Body oddities

12 creepy body facts your biology teacher definitely skipped

Image: CDC

The human body is a marvel of biology—but sometimes, it's downright disturbing. Did you know it’s possible to cry blood? Or that we have taste receptors in our stomachs? From mysterious functions to deeply unsettling facts, our bodies are full of creepy surprises hiding beneath the surface. Here are 12 weird but true insights into what’s really going on inside you.

Image: Kimia Zarifi

Unlike most body parts, ears (and noses) continue to grow as you age. It’s not just cartilage at work—gravity slowly stretches skin and tissue, making ears longer over time.

This process, sometimes called "gravity-induced elongation," only starts to