The structure and functioning of our sense organs. Amazing things about the senses. Skin and touch

Incredible facts

The main means by which we interact with the world around us are our senses. We can hear, see and smell with them. Their importance cannot be overestimated.

Interesting Facts:

• Ears are also organs balance.
• A favorable background for a person ranges from 45-50 decibels (corresponding to a quiet conversation). According to acousticians, everything above this background is already called noise load and contributes to weakened immunity person.
• U 30% Children are diagnosed with hearing problems, which may result in poor performance at school. This is why doctors insist on hearing tests for infants.
• Loud sounds that affect a person for a long time can deprive one of hearing.
• Men have worse hearing than women.

Famous facts about human vision

Near two-thirds The human race has poor eyesight. The quality of a person's vision deteriorates as they age.

Interesting Facts:

• “Carrots are good for the eyes,” we have heard since childhood. Indeed, vitamin A, which carrots are rich in, is good for health. However no direct connection between the carrot and the eyes.
• Most children born have blue-gray eyes. The eyes acquire their true color only after two years.
• Green is the rarest eye color in humans. Only 2% people on earth have green eyes.
• All people with blue eyes can be considered relatives. The mutation of blue eyes arose about 6,000-10,000 years ago, approximately in the area where modern the city of Odessa.
• In 1% of people, the irises of the left and right eyes are different in color.
• Theoretically, the human eye can distinguish 10 million colors and about 500 shades of gray.
• The pattern of the iris of the eye is individual for each person.

Aristotle defined the traditional classification of sense organs back in 300 BC, and Kant later developed his idea of ​​modes of perception. Much has changed since then, and modern scientists have discovered a whole arsenal of new organs in animals and discovered unknown functions of systems in humans.

Let's take a closer look sense organs: interesting facts and entertaining oddities about the sense organs of humans and animals.

Sense organs: interesting facts

As adaptations to various forms of life, animals not only developed new sense organs, but also the systems we are familiar with changed greatly.

Smell

Among the interesting facts about the senses, the most famous legend is amazing sensitivity sharks. Contrary to stories, a small cut will not cause sharks to respond to the “call of blood.” However, these predators have a very acute sense of smell. Their secret is that, unlike people, sharks have specialized organs that are responsible for this feeling. They do not participate in breathing, and therefore are more sensitive: a predator will recognize a drop of blood in 100 liters of water and will be able to find its way to it within half a kilometer. And this is not so much on the scale of the entire ocean.

Touching a white shark

But if the predator was an albatross, people might not even have a chance. This bird is so sensitive to odors that, while in the air, it can change course, sensing a school of fish 20 km away.

But the snake’s frightening protruding tongue does not pose any danger; the reptile does not even want to tease you. By inserting it into a special hole between its teeth, the snake recognizes odors at close range. The tongue picks up chemical molecules. On the upper surface of the mouth there are special dimples, shaped to match the forked tip. This is how molecules transmit information to the sensory center - the Jacobson organ - which humans also have.

Do not miss! Interesting facts about man: the secrets of our body

Taste

Interesting fact: butterflies have sensory organs on their legs. They can afford it, spending their whole lives on flowers. Without damaging the epidermis, butterflies need to distinguish poisonous plants from edible ones, on which they must lay larvae so that the caterpillar has something to eat. The difference between such a decision: dinner or death.

But it is unlikely that anyone will be able to compare the sense of taste with the yellow catfish - it is all one big tongue. The body of the fish is covered with hundreds of thousands of taste buds from head to tail. This helps him find food at night and in muddy water: after all, all his food is what he digs up in the mud.

Unusual sense organs

One of the most mysterious feelings is interaction with the Earth's magnetic field. U bees- in the abdomen, in butterflies- in the head, in pigeons- magnetite crystals are located in the beak, with the help of which animals sense changes in the magnetic field, which they use for navigation.

In the beak platypus there are cells that perceive the electric fields produced by the bodies of his victims. When the platypus dives for invertebrates, its ears, nostrils and eyes are closed. He uses only electrical sense to find victims.

Human sense organs: interesting facts

Interesting fact: humans have sense organs, which he doesn't even know about. Blood vessels contain receptors that monitor the level of oxygen in the blood. They also warn the body about increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide, giving the body the command to exhale and inhale. To prevent damage to the lungs by excessive stretching, they contain sensitive cells that control air filling.

