There are a lot of phobias around the human body: hematophobia (fear of blood), genophobia (fear of the penis)(yes yes), apopathophobei (fear of poo or pooping) or even bacteriophobia (the fear of bacteria). Well, if you are one of those people, I strongly advise you to stop here. This top is based on the story of organs of all kinds, bacteria that eat men and explanations about feces… You have been warned. From now on, let’s make way for a cultural moment as exciting as it is disgusting. Little anecdotes to highlight in date if you want to cut short the discussion!
1. During a kidney transplant, the native kidneys usually remain in the body
When a kidney is transplanted to a patient, the failing kidney(s) are generally not removed. A person can therefore easily have 3,4,5,… kidneys and ureters (pipe connecting the organ to the bladder). The world record for the greatest number of kidney transplants received, held by Dutchman Bjorn Van Empel, is 7. It’s phew.
2. We have been in our grandmother’s womb
WHAT? It may sound pretty crazy, but the explanation is simple: a female person is born with all the ovarian follicles (at the origin of the eggs) that she will have in her life. In fact, when your mother was in your grandmother’s womb, you were already in your mother’s body. A very (very) disturbing mise en abyme.
3. We do about 55 kg of poo a year
Without transition, let’s go from this wonderful thing that is the incredible cycle of life, to poo. So cool. On average, each individual produces about 200 grams of fecal matter per day. Over a year, this amounts to 55 kg. Heavier than what I lift in a squat. to finish you hole the c to impress you with my science: reported on a global scale, 355 million tons are produced per year, or… 11,000 kilos per second! To follow the world production live, it is by to be (yes, a guy actually made a poo counter).
(Source)
4. You can actually vomit poop.
Sorry, it’s trashy and filthy… But it’s true. This is called “fecaloid vomiting”. They can be caused by bowel obstruction or serious illnesses such as cancer. Yes, in addition to being off-putting, it’s sad. In any case, if it happens to you (I don’t wish it on anyone), you should quickly consult.
(Yes, I see you coming, the clever little haters who are going to come and say to me “xptdr wokito you who puke shit all day lol xd”. Well you know what? We still love you. )
5. Little creatures live in our eyelashes
Small mites called “demodex”, to be exact. They lead a small life there rich in emotion and rebound: they eat, mate, reproduce and die in our eyelashes. Their favorite dish? Your dead skin cells. Where do the females lay their eggs? Well buried in your follicles. Yum yum.
6. Birth in a coffin
Sensible soul to withhold. This point is particularly trashy, and touches on the death of mother and child. It’s up to you, if it’s too hard to sustain, to go directly to the next point (a story of a man-eating intestine, fascinating)! Simply put, if a pregnant woman dies, the baby can still be expelled by the buildup of bodily gas. We speak of “birth in the coffin”, since it can happen that “delivery” takes place… In the tomb. I warned you, it’s trash.
7. We will all end up eaten by our own intestines.
It could be the synopsis of a gore movie, but no… It’s just real life (nice)! Our intestines contain millions of bacteria, which help with digestion in particular. When you die, they begin to digest the intestines from the inside, then end up invading the rest of the body to make a nice little feast. A study wanting to establish a “microbial clock” estimates that they attack the liver 20 hours after death, and spread to all organs in less than 58 hours. Bah… Good app?
8. Some tumors may have… Teeth and hair
Ok, this is creepy, creepy, creepy and more creepy to death! “Teratomas” (literally “monstrous tumors”) can actually have hair, teeth and even skin, especially when they are located in the ovaries. The ovules have a germinal cell: that is to say, capable of generating any type of tissue. If this cell tears, it can become infected and generate teratomas, in turn capable of generating various human attributes, depending on their maturity. Even crazier: in 2017, a miniature brain was found in an ovarian tumor!
9. It is possible to secrete breast milk through the armpits
We are not sure that it is more practical for breastfeeding, but in any case, it exists. We speak of “ectopic breast tissue” when the tissue is placed in abnormal places in the body. On Tiktok, Linda Jones tells how her lactating breast tissue migrated under her arms. Other clinical cases have been reported, in particular a woman whose milk was coming out… Through the vulva.
10. The dust in your house contains human skin.
We shed the outer layer of our skin approximately every two to four weeks. Inevitably, we do not realize it, but these 50 million cells lost every day are simply found everywhere around us, in the form of dust. You’ll think about it the next time you empty your vacuum, hehe.
11. Babies have a lot more bones than adults.
Ok, it’s not creepy at all, but still, it’s quite impressive! We are born with about 350 bones VS 206 in adulthood. As we grow, some of our bones fuse together, such as those in the skull, arms or legs. At birth, babies do not have kneecaps. It is only over time that the soft cartilage hardens. (Source)
12. We produce between 2 and 4 pints of saliva a day.
1.5 liters per day per person on average. Salivation varies according to our habits: we salivate less when we sleep, smoke, drink coffee and soft drinks, when we eat spicy acids, very salty or too sweet. Conversely, drinking water and chewing gum stimulate its production. It is estimated that over a lifetime, we produce more than 40,000 liters of slime: enough to fill a good little swimming pool!
13. When sleep deprived, the brain starts eating itself
After the intestine which nibbles us from within, now the brain can eat itself, and this… IN OUR LIFETIME?? A study reveals that when sleep is neglected, the brain quietly begins to eat itself. To reach this conclusion, researchers conducted experiments on four groups of mice. First group: 6 to 8 hours of sleep. Second: sleep interrupted intermittently. Third: kept awake for 8 hours. Last: deprived of sleep for 5 days. Result: in the two groups of guinea pigs who slept the least, the cells supposed to “clean” the brain during sleep attacked the synapses (the contact areas between neurons, allowing the flow of information). In short, sleeping is good. Really good.
14. Thousands of bacteria live in our navels.
“Belly Button 2.0”: the name of the project that studied the biodiversity of human navels (yeah, that’s not trivial), based on analyzes carried out on 60 volunteers. Published in the journal Plos One, the results are quite astonishing: 2,368 species have been recorded there! It is the equivalent of the biodiversity of a tropical forest! Even crazier: only 8 common species are found in 70% of the volunteers. Translation: the bacteria in our navels differ greatly from human to human.
15. Bacteria release farts in our mouths.
Fart. The microbes that live in our mouths spend the night searching for leftover food, multiplying and releasing smelly gases. Enough to wake you up with good stinky breath. So cool.