Meganeuropsis was a giant dragonfly that lived on our planet almost 300 million years ago. It was about the size of a modern-day falcon, with a wingspan as long as your leg. It had long and sharp claws that it used to catch food and for protection. They could even grab small animals and carry them through the air. Their speed and maneuverability made them formidable hunters. Meganeuropsis is the most giant insect ever found on Earth. Scientists believe it might have reached this colossal size because there used to be more oxygen in the air.
The 28-year-old patient shows up at the hospital with distressing symptoms. He explained to the doctors that he felt really bad chest discomfort and had been coughing badly for quite some time. The medical staff knew right away there was no time to waste, so he was scheduled for an X-ray. Weirdly, there was nothing unusual about the X-ray results. The patient just had a mass in his lungs that they needed to remove as soon as possible. Sure, it wasn’t the best news for the man, but it was certainly nothing the doctors hadn’t seen before. But that first opinion changed on the day of the surgery. Not only was the whole operation more difficult than they’d initially expected, but the mass they removed from the patient had an unusual shape. When the probe was sent for further investigation, the doctors were puzzled: it was a small fir tree!
We’re so used to the things our body does to keep us alive each day that we barely ever think about the mechanisms of sleeping, talking, breathing, or even blinking. But what would happen to your body if you stopped doing each of these things all of a sudden? How long would it be before it became a problem? Not that I’ve ever considered taking some sort of vow of silence, but I do sometimes wonder what would happen if I just stopped talking altogether. Would I lose my voice forever at one point?
Friday night after work, you decide to drive over to your grandma’s for the weekend. She cooks you a delicious dinner and listens to all your stories. You mention the office AC must have given you a slight cold — you coughed a couple of times. Grandma says nothing and just nods and smiles like she’s up to something. You go to bed and fall asleep like a baby. The next morning, you wake up with onions in your socks and a tennis ball tied to your back! Grandmaaaa! What’s all that supposed to mean?
The distance between your outstretched arms is your height. You renew your skeleton every 10 years. [time to renew!] You lose around 100 hairs every day, and that’s totally normal. Humans are the only creatures who sleep on their backs for a long time. Koalas, like humans, have their own unique fingerprints. In a lifetime, the average person will walk the equivalent of 3 times around the world. A person can have from 250 to over 1,000 hairs in each eyebrow. Your eyebrows also have a lifespan: about 4 months for all the hairs to fall out and be replaced by new [!] ones. Thanks goodness. Your eyes are the only organ that doesn’t grow with age.
Humans have tails. Okay, that sounds weird, I know. But it’s true. While our bodies are still forming in the womb, at around day 31 to 35, you can really start to see it. Right now, you have a tail! It’s inside you. It’s part of your coccyx, to be more precise. If you were to have an X-ray right now and asked the doctor to show you your tail, you’d see some small bony segments at the bottom of your spinel. We lost our tails over decades of evolution. Imagine if we still had our tails, they’d have to redesign pants. Maybe they’d have a special hole or even a tail pocket. Sitting might be a bit uncomfortable, too, to say the least.
It has been several decades since gas masks have become a part of the face of each person on Earth. From birth to their last day, every inhabitant of our planet is forced to wear a gas mask. No one knows precisely what happened, but one day all the oxygen on the planet became toxic to the lungs.Somehow, the poisoned oxygen gets into the body through the eyes and ears, too, so you can’t wear a mask covering only your nose and mouth. A gas mask with full head protection is required. In the beginning, people couldn’t get used to gas masks. Your skin is very irritated, itchy, you want to breathe deeply. And this is only after the first few hours of wearing a mask.
Night. You and your friends are riding bikes around a small city and notice a meteorite flying in the sky. It burns with a bright green flame and then falls right into a small pond near the town. You instantly dash to the crash site. The water on the pond’s surface is foaming and bubbling. The incandescent meteorite slowly sinks to the bottom and illuminates the black waters with a green light. Mesmerized by this picture, you approach the edge of the pier. The green glow is reflected in your glasses, beckoning you. You take a step, suddenly fall into the water, and pass out.
Hey, can you speak up? I just ate an entire pizza! That’s because after eating a hearty meal, our hearing tends to be a bit less sharp. During digestion, most of our bloodstream is directed toward the stomach, which takes away a bit from all the other organs. So next time you want to go listen to your favorite band at a live concert, make sure to eat a lighter meal to keep your ears pitch perfect.
I can hardly imagine having to travel long distances without wheeled luggage, but these ones didn’t pop up until 1970. If you think about it, this means that the astronauts that went to the Moon actually had to physically carry their baggage in the spaceship! A lot of other daily tasks are different in space. Since there’s no washing machine on the International Space Station, how do astronauts do their laundry? The short answer is they don’t! They just load up the dirty clothes into a resupply ship, then they let them fall back into the atmosphere where it is incinerated. Our atmosphere contains astronaut underwear dust if you think about it.
