A Symphony Of Magnificence: The Harmony Inside The Human Body
Why Is Your Body Special?
The human body is the most complex system ever created. The more we learn about it, the more appreciation we have for what a rich system it is.
— Bill Gates
I don’t even know where to start. It is incredible to know that while I am writing this, my brain is firing up thousands of neurons just so I can put these words together. And guess what? Your brain is doing the same thing right now, helping you read this!
Your body is a universe of its own, trillions of cells are functioning inside you right now and their sole purpose is to keep you alive, and you have no clue about it. Isn’t this remarkable?
From microscopic cell organelles to macroscopic organ systems, the human body showcases a masterpiece of design and engineering and the harmony between its systems is mind-blowing.
So we can start with the building block of the body; which is the cell. The cell is a mini factory-like structure and I am not exaggerating at all.
Just think about a factory that has a manager who gives orders, supervisors who watch how smoothly the work is going, and workers who are doing the work. This is exactly your typical cell.
What I want to do in this post is talk about everyday stuff that happens in our bodies that we take for granted.
This will be very simplified hopefully for all readers.
Breathing
You need energy to do anything you want, and this is also true of your cells.
Thousands of processes happen inside them every second, all of which need energy.
At the heart of cellular energy production lies the mitochondria, often called the cell's powerhouse.
Through a process called cellular respiration (Breathing), mitochondria convert nutrients from the food we eat into adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the molecule that fuels cellular activities.
But how does it happen?
Well, your cells are functioning normally using nutrients and oxygen to perform their relative functions and in the process, they consume this energy and produce by-products that can harm them if they stay too long inside.
One of these by-products is Carbon Dioxide.
This is where the blood comes in, almost all cells have their direct contact with blood vessels so the blood is like the transportation system inside the body.
Your heart pumps blood from the moment you are in your mother’s womb until you die. A 24/7 pumping machine. So your blood comes in contact with your cells all day long.
In this process, the blood takes the carbon dioxide from your cells and gives them nutrients (that it already has from the gastrointestinal system) and also gives them oxygen (that it already has from the respiratory system)
Then the blood goes back to the lungs to expel this carbon dioxide and take new oxygen and this is simply the process of gas exchange.
The blood comes in contact again with the cells to give them the new oxygen and nutrients and the cycle gets repeated again and again.
Just think that you take 20,000 breaths every day and this process entire process only takes 0.25 seconds to occur in the lungs, and you have no idea what is happening.
Vision:
The way that vision works is remarkable.
When you look around, light from your surroundings enters your eyes. This light is reflected off objects and travels through your cornea.
As the light enters your eye, it passes through the lens, which helps to focus the incoming image onto the retina. The lens adjusts its shape to ensure that the image is sharply focused on the retina, much like the lens of a camera focusing on the film.
Now, the magic happens in the retina, which is like the film in a camera. The retina contains millions of specialized cells called photoreceptors.
When light strikes the photoreceptors, they convert the light energy into electrical signals. These signals travel through the optic nerve to the brain.
Once in the brain, these electrical signals are processed by specialized neurons in the visual cortex.
As the brain processes these signals, it synthesizes them into a cohesive visual perception. This is when you become consciously aware of what you are seeing, allowing you to recognize objects, interpret scenes, and navigate your environment.
How fast is it?
Now you may think that all these steps take a lot of time, well you’re wrong. What is absolutely amazing is the speed by which all of this happens.
I will only mention two numbers just to show you how incredible this process really is.
When you look at something, you don’t even feel a lag or a delay in perception, it is instantaneous. So how fast is it exactly?
As we agreed, signals travel to the retina and into the brain for processing.
The speed of this transmission is 120 m/s
The distance between the retina and the visual part of your brain is 5–6 cm, so after doing the math, the transmission usually occurs in 0.0005 seconds.
Can you even imagine this number? Do you realize now why you don’t even feel it?
Imagine that if we took one second and divided it by 10,000, the transmission of the image information would only take 5 parts of these 10,000 to start processing. Unbelievable.
Urination:
The last thing I want to talk about is simply using the restroom.
When we feel the urge to urinate, we use the restroom, right?
Well yes, but every time that happens, I want you to remember the heroes inside your body that allowed you to do so effortlessly; The Kidneys
At the core of their function, kidneys act as the body’s ultimate filtration system.
Think about them as hard-working janitors, constantly sweeping through the bloodstream to remove waste products, excess fluids, and toxins.
This process transforms these unwanted substances into urine, which is then excreted from the body.
Think about this: your blood, which is 5–6 liters, is continuously filtered by your kidneys. Every day they filter 180 LITERS of blood (360 Small Bottles of Water)
All this volume is filtered by an organ that is the size of your FIST! Can you imagine?
Be Curious
As I said before, these three examples are presented in a very very humble way. The processes I mentioned are so much complicated that this oversimplification but I wanted to give you an idea about how greatly designed is the human body.
Do not take things for granted, be curious and ask about everything and you will find fascinating answers.
I hope you guys enjoyed this post and see you in the next one.
