Our Bodies: the Greatest Inventions on Earth

Have you ever packed and repacked a suitcase a thousand times to try to get everything fit?  This is why our human bodies amaze me, because they are the most efficiently-packed suitcases. They have 45 miles of pathways for our nerve impulses to travel to our brains and back and 12,000 miles of roadways  for our blood to travel from our lungs and back.  Not to mention over 200 bulky bones that not only help us stand tall but also protect all those squishy organs that help us breath and process our food.   And as tightly packed as they are, our bodies can still function at superhigh mode.  For instance, when we touch something, we send a message to our brain at 124 mph.  When we smile, we exercise at least 30 muscles.  And in every passing second, our bodies birth 2 million red blood cells and let  3 million cells die .  Unfathomable! We are indeed the greatest invention on Earth.

Kids have FUN experimenting with Anatomy at MudPies & Butterflies, a Village Parkday for Homeschooling families

Well at our MudPies & Butterflies Village parkday October 1, 2009 we explored some of our bodies’ amazing functions.  We touched upon two of the five senses.  We explored why we don’t fall down and how some bones actually help us hear.  We tested the neural roadmap that allows messages to travel to our brains.  And we even made Blood – the big winner for our kids ages 2 – 12!  Get ready for Anatomy Fun Part 1.

What are the Five senses? The kids erupted like volcanoes spewing forth answers, “eyes, ears, Touch, nose, sound, Hearing, tongue, Taste, fingertips, Sight, smelly, Smell!”  We are going to play around with two of those, but first, does anyone know how many bones are in your bodies? This became a game of too high, too low.  Eventually we landed on 206.  And does a newborn baby have more or less bones than you?  Kids always impress me.  A few of our 5 & 6 year olds (big sisters and brothers) like Kane, knew that babies had 4 pieces to their “headbone,” or skull, that left a soft spot on the top of the head until the bones grew together.  Yes, babies have a lot more bones than us at birth, because they haven’t all fused or glued together yet.  Something like 270 to our 206.

Tincan Telephones and cartilage, not bone in our Nose; Everyone go find a stick, the longer the better!

Do you know where the smallest bones in your body are located?  Not your toes or fingers.  No, not your nose.  (Yes, there is something hard in your nose, but it isn’t bone; it is cartilage.)    Yup, that’s right…Your EARS hold the three smallest bones in  your body.  And they work a little like this tin-can telephone we made.  While Jamie talks to me into the can, how is the sound traveling?  Yup, the string!  Sound travels through molecules (see our Atoms & Molecules blog) like those that  make this string.  And sound travels even faster in water.  Blue whales can send messages over 800 miles away.  Partially because sound travels so well in water. Where would sound not travel well?  Where in the world?  No…where in the Universe?  Yes, Outerspace, because there are very few molecules for it to travel on.  Now, for activities to better understand Sound and how our bones in our ears help us hear, everyone find a stick, the longer the better.

Kids take turns using their sticks to make sounds and vibrations on the table

Uncovering sound travel with musical vibration

Let’s take turns flipping the end of the stick while I secure the other end on the table with my hands.  What happens?  The stick is jumping up and down on the free end.  Do you hear  sound?  Let’s be quiet to hear the sound as the stick hits the table.  Okay, now everyone place your hand somewhere on this picnic table and feel for the VIBRATION while Benja flips the stick.  Did you FEEL  that sound? That is how sound travels into our ears, the vibrations are picked up in our ears  and the messages go to our brain. A little more specifically,  sound waves are caught by the size and shape of our ears.   Then the sound travels into our ear canal and vibrates our ear drum and depending on how loud or soft the sound is it vibrates bones in our inner ear and it goes into a shell shaped tube where it is detected by tiny hairs anchored to nerve cells that send the message quickfire to the brain.

