Top Ten Really Interesting Things I Have Learned in Anatomy

 Actually the title should be Top 10 Interesting Things I Have Learned in Anatomy that Aren't Going to be On the Exam

Human Anatomy is kicking my butt, there is so much information and so many body parts it is ridiculous.  My first exam is Thursday, it was tonight, but thankfully the professor pushed it back a class period.  The exam is 104 questions plus 1 critical thinking essay (he will injure a body area and we have to explain body parts affected, i'm scared!). 104 questions that cover the anatomical body regions/cavities, the skin, the nervous system, cranial and spinal nerves, the cardiovascular system, including tons of arteries and veins to major areas of the body, the skeleton, and tonight we will cover joints.  So through 3 hours of lecture twice a  week I have learned some really interesting stuff so here's my top 10 really interesting things I have learned in Anatomy that probably won't be on the exam, but I have learned it and probably won't forget it:

10- that mammary glands are modified sweat glands, though they are very different knowing they are similar is kind of weird after nursing two kids

9- at age 40 you have completely ossified, basically it takes 40 years for your skeleton to be complete!

8- you are born with approximately 270 bones, by age 40 you have only 206 (bones fuse together and not just in the skull)

7- one nerve cell can be 2 meters long such as in a really tall basketball player where a nerve can run from their toe to their spinal cord

6- your spinal cord is the length of the vertebral column when you are a child, but it ends at lumbar vertebrae 1 as an adult and so nerves have to stretch to reach their origin openings once the spinal cord stops growing, I thought it was the length of the vertebral column

5- the hypoid bone is in the neck and isn't attached to any other bones, in a CSI situation if it is broken you were strangled

4-the fibula's purpose is to stabilize the ankle, it can be used a donor bone if needed and you can still walk/run fairly normally even it is removed (fibula is in the lower leg)

3- a doctor or health professional could identify the location of a spinal injury based on touching different areas the skin and a lack of touch and making it according to the dermatome would identify the area of injury, basically areas of the body are divided into dermatomes (regions of nerve sensitivity) and lack of sensitivity can pinpoint where damage to the spinal cord/vertebral column is, fascinating stuff

2- despite how complicated we are there are two options for body organs they either contract or secrete, seems so easy yet we are so complicated

1- that blood from organs in the abdominal cavity (mainly organs associated with digestion) gets filtered through the liver before it returns to the heart, the liver filters out toxins as everyone knows, but it also filters out excess glucose.  the liver is glucose storage for the brain, it stores about 12 hours of glucose so the brain will have glucose (food energy) for the fast of night or anytime we aren't eating, after 12 hours are body starts breaking down fats, never thought about how the body adapts to sleep/resting periods or times when food might not be consumed

So Anatomy is the one of the hardest classes I have taken, a lot of information really fast, and I haven't mentioned the worst part- cadavers, it has been three weeks and I am still uncomfortable and next week we begin dissection, this is only a 7 week class, almost halfway through, I think I can, I think I can.