Skin is the largest organ of our body. It provides protection and thermoregulation. With the help of receptors in it, we have the opportunity to feel the world. We are "dressed" in the skin all life, but do not know about it much interesting.

The largest organ.

Skin is the largest organ of the human body. The average area of ??its surface is from 1.5 to 2 square meters. In different parts of the body, the skin has a different thickness and sensitivity. The thickest skin on the soles of the feet and palms, the thinnest - on the eyelids. At the same time, the sensitivity of the skin is not directly proportional to the thickness. So, on the fingers and palms of the skin, although thick enough, can feel pressure from 20 milligrams, which corresponds to the average weight of a fly.

Leather that is updated.

Human skin is constantly updated. This process is called regeneration. This is so: the new skin cells are formed in the embryonic layer of the epidermis, for about 28-30 days they move to the surface and lose the cell nucleus. On the surface, with the help of the keratin contained in them, they form a stratum corneum, which gradually peels off when washing, or in contact with clothing. Thus, the skin that we consider our own, is constantly updated. A month later, the composition of the human skin is completely changed. In newborns, the regeneration process, like many other processes (for example, metabolism) proceeds faster. "Skin change" in infants takes place for three days - 72 hours.

Goose pimples.

When we are cold, scared, or when we listen to good music, then on the body, as you know, there can be so-called goose bumps. This is a rudimentary reaction of the organism, which we received from our distant ancestors "bonus". Once she helped them warm up and made them more convincing in the eyes of the enemy. If necessary, tiny muscles throughout the body tense up and "lift the hair on end". With thick fur, this betrays a good thermal insulation. For modern man this skill is useless.

The story of the "golden boy".

Many people know the history of the "golden boy". In 1496, in the castle of Milan's Duke Lodovico Moro, a celebration took place, in which, as a symbol of the coming Golden Age, the audience was painted with a golden paint naked son of a baker. All would be nothing, but the presentation had to stop because of the illness of the Duke's wife. About the boy just forgot. He sat in the castle all night. In the morning he was found by Leonardo da Vinci, but he could not cure the baker's son, on the fourth day he died.

This story is sometimes told with such a conclusion: the boy died of the fact that his skin could not "breathe", so he died. However, it is already known today that "skin breathing" is not dominant in oxygen saturation of the body, and the boy died due to a violation of body thermoregulation, because of hypothermia, as the paint expanded the capillaries and they could not store heat. The conclusion: do not get too involved in body art.

Wrinkled fingers.

Everyone who at least once took a bath or just stayed in the water for a long time, paid attention to how the skin wrinkled on the fingers and toes. This phenomenon is directly related to the water permeability of our skin, which is provided by its outer layer. His cells are in contact with each other and have a layer of fat on the outer surface. If we stay in the water for a long time, the extracellular layer of fat becomes thinner, the water gets access to the skin cells and swells. Nothing is critical for health, this process does not represent itself.

Dust and albinos.

The well-known fact is that dust in the premises on 2/3 consists of the dead skin cells of the skin. Every minute our body loses up to 30,000 dead skin cells. For life, each person loses not less than one hundred kilograms of "old skin".

Millions of tons of dead horn cells of our epidermis leaves in the atmosphere. It is also interesting that the white skin of a man appeared not so long ago, about 20-50 thousand. years ago. This was due to the loss of a part of the pigment of melanin by people migrating to the North. But so far the percentage of people with white skin, devoid of melanin (albinism) is extremely low. Only one in 110,000 people is an albino.

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