It’s just like this Kalimba (click for beautiful song) or box harp whose design originated in Africa (It is called a Sanza in Zaire, Mbira in Zimbabwe, Obudongo or Likembe in Uganda and Chitata in Mozambique).  The sound gets louder in wooden instruments because of the all the space between the molecules of wood.  In that space or  air, the sounds have alot of space to bounce around – that bouncing of sound waves is a VIBRATION.  

Budding scientists and doctors help me Try to trick our Nerve cells

Ready for more?  Okay, what is your body’s largest organ?  Again they erupted with a long list, but Araya at age 12 already knew that our Skin is the largest organ.  Did you know your skin weighs more than your brain?  It is also waterproof, protects us from the sun, keeps our body parts from spilling out.  It even regulates our temperature which means it helps keep us warm or cool, depending on where we are.  Our skin holds the majority of our nerve cells (in skin).  That is how we feel things.  That is where a stimulus is registered.  So if I touch something hot, my nerve cell in my hand sends a speedy message to my brain that says “Whoa watch out, that is painful and hot!!!”

So let us all be scientists to investigate the nerve cells in our hands and see if we can trick them or not.

I am going to fill one can with ice and water, another with hot water from my thermos and a third with water that is luke warm.  And I need you to take turns (let’s stand in a line over here so everyone can see what is happening) by putting one hand on the ice water can and your other on the hot water can for at least 20 seconds.  More if you want.  Then place both your hands around the luke warm can.  Make all your scientific observations in your head, so you don’t give anything away to the scientist behind you in line. The luke warm cup felt different to each hand – they had tricked their nerves.  The hand that had previously held cold felt the center cup as hot water and the one that held the hot water can felt the center cup as really cool water.

Other Parents play Guinea Pig too.

We investigated another element of our skin, or the skin on our hands.  Our parent volunteer, Heidi donated her hand in the name of science and learning so that we could secure a plastic glove on her with a rubber band. We checked it intermittently over a half an hour to discover that water was accumulating on the inside of the bag.  Where did that water come from?  Did I pour a bit in before I wrapped a rubberband on her wrist?  Ooh, her skin.  Since it was getting warm, her skin known to regulate temperature, opened her pores, the holes in her skin to let cooling water escape her hand in hopes of cooling it down.  We call larger quantities of that water sweat.  And when it gets cold, our skin closes the gates of our pores to keep as much warmth in as possible.  Thanks Heidi!

And now who wants to help me make some BLOOD? The interest was overflowing!  First each scientist got a glass full of Plasma (water and yellow food color) and lets pour in some salt too.  Plasma makes up about 55% of our blood. And it is no coincidence that it is the same color as our Urine, because once our blood has done its job, it goes to the liver to get cleaned and what is left goes out our body as yellow pee.  Next we added cheerios and red food coloring, for this is the shape of our red blood cells.  Except they don’t have a hole all the way through them, just a big dent in the middle. (and if  you are wondering why is our blood red? You can check that out too.)

And why do we need so many, I mean our body makes 2 million every second?  That’s right, they carry oxygen all over the body.  Where do they pick up the oxygen? no, not the heart. Every body breath in deeply.  Our lungs holds the oxygen and it is there our red blood cells pick up fresh oxygen.  Then they take it to a different cell somewhere in our body.  Now we breath in Oxygen, but what do we exhale?  Or what gas do the trees breath in so they can breath out oxygen to make us happy when we stand near them?  Yes, Carbon Dioxide.  So, once our red blood cells drop off their load of oxygen they  picks up a bit of carbon dioxide and brings that back to our lungs and they start all over again.

Making Blood: Start w/ salty Plasma 54%, then Red Blood Cells 45%, White Blood Cells 1% and Platelets < 1%

So what else is in our blood?  White blood cells.  These tiny marshmallows will represent our blood’s white blood cells.  And what do they do?  Yes, Diego, that’s right, they eat up the bad bacteria in our bodies.  Now there are lots of good bacteria that help protect our skin or help digest foods in our stomachs, but the ones that make us sick get hunted down by our white blood cells.  And they also hunt down toxins.  I know you kids with organic food loving parents have heard that word before – toxin.  That is any of the chemicals or molecules that are harmful in our air, water or ground that we don’t want in our body, but some get in anyway.  Well, we have a defense against them and it is these marshmallows or white-blood cells.