Mysterious trigger zone chemoreceptors are responsible for gagging. If the functioning of this system is disrupted, regular uncontrolled bouts of vomiting begin or, conversely, a complete loss of the ability to urgently empty the stomach.

Thanks to their senses, people can interact with the world around them. Many facts about the human senses remain unknown, but many of them have been studied by modern scientists. People even have sense organs that no one knows about.

40 facts about eyes (vision)

1. Brown eyes are actually blue, but this is not visible due to the presence of brown pigment in them.

2.With open eyes a person will not be able to sneeze.

3. When a person looks at the one he loves, his pupils dilate by 45%.

4.Eyes can only see 3 colors: green, red and blue.

5. Almost 95% of animals have eyes.

6.The muscles that control the eyes are the most active in the human body.

7.A person sees approximately 24 million images throughout his life.

8.Human eyes are capable of processing approximately 36,000 pieces of information per hour.

9.A person's eyes blink approximately 17 times per minute.

10. A person sees not with his eyes, but with his brain. This is why vision problems are associated with brain activity.

11. There is no blind spot in the eyes of an octopus.

12.If the person in the photo sees only one eye red during the flash, then he may have a tumor.

13.Johnny Depp is blind in one eye.

14.Bees have hairs in their eyes.

15. Most cats with blue eyes are considered deaf.

16.Many predators sleep with one eye open in order to hunt game.

17. About 80% of information received from the outside passes through the eyes.

18.In strong daylight or cold, the shade of a person's eyes changes.

19. A resident of Brazil could protrude his eyes 10 mm.

20.About 6 eye muscles help turn a person’s eyes.

21.The lens of the eye is much faster than a photographic lens.

22.Eyes are considered fully formed at the age of 7.

23. The cornea is the only part of the human body that is not supplied with oxygen.

24.The corneas of human and shark eyes are very similar.

25.The eyes do not grow; they remain the same size as at birth.

26. There are people whose eyes are different colors.

27.The eyes load the brain with work more than other sense organs.

28. Cosmetics cause the greatest harm to the eyes.

29.The rarest eye color is green.

30. Representatives of the fairer sex blink 2 times more often than men.

31.The eyes of a whale weigh no more than 1 kilogram, but their vision is poor even at a distance.

32.Human eyes are not able to freeze; this occurs due to the lack of nerve endings.

33. All newborns have gray-blue eyes.

34. In about 60-80 minutes, the eyes are able to get used to the dark.

35.Colorblindness affects males more than females.

36. Pigeons have the highest viewing angle.

37.People who have blue eyes see better in the dark than those who have brown eyes.

38.A human eye weighs about 8 grams.

39. It is impossible to transplant eyes because it is impossible to separate the optic nerve from the brain.

40.Only humans have whites of the eyes.

25 facts about ears (hearing)

1. Men are more likely to lose their hearing than women.

2.Ears are a self-cleaning human organ.

3. The sound that a person hears when he puts a shell to his ear is the sound of blood running through the veins.

4.Ears play an important role in maintaining balance.

5. Children have more sensitive hearing than adults.

6. At birth, the child is able to hear the lowest sound.

7.Ears are an organ that can grow throughout life.

8.If a person eats a lot, his hearing may deteriorate.

9. Even when a person falls asleep, his ears work, and he hears everything well.

11.The main cause of hearing loss is frequent noise.

12.Elephants can hear not only with their ears, but also with their legs and trunk.

13.Each human ear hears sounds differently.

14.Giraffes clean their ears with their tongue.

15. Crickets and grasshoppers hear not with their ears, but with their paws.

16. A person is able to distinguish between approximately 3-4 thousand sounds of different frequencies.

17.About 25,000 cells are found in human ears.

18. The sound of a child crying is louder than a car horn.

20. Every 10th person in the world has poor hearing.

21. The eardrum in frogs is located behind the eyes.

22. A deaf person can have a good ear for music.

23. The roar that tigers make can be heard from a distance of 3 kilometers.

24.If you wear headphones frequently, the phenomenon of “ear congestion” may occur.

25.Beethoven was deaf.

25 facts about tongue (taste)

1.Language is the most flexible part of a person.

2. The tongue is the only organ of the human body that is capable of distinguishing tastes.

3.Each person's language is unique.

4. People who smoke cigarettes have poor taste.

5. The tongue is that muscle of the human body that is not attached on both sides.

6.There are approximately 5,000 taste buds on the human tongue.