If you constantly wake up approximately at the same time each night, the Chinese suggest you study the body clock. They say that every hour of sleep before midnight is worth 2 after midnight, but to have a good night’s sleep, you need to check your organs first.
The human body is as complex as it is fascinating. Our tiny little systems interact with each other in a chain reaction of responses, caused either by the environment or through our own personal decisions. It has been studied for thousands of years, and yet we are still discovering new things about it. That’s why we at Bright Side want to take a look at these 8 jaw-dropping facts that you’ve probably never heard before.
The Human body is unique in many ways. It is a complex system that performs millions of chemical reactions every second while maintaining its environment. For starters, our stomach acid is roughly equivalent to battery acid, which can dissolve steel. This point is one of the many facts about us that are so strange, unique, and mind-boggling that they might leave us scratching our heads or wondering if we’re reading right.
Our bodies are made up of 60% water, and it’s only natural that spending time in a tub of water has health benefits. Even though you probably don’t have the time or desire to make it a regular habit, taking baths has both mental and physical advantages. And it is highly advisable to spend time sudsing up in your bathtub 2-3 times per week. However, if you have any skin conditions or allergies, consult your doctor first before making any changes to your habits.
Popcorn is a favorite snack for many kids and adults, and its crunchy texture and diverse flavors are just perfect for almost any occasion. Some parents offer popcorn to their toddlers themselves, while others simply overlook the moment their kid puts a kernel into their mouth. While this snack may look innocent, it turns out it can put kids under 4 at a huge risk.
What tastes better than it smells? What flies without wings? What doesn’t have lungs but needs air? If you think you know the answers to these questions, then this logic test is right up your alley. Don’t forget that riddles are an effective way to shape and develop our thinking, memory, and intelligence skills.
Swimming may be your ticket to having a healthy body and soul, no matter your age. Not only can it give you a full-body workout, but it also helps those who are coping with depression by releasing feel-good endorphins that trigger positive feelings. But that’s not the only perk this activity can bring.
Today, fresh air is becoming a rare resource, meaning that, more than ever, we have to pay attention to our lungs and the signs they give us when something is not okay. It turns out that some of these signs are pretty easy to dismiss, but if you pay attention, they might help you stay healthy.
Everyone has mucus, and according to studies, it is very important for our bodies because it acts as a barrier for particles and contains enzymes and proteins that help to get rid of stuff in the air making you sick. But sometimes with coughing, we can find mucus to be yellow or green, or our body produces too much of it which may indicate a problem.
My name is Irina, I’m 37 years old, and I had been smoking for 20 years. My lungs were far from okay, my skin was pale, and I had other health issues. So 6 months ago, I decided to give up smoking once and for all and stop drinking too.
If you care about your health but don’t want to deprive yourself of life’s pleasures, then we have good news: there is a scientifically proven way out! Our world’s cleverest minds have found unordinary yet pleasant habits that can help a person stay both healthy and happy. They may even help you have a longer life!
The best yoga asanas you should do every day to improve your physical, mental, and spiritual health, include flexibility, fitness, balance, muscular strength, and spinal mobility. Here are a few basic but highly effective poses for beginner, intermediate, and advanced practitioners.
Our lungs serve as a natural filter that protects us from various infections and air pollution, which is why healthy lungs play a very important role in a happy life. Unfortunately, our respiratory system may suffer because of the harmful substances in the air that we breathe every single day. A dry cough, chest pain, and shortness of breath — all of these can be warning signs of serious lung diseases, such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, a pulmonary embolism, and many others. If you’ve recently noticed at least one of these signs, it’s best to take immediate action.
Advertising is not only the engine of trade. Professionals can turn it into a powerful instrument of information and enlightenment for society. Bright and well-thought-out images remain in the memory of people and make them think about important things.
If you look at your fingernails, you’ll notice light areas at the base. These are moons, or lunulae. Their change in color, shape, or size can indicate not only the presence of a disease but also the predisposition to it. Such diagnostics help you notice the problem in time and take action. Bright Side learned how to run diagnostics of your health with the help of lunulae.
We all know how important it is to monitor our health condition, yet few of us like going to doctors. Bright Side found a simple way to perform a health checkup without leaving your home.
Things we’re used to aren’t always as simple as they seem. Some of them are harmful, and others may be downright dangerous. Bright Side made a list of 11 ordinary things we do that can cause damage to our health, with us none the wiser. Take care!
We at Bright Side are positive that everyone is capable of building the body of their dreams. We have collected the most efficient yoga poses that will not only improve the shape of your breasts and the volume of your lungs, but also make you feel strong and healthy.
Did you know that the main cause of early death in the US are heart attacks? The stressful way of life and the junk food we keep eating is a great contributor for this illness becoming so common and so dangerous over the last years.
