Human Body & Mind

How the human body and brain are built, work, and sometimes fail.

All Anatomy Genetics Neuroscience Psychology Medicine & Disease The Senses

Human Body & Mind Genetics

About 8% of your DNA comes from ancient viruses

90 sec read

Human Body & Mind Anatomy

Why babies have about 300 bones but adults only 206

95 sec read

Human Body & Mind The Senses

Each eye has a blind spot the size of nine full Moons

95 sec read

Human Body & Mind Neuroscience

Why your brain burns 20% of your energy at 2% of your weight

80 sec read

Human Body & Mind Psychology

The bystander effect is real; the Kitty Genovese myth isn't

90 sec read

Human Body & Mind Genetics

CRISPR gene editing came from a bacterial immune system

90 sec read

Human Body & Mind Genetics

Franklin was an equal partner in the 1953 DNA double helix

90 sec read

Human Body & Mind Psychology

Dunbar's number of 150 friends is disputed, not proven

90 sec read

Human Body & Mind Medicine & Disease

Jenner's 1796 smallpox vaccine: why a farmer got there first

90 sec read

Human Body & Mind Genetics

All living humans share one African maternal-line ancestor

90 sec read

Human Body & Mind Medicine & Disease

Fever is your brain raising its thermostat on purpose

90 sec read

Human Body & Mind Medicine & Disease

How antibiotic resistance evolves, and how many it kills

100 sec read

Human Body & Mind Neuroscience

The human brain has 86 billion neurons, not 100 billion

95 sec read

Human Body & Mind Genetics

Humans have about 20,000 genes, far fewer than expected

85 sec read

Human Body & Mind The Senses

Human hearing spans 20 Hz to 20 kHz and splits 1,500 pitches

80 sec read

Human Body & Mind The Senses

Humans may tell apart a trillion smells, or far fewer

85 sec read

Human Body & Mind Genetics

Humans share about 99.6% of their DNA, not 99.9%

95 sec read

Human Body & Mind Genetics

Identical twins' fingerprints differ — but are alike

100 sec read

Human Body & Mind Anatomy

The liver regrows lost mass, but not its original shape

90 sec read

Human Body & Mind Neuroscience

London cabbies' brains grow as they learn 'the Knowledge'

90 sec read

Human Body & Mind Psychology

Asking 'smashed', not 'hit', changes what witnesses remember

90 sec read

Human Body & Mind Genetics

You inherit mitochondrial DNA only from your mother

90 sec read

Human Body & Mind Neuroscience

How fast do nerve signals travel? Up to 120 m/s

90 sec read

Human Body & Mind Medicine & Disease

How penicillin was really discovered (not via an open window)

90 sec read

Human Body & Mind Neuroscience

Why amputees feel phantom limbs: the brain keeps the map

95 sec read

Human Body & Mind Psychology

Placebos trigger real brain chemistry, but mostly for pain

80 sec read

Human Body & Mind The Senses

Your eyes have 120 million rods but only 6 million cones

90 sec read

Human Body & Mind Anatomy

Skin is the body's largest organ — by weight, not area

95 sec read

Human Body & Mind Neuroscience

How sleep moves memories from the hippocampus to the cortex

90 sec read

Human Body & Mind Anatomy

The gut's surface is about 30 m², not a tennis court

90 sec read

Human Body & Mind Medicine & Disease

Smallpox is still the only human disease ever eradicated

85 sec read

Human Body & Mind Anatomy

The smallest bone in the body is the 3 mm stapes

90 sec read

Human Body & Mind Psychology

Stroop effect: why naming ink colors takes 74% longer

95 sec read

Human Body & Mind The Senses

The tongue taste map is a myth: every area tastes all five

90 sec read

Human Body & Mind Anatomy

Do bacteria outnumber human cells? Only about 1.3 to 1

90 sec read

Human Body & Mind Neuroscience

Why can't you tickle yourself? Your brain predicts it

85 sec read

Human Body & Mind Anatomy

Your body makes about 2 million red blood cells a second

95 sec read

Human Body & Mind Psychology

The Rotating Snakes illusion moves because your eyes twitch

95 sec read

Human Body & Mind Anatomy

Your stomach lining replaces itself every 3 to 6 days

95 sec read

Human Body & Mind Genetics

Fetal cells can stay in a mother's body for decades

90 sec read

Human Body & Mind Genetics

Why broccoli tastes bitter to some people: TAS2R38

90 sec read

Human Body & Mind Psychology

Half of viewers miss the invisible gorilla — so do experts

100 sec read

Human Body & Mind Anatomy

Do inner-ear hair cells grow back? Not in humans

95 sec read

Human Body & Mind Neuroscience

The brain can't feel pain — so why do headaches hurt?

95 sec read

Human Body & Mind The Senses

How many senses do humans have? Far more than five

100 sec read

Human Body & Mind Anatomy

Does the heart have its own brain? Yes, a little one

100 sec read

◆ On this day

On this day in Human Body & Mind

Browse all 26 by date →

28 Sep 1928

Human Body & Mind Medicine & Disease

Fleming found penicillin in 1928, and foresaw resistance

90 sec read

11 Jan 1922

Human Body & Mind Medicine & Disease

Leonard Thompson, 14, was the first person given insulin

90 sec read

23 Jan 1849

Human Body & Mind Medicine & Disease

Elizabeth Blackwell: first U.S. woman to earn an M.D., 1849

90 sec read

23 Feb 1954

Human Body & Mind Medicine & Disease

The first mass polio shots: Pittsburgh, 23 February 1954

80 sec read

28 Feb 1953

Human Body & Mind Genetics

Photo 51 didn't hand Watson and Crick the double helix

100 sec read

30 Mar 1842

Human Body & Mind Medicine & Disease

The first surgery under ether: Crawford Long, March 30, 1842

90 sec read

9 May 1960

Human Body & Mind Medicine & Disease

The FDA approved the first birth control pill in May 1960

85 sec read

12 May 1820

Human Body & Mind Medicine & Disease

Florence Nightingale, born 1820, was a statistics pioneer

85 sec read

5 Jun 1981

Human Body & Mind Medicine & Disease

The first AIDS cases were reported by the CDC in 1981

90 sec read

15 Jun 1667

Human Body & Mind Medicine & Disease

The first human blood transfusion used a lamb, in 1667

85 sec read

26 Jun 2000

Human Body & Mind Genetics

The 2000 human genome draft was only 85% sequenced

95 sec read

5 Jul 1996

Human Body & Mind Genetics

Dolly the sheep: first mammal cloned from an adult cell

90 sec read