7.The first human tongue transplant was performed in 2003.

8. The human tongue distinguishes only 4 tastes.

9.The tongue consists of 16 muscles, and therefore this sensory organ is considered the weakest.

10.The fingerprint of each language is considered unique, just like a fingerprint.

11. Girls distinguish sweet taste better than boys.

12. Newborns suck breast milk using their tongue.

13.The organ of taste affects human digestion.

14.Anaerobic bacteria live on the human tongue.

15.The tongue heals much faster than other organs.

16.The tongue is the most mobile muscle in the body of every person.

17. Some people are able to roll up their own tongue. This is due to differences in the structure of this organ.

18. At the tip of the woodpecker’s tongue there are horny spines, which help him reach the larvae hidden in the wood.

19. The taste buds that are on the human tongue live for about 7-10 days, after which they die and are replaced by new ones.

20.The taste of food is determined not only by the mouth, but also by the nose.

21.Good taste abilities begin to develop even before birth.

22.Each person has a different number of taste buds.

23.The desire to try something sweet may indicate a lack of self-control.

24.The more papillae there are on the tongue, the less often a person experiences hunger.

25.You can tell about a person’s health by the color of the tongue.

40 facts about the nose (sense of smell)

1.There are approximately 11 million olfactory cells in the human nose.

2. Scientists have identified 14 shapes of human noses.

3.The nose is considered the most protruding part of a person.

4. The shape of the human nose is fully formed only by the age of 10.

5.The nose grows throughout life, but this happens at a slow pace.

6. Despite the fact that the nose is receptive, it cannot smell natural gas.

7. In newborns, the sense of smell is much more developed than in adults.

8.Only three out of ten people are able to dilate their nostrils.

9. People who have lost their sense of smell will also lose their sexual desire.

10.Each of the human nostrils perceives odors in its own way: the left one evaluates them, the right one selects the most pleasant of them.

11. In ancient times, only leaders had a nose with a hump.

12.Familiar smells that you once smelled can renew past memories.

13. It is assumed that women who find their man's face attractive smell better than other females.

14.The sense of smell is what will be the first to deteriorate with age.

15. In the first year of life of newborns, the acuity of smell is lost by 50%.

16.You can tell a person’s age by the tip of the nose, because it is in this place that elastin and collagen proteins break down.

17. The human nose is simply unable to distinguish some odors.

18.Before mummifying an Egyptian, his brain was pulled out through his nostrils.

19.There is an area around the human nose that releases pheromones that attract the opposite sex.

20. At a given moment in time, a person can breathe only through one nostril.

21.People often insure their nose.

22.Approximately half a liter of mucus is produced daily in the nose of every healthy person.

23.The nose can work like a pump: pump from 6 to 10 liters of air.

24.About 50 thousand smells are remembered by the human nose.

25.About 50% of people don't like their nose.

26.Slugs have 4 noses.

27.Every nose has a “favorite” smell.

28.The nose is closely connected with the center of emotions and memory.

29. Throughout life, the human nose changes.

30. It is the nose that influences the manifestation of sensuality.

31.The nose is the human organ that is least studied.

32. Pleasant smells relax the human nervous system, while unpleasant smells cause antipathy.

33.Smell is the most ancient sense.

34. Smells can be used to diagnose autism.

36.Smell is an irresistible element.

37. It is very difficult to control a person’s sense of smell.

38.About 230 million olfactory cells are found in a dog's nose. In the human olfactory organ there are only 10 million such cells.

39. There are abnormalities of smell.

40.Dogs can often search for the same scent.

30 facts about skin (touch).

1. Human skin contains an enzyme - melanin, which is responsible for its color.

2.On the skin under a microscope you can see about a million cells.

3.Round wounds on human skin take longer to heal.

4. From 20 to 100 moles can be on human skin.

5.Skin is the largest organ of the human body.

6.Women's skin is much thinner than men's.

7.Insects most often bite the skin of the feet.

8.Skin smoothness can be determined by the amount of collagen.

9. Human skin consists of 3 layers.

10. In approximately 26-30 days, an adult’s skin is completely renewed. If we talk about newborn children, their skin renews itself in 72 hours.

11.Human skin is capable of producing antibacterial chemicals that prevent the growth of germs.

12. Africans and Europeans have many more sweat glands on their skin than Asians.

13. Throughout a person’s life, they shed approximately 18 kilograms of skin.

14.More than 1 liter of sweat per day is produced by human skin.