And the last thing are platelets, these are what helps clot our blood when we get a cut.  With out them we would just bleed and bleed and never heal.  What do we call the thing that covers up our cut that our body makes? I think it is like  Nature’s own band-aid? Scabs! That is right.  And it’s all because of these platelets which are really clear not yellow-flower shapes.  So that is blood.  Your blood.

Sending blood back to from body parts of their choice.

Picking up Oxygen rich blood from the Lungs

Now, I want you to get in line behind me and when it is your turn pour your blood that just came from your lungs, so it is full of fresh oxygen and pour it through my funnel, big straw and lots of clear straws to an organ or part of your body that you choose.  Okay, where is your blood going?  Your brain.  Great, there it goes.  And yours, your TOE.

Okay, and now the rest of you, your blood is going to travel back through the capillaries, veins and arteries back to the lungs carrying the bad air or Carbon Dioxide.  Where did your blood just come from?  Your leg, your head, your heart, your finger and your Nose.  Wow!  Great job blood!
And if you thought we were done, well hold your horses or your eardrums or your capillaries, because after you come back from playing we will make our own Spinal Columns.

About an hour or so later…Everyone who wants more come get in a single row and put your arms on the person’s shoulders in front of you.  If your arms are bent – then you are too close.  Now everyone bend forward a little bit so your back looks like a cat with an arched back.  Feel the bumps that go down the middle of the person’s back in front of you.  Does anyone know what those are?  Yes our back bones.  Yes our Spine.  Each bone in our spine is called a VERTEBRA.  They start just below our skull and go all the way to our bums.  How many do you think we have?  A quick game of higher and lower gets us to 35.  Now how many do you think a Giraffe has?  A longer game of higher and lower gets us to…That’s right – 35. A giraffe has just as many as we do, only some of theirs are a bit bigger.

Supplies to make our very own Spinal Columns

What jobs does our Spine or Vertebrae fulfill?  They hold our body up otherwise I would fall down like this.  They are an anchor for our ribs, the bones that protect our heart and liver and lungs.  But they protect something very important – a powerful superhighway we couldn’t do anything with out.  Our Spinal Cord.  That is the Superhighway of our Nerves.  It’s the main road that all of our messages about pain, cold, heat, touch and more travel through to get to our Brain.  And there are holes in those bones so that the spinal chord and fluid in it is protected.

Let’s all make our own Spinal Column.  Some of the parents have cut up the toilet and paper towel rolls and punched holes into them so we can string them like beads on our Spinal cord our nerve superhighway. And for that I have strung together about 5 rubber bands into a chain.  And there are small discs cut from a blue styrofoam tray (came under vegetables from store) to string between each bone otherwise the vertebrae would just grind bone onto bone.  See the spinal column must be both flexible so we can bend our torsos sideways, backwards and forwards but also sturdy to protect our delicate spinal cord.

It is just one more very complicated, but ingenious part of the Greatest Invention on Earth…YOUR BODY!

“Science is a great game. It is inspiring and refreshing. The playing field is the universe itself.” Isidor Isaac Rabi (1898-1988) U. S. physicist. Nobel prize 1944.

“It’s like candy, but with blood. Which is so much better!”  Dr. Cristina Yang character on Grey’s Anatomy.

For places to experience your personal anatomy in LA:

Head to Toe at the Discovery Science Center Oct 3rd, 2009 through Jan 3, 2010. Also Tess, a 50-foot replica of the human body and its inner workings.

My Choice for Anatomy Book for MudPie Kids and Adults  is by Kate Barnes, How it Works: The Human Body