I'm so nodded at this idea of warming our houses via burning body.

You're such a stickler mango. But anyway, if you if you rather your body give back in another way, you can always donate it to science. Just make sure you do specify that you'd rather it be used for organ transplants than say, like you know, a facelift practice. What do cosmetic surgeons actually practice on cadavers? They sure do. And in fact, I read this interview with Mary Roach, the author of a great book called Stiff The Curious

Lives of Human Cadavers. And I know we've read several of her books over the years, but in this book she breaks down what happens when someone wills their body to science. As she explains, quote, you donate to a specific institution like Harvard or the Mayo Clinic. You fill out the forms through the willed body program of the school. Most of the bodies are donated through anatomy labs, so you are dissected. But what you can do is specify

things that you don't want done. For example, you could say I don't want to be used specifically for cosmetic surgeries. You can select what you don't want, but not what you want. I guess there's no sense of being picked at that point, but it's still a little innnerving that you might end up with this botched facelift in the afterlife. Well, believe it or not, they're actually worse ways to go out then this. For instance, every year, universities conduct tons

of safety tests using cadavers as crash tests. Yeah, a lot of the funding for these tests come from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, but because automakers lack the medical resources needed for cadaver test plenty of schools also received grants from companies like Ford and GM. That's awful. So, even though we've probably dwelled on death enough for one day, I'd hate to end this show on such a sour note.

So instead, I actually want to tell you about what might be the best way for your body to spend it's afterlife. All right, Well, what's that? So there's this pair of Italian designers who have actually come up with a new form of burial, and it's called Capsula mundi, which means world's capsule in Latin. And basically it's this egg shaped organic casket that houses either cremated remains or

a body place in the field position. And once the capsule is buried, it's biodegradable shell breaks down and the exposed remains supply nutrients to the sapling that's planted just above it. So not only is the system environmentally friendly, but it's this great way to beautify traditional cemeteries, also highlighting the cycle of life. That's a pretty great idea, and I love the thought of, you know, replacing these austere,

tombstone laden graveyards with kind of a memorial forest. Imagine how much more connected you'd feel to your loved ones if you could visit a place like that and just sit beneath the tree they chose to represent them. Yeah, it's got to be one of the most peaceful and dignified ways of human body could be laid to rest. I agree. Well, before we put this episode to rest, we've got a few last rites to perform. So, Mango, are you ready for the fact I always m m

all right, Well I will start us off. So I'm here to confirm a fact that I'd heard before, but I wasn't sure if it was actually true. But yes, our bodies actually are taller when we wake up in the morning than when we go to sleep at time. And the reason for that is all of the pressure that our upright posture puts on our joints each day, because for the whole time we're on our feet or sitting up straight, the weight of our bones, you know, with a little help from gravity, it's working to compress

the carlage between the disks of our spine. Then we finally laid the rest at night, and the pressure is off and our cartilage is able to expand back to its original shape. So when we wake up, we're actually a little bit taller than we were the night before, until we get squeezed down again through the day, which is why I only slam dunk first thing in the morning. Of course, So I've got a fact that seems appropriate since I know as soon as we finished this episode,

you're gonna head down to have some ramena. And that's the fact that there's actually a word for the growling sound your stomach mix. Yeah, so the rumblings in your gut are known as barbara rigmy among people who like to use technical terms, and it's a cool little word we picked up from the Greek barbar reason, which means to rumble. Okay, well, I've got some major borbera rigmy

going on right now. I'm hungry. Okay, I've got one that I looked into because a friend of mine has this remarkable ability to think herself to warmth in cold temperatures. I don't know if you know anybody like this. But I remember standing outside in the cold before an event, and a group of us were baffled because her bare hands were as warm as though she'd been in front of a heater or something like that. And it turns

out your mind actually can help you keep warm. You may have read about a group of Tibetan monks who were especially good at this. But you know, a few years ago a study was done where a group of Westerners were taught forceful breathing and it actually did help them regulate their body temperatures. So meditation triggers thermogenesis, or body warming, and also helps suppress the cooling mechanisms that our bodies use, you know, things like sweating or blood

vessel dilation. So this is actually something that can happen, and I want to think about it. I got to start meditating because you know how much I hate being cold. Yeah, that's true. So this is another thing I had heard, but I wasn't sure if I believed. And it's that our joints can actually predict the weather. But it turns

out our grandparents were right. There's still some debate about the specifics of it, but there does appear to be a connection between joint issues like arthritis and the weather. And in one study at Tufts, they found that as temperatures dropped, knee pain among those with arthritis increased. And the researchers showed that this happens because the barometric pressure is actually a stabilizing factor for certain joints, and so if that pressure changes, our stabilization would change as well.

And also as temperatures dropped, the thickness of the synovial fluid changes, and that's the fluid that helps keep our joints lubricated. My granddad was right all along. That's pretty interesting. Everything about everything that's right, that's right, all right. Well, here's another one. So I've always wondered why it is we don't notice everything has gone dark every few seconds

when we blink. It turns out that our brains have this really impressive ability to suppress the activity in the parts of the brain that help us detect changes in our environment. So our brains actually allow us to ignore those momentary periods of darkness and just see the world

as though it's continue to us. That's pretty awesome. So I know, we started the show talking about an athlete with superhuman abilities and I know our goal was to tell Michael Johnson who is listening, that our bodies are special too, but I think I've got a good one. So you know how, you occasionally hear about these moments of superhuman strength, like a firefighter being able to lift a car to save someone that's trapped under it, or like a mom being able to do the same thing,

and it turns out there's actual science behind this. So whenever we're doing something that requires a certain amount of physical strength, our brains have a way of preventing our muscles from being over stimulated and the purposes to keep ourselves from injuring ourselves. But in moments of extreme stress, we also have the ability to override that suppression and physically accomplished all these things that wouldn't otherwise be capable of.

Hence the reason for these moments of superhuman strength. That's pretty awesome, and you're right, the whole point of this episode was to let Michael Johnson know that our bodies can do some amazing things. To got it, Michael Johnson, And I think you've nailed it with that one, Mango, So I'm actually gonna get of you Today's fact on Trophy. Thank you so much. So that's it for today's episode.

If you've got some great facts about the human body that we should have shared on today's episode, let us know. You can email us part Time Genius at how stuff Works dot com or hit us up on our seven fact hot line one eight four four pt Genius, or as always, you can find us on Facebook or Twitter. Thanks so much for listening. Thanks again for listening. Part Time Genius is a production of How Stuff Works and wouldn't be possible without several brilliant people who do the

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