15.The feet have the thickest skin.

16.Approximately 70% of human skin is water, and 30% is protein.

17. Freckles on a person’s skin can appear in adolescence and disappear by the age of 30.

18.When stretched, human skin resists.

19. There are approximately 150 nerve endings on human skin.

20.Dust in the room occurs due to keratinization of the skin.

21.The thickness of a baby’s skin is 1 millimeter.

22.When carrying a child, a woman’s skin becomes more sensitive to the sun’s rays, which can cause burns.

23.The science that studies the sense of touch is called haptics.

24. There were cases when a person created works of art using the sense of touch.

25.A person’s heart rate will slow down slightly if you touch their hands.

The human body is a complex mechanism. Each organ performs its own function. Thanks to the so-called sense organs, we see, hear, taste and smell, and touch objects. With the help of our eyes, ears, mouth, nose and skin, we have a complete understanding of the world around us. Let us recall various interesting facts about the human senses. A lot of interesting things can be said about the human senses, so for convenience we structure the information into sections.

Facts about eyes and vision

With the help of our eyes we see the world around us. It has been established that thanks to vision, a person receives up to 80% of all information processed by the brain. What do we know about the work of these sense organs?

• The muscles that control the eyes are the most active in the human body.
• With open eyes a person will not be able to sneeze.
• We blink approximately 17-25 times per minute.

• As for children, it is believed that the eyes are fully formed by the age of 7.
• About the structure of the eyes: the cornea is the only part of the human body that is not supplied with oxygen. And the eyes cannot freeze, because... they have no nerve endings.
• There are people who have eyes of different colors. This is about 1% of the world's population.
• The eyes, more than other sense organs, keep the brain busy.

• The rarest eye color is green. On Earth, only 2% of people have green eyes.
• Approximately 2/3 of the entire population of the Earth cannot boast of excellent vision, and it has also been found that approximately 1/3 of all people cannot perfectly see objects at a distance of more than 6-7 m.
• Women have better lateral (peripheral) vision than men.
• Each person's iris is unique and can therefore be used for identification.

Facts about ears and hearing

“He who has ears, let him hear...” With the help of hearing, a person can freely communicate in society, perceive sound information and simply enjoy the sounds of nature or a favorite melody. Many interesting facts are also known about the structure and functioning of such a sense organ as the ears.

• When we put a large shell to our ear, we hear not the “sound of the sea,” but the sound of our own blood running through our veins.

• Ears can grow throughout a person's life.
• Even when we sleep, our ears work.
• Our ear can distinguish approximately 3000-4000 sounds of different frequencies.

• After a heavy meal, hearing deteriorates slightly.
• The ears are also organs of balance.
• A favorable sound background for a person is up to 50 decibels (analogous to a quiet conversation), all sounds louder than 50 dB are already a noise load and can weaken the immune system.
• The most sensitive hearing is in childhood. Children hear in the range from 20 to 20,000 Hertz, and adults only up to 15,000 Hertz.

Facts about tongue and taste

The human tongue is not only a part of the digestive system that helps chew food, but also an important part of the speech system. Without language we would not be able to speak. So, what interesting facts do we know about language as a sense organ?

• The tongue is the most flexible part of the human body.
• This is the only organ capable of distinguishing tastes.
• There are about 5,000 taste buds on the surface of the tongue.

• About the structure: the tongue consists of only 16 muscles and is considered one of the weakest organs.
• The imprint of each tongue is unique, just like fingerprints.
• Some people can curl their tongue into a tube.
• The color of the tongue helps the doctor determine the patient's health status.

Facts about the nose and sense of smell

In addition to various facts, there are many popular sayings about the nose: “The curious Varvara’s nose was torn off at the market,” “Don’t stick your nose into other people’s affairs,” “Your nose turns up, but the wind is blowing in your head,” etc. But here’s what we can say about the nose as a human sensory organ.

• There are about 11 million olfactory cells in the nose.
• The shape of the nose is fully formed only by the age of 10.
• The nose grows throughout life, although very slowly.

• The taste of food is determined not only by the mouth, but also by the nose.
• It has been observed that familiar smells that were once experienced can trigger memories.
• If necessary, a person can breathe through only one nostril.
• Pleasant smells relax the human nervous system.

