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The Glymphatic System
Article:
Major finding in human anatomy has implications for many brain diseases, including Alzheimer’s
How Many Cells in the Human Body?
Article
You know that your body is made of cells - but just how many? Turns out that question isn’t all that easy to answer.
Muscles
Video - TED-Ed What makes muscles grow? - Jeffrey Siegel
We have over 600 muscles in our bodies that help bind us together, hold us up, and help us move. Your muscles also need your constant attention, because the way you treat them on a daily basis determines whether they will wither or grow. Jeffrey Siegel illustrates how a good mix of sleep, nutrition and exercise keep your muscles as big and strong as possible.
Brain Repair
Video - TED-Ed: Could your brain repair itself? - Ralitsa Petrova
Imagine the brain could reboot, updating its damaged cells with new, improved units. That may sound like science fiction — but it’s a potential reality scientists are investigating right now. Ralitsa Petrova details the science behind neurogenesis and explains how we might harness it to reverse diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Sleep
Video - TED-Ed: The benefits of a good night's sleep - Shai Marcu
It’s 4am, and the big test is in 8 hours. You’ve been studying for days, but you still don’t feel ready. Should you drink another cup of coffee and spend the next few hours cramming? Or should you go to sleep? Shai Marcu defends the latter option, showing how sleep restructures your brain in a way that’s crucial for how our memory works.
Your Body's Real Age
Video -
Do all of your cells get switched out for new ones every seven years or so? Does anything remain with you throughout your entire life?
Nervous System
Website - Neuroscience for Kids
Discover the exciting world of the brain, spinal cord, neurons and the senses. Use the experiments, activities and games to help you learn about the nervous system. There are also plenty of links to other web sites for you to explore.
Circulatory System
Video - How the heart actrually pumps blood / TED Ed
For most of history, scientists weren't quite sure why our hearts were beating or even what purpose they served. Eventually, we realized that these thumping organs serve the vital task of pumping clean blood throughout the body. But how? Edmond Hui investigates how it all works by taking a closer look at the heart's highly efficient ventricle system.
Lesson by Edmond Hui, Animation by Anton Bogaty
Respiratory System
Video - How breathing works / TED Ed
We breathe constantly, but have you ever thought about how breathing works? Discover the ins and outs of one of our most basic living functions-- from the science of respiration to how to control your breaths.
Lesson by Nirvair Kaur, Animation by Santiago Uceda
The Lungs
Video - How do the lungs work?
When you breathe, you transport oxygen to the body’s cells to keep them working, while also clearing your system of the carbon dioxide that this work generates. How do we accomplish this crucial and complex task without even thinking about it? Emma Bryce takes us into the lungs to investigate how they help keep us alive.
The Pancreas
Video - What does the Pancreas Do?
Beneath your ribs, you’ll find, among other things, the pancreas -- an organ that works a lot like a personal health coach. Emma Bryce explains how this organ controls your sugar levels and produces a special juice that releases the nutrients from your food to help keep you in the best possible shape.
The Liver
Video - What does the liver do?
There’s a factory inside you that weighs about 1.4 kilograms and runs for 24 hours a day. It’s your liver: the heaviest organ in your body, which simultaneously acts as a storehouse, a manufacturing hub, and a processing plant. Emma Bryce gives a crash course on the liver and how it helps keep us alive.
The Digestive System
Video
Across the planet, humans eat on average between 1 and 2.7 kilograms of food a day, and every last scrap makes its way through the digestive system. Comprised of ten organs covering nine meters, this is one of the most complicated systems in the body. Emma Bryce explains how the different parts of the digestive system work to transform your food into the nutrients and energy that keep you alive.
How the Food you Eat Affects your Gut
Video
The bacteria in our guts can break down food the body can’t digest, produce important nutrients, regulate the immune system, and protect against harmful germs. And while we can’t control all the factors that go into maintaining a healthy gut microbiome, we can manipulate the balance of our microbes by paying attention to what we eat.
How our microbes make us who we are
Video - TEd Talk by Rob Knight about microbes that live in the human body
Rob Knight is a pioneer in studying human microbes, the community of tiny single-cell organisms living inside our bodies that have a huge — and largely unexplored — role in our health. “The three pounds of microbes that you carry around with you might be more important than every single gene you carry around in your genome,” he says. Find out why.
