EnviroKids January 2019 Issue

The Human Body

Your Unique Computer

Your brain acts as the control centre for your entire body. Whatever you think, feel and perceive - it all happens in your brain, which is divided into sections known as lobes.

The human body works like a well-constructed machine. Each part has a function, and every part works together to make our body perform the best it can for our survival.

The parietal lobe is where we process infor- mation using our senses. Touch, temperature, pain and pressure are all processed in the parietal lobe.

The frontal lobe is the latest evolutionary development

Can you list the import- ant parts of the human body by writing the cor- responding letter on the body part in the diagram below?

in the brain of mam- mals. This is the part of the brain that is responsible for our personalities and our ability to communicate, solve problems, express emotions, retain memory and make decisions.

A. Liver B. Brain C. Artery D. Veins

The occipital lobe is the visual pro- cessing part of the brain in mammals (responsible for eyesight).

E. Kidneys F. Bladder G. Lymph Nodes H. Bones I. Stomach J. Heart K. Intestines L. Gallbladder

The heart is constantly at work. It circulates blood from the body through two pathways: the pulmonary circuit and the systemic cir- cuit. The pulmonary circuit is where deoxygenated blood (blood without oxygen) trav- els to the lungs via the right ventricle of the heart, and returns to the heart as oxy- genated blood (blood with oxygen in it). The systemic circuit is where oxygenated blood leaves the heart and goes to the rest of the body, supplying our cells with oxygen. Did you know? Your heart beats about 115 000 times a day, while pumping about 2 000 gallons of blood through your body!

The temporal lobe is responsible for our auditory perception (hearing). Here, the brain takes stimuli and processes it into meaningful information that we can understand.

Can you wrap your head around this brain maze? Copyright of the Brain Injury Society.

SENSE-ational

Human beings have five senses (sight, smell, touch, taste and hearing). These help us make sense of the outside world, by taking external stimuli and sending messages to our brain.

Touch Our skin is the largest organ in the human body. It protects our muscles and or- gans, and is filled with nerves that send signals to our brain every time we touch some- thing.

Hearing Did you know that if you cup your ear, you hear better? This is because you create a cave where sound is amplified. The smallest bone in the human body is called the stirrup and can be found in our ears.

Taste We are able to taste food because of our tongue and nose. Did you know that our tongue has over 2000 taste buds? There are four receptors on our tongues, which helps us determine flavour (bitter, sweet, salty and sour).

Smell Some noses are long and pointy, while others are wide and small. The nose is a defining feature on our faces, and is import- ant because it allows us to smell. Did you know, the nose continues to grow during our lifetime because it is mostly made of ever-growing cartilage?

Sight Just like the human fingerprint, the retina and iris inside our eyes are unique to each one of us. People who are blind use Braille to read (little bumps on paper that create words). A blind person runs their fingers over these pages to read.

The Art of The Human Form Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance artist who is most famous for his painting, the Mona Lisa. Some people don’t know that he had a fascination with the human form. He spent a lot of time studying the human body and sketching it to explore how various parts work together. During his time, few advances in anatomy had been made, but Leonardo was the first to draw the human spine with the correct curves, and his research through art contributed greatly to the study of anatomy. 22

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