• It is believed that women have a better sense of smell than men.
• 2% of people on Earth have no sense of smell.
• To say about a person that he “has a dog’s sense of smell” is not entirely true - the human nose is capable of remembering about 50,000 odors, while a dog’s nose is millions of times more sensitive.

Facts about skin and touch

It has long been a known fact that the skin is the largest organ of the human body. Its area is on average 1.5 square meters. m (depending on height and build), and the total weight is 2-3 kg. The skin not only warms or cools our body at the right time, but also protects it from damage, saturates the blood with oxygen and releases carbon dioxide. In addition, the skin is an important sensory organ with which we perceive everything around us. Let's read the facts about skin.

• The enzyme melanin is responsible for skin color. The more it is produced, the darker the skin.
• People with a complete absence of melanin are called albinos.
• Up to 80-100 moles can be found on the human body.

• Insects most often bite the skin of the feet.
• The skin consists of three layers: epidermis, dermis and subcutaneous fat (hypodermis).
• About once a month, the top layer of skin is completely renewed.
• The thickest layer of skin is on the feet.

• The thinnest skin is on the eyelids and in the eardrum.
• About 500-600 ml of water is excreted through the skin daily.
• Dust in the room also occurs due to keratinization of the skin.
• The sense of touch is the first to appear in humans and the last to be lost.

Our senses help us live every day. When all organs work smoothly, we see, hear and feel everything. If at least one of the organs begins to fail, a person’s life becomes noticeably more difficult, not to mention the complete loss of any ability. Therefore, it is worth taking care of each of the senses in order to live fully.

The human senses are the five functions of the body that allow us to perceive the world around us and respond in the most appropriate way. The eyes are responsible for vision, the ears are for hearing, the nose is for smell, the tongue is for taste, and the skin is for touch. Thanks to them, we receive information about the world around us, which is then analyzed and interpreted by the brain. Usually our reaction is aimed at prolonging pleasant sensations or ending unpleasant ones.

Interesting facts about the human senses.

People receive information about the surrounding space using six senses: ears, eyes, skin, tongue, nose and vestibular system. The data received by each of them enters the nervous system.

More than half of the world's inhabitants have diseases associated with the organs of vision.

It is believed that overeating negatively affects hearing.

People feel the taste of solid food only after it interacts with saliva.

Women distinguish shades of odors better than men. In addition, the fair half of humanity hears much better than their defenders.

Approximately 2% of the world's population has no sense of smell.

Human memory is capable of storing memories of approximately 50 thousand aromas.

Loud noise provokes dilation of the pupils.

Each person has his own, unique smell - based on it, babies unmistakably identify their mother, and adults can find a suitable partner for them.

Dogs' sense of smell is almost a million times stronger than that of humans.

The ears are not only an organ of hearing, but also an important element of the vestibular system - simply, they help a person maintain balance.

A noise level of 45-50 decibels is considered favorable for human hearing - at this volume calm conversations are conducted. Any sounds above this limit negatively affect the human body, including the immune system.

The popular belief about the benefits of carrots for vision is not entirely true - orange fruits do contain a lot of vitamin A, which is beneficial for the eyes, but eating carrots and excellent vision are not directly related.

Most children are born with gray-blue eyes, which only after 2 years acquire their true shade.

The rarest eye color in humans is green (only 2% of the world's inhabitants are green-eyed).

All blue-eyed people descended from one ancestor, in whose body a mutated gene arose about 6,000 years ago.

About 1% of people have a different iris color in each eye.

Human eyes can distinguish up to 10 million color variations.

Perfume that a person cannot smell is considered ideal for a person.

The pattern of each person's iris is no less unique than fingerprints or the shape of the ears.

The human brain takes time to process signals from the senses, so everything that people feel at a certain moment actually refers to a previous moment in their life. The perception delay is about 100 milliseconds, but the brain somehow manages to compensate for it - the essence of this mechanism is not yet clear to scientists.

Signals from different senses enter the brain at different speeds, so that the brain then creates a single picture from them.

Frightening events are sometimes perceived by people as if they were in slow motion, when in fact frightening events are simply recorded in more detail by the brain.

People who are blind from birth and only become sighted at a conscious age can perceive many things with distortion - since their brain does not know how to manage information that is unusual for it, former blind people see people moving away from them as figures decreasing in size.

If you spend some time wearing glasses that turn space upside down, the brain adapts to this image. When a person takes off his glasses, the world will seem upside down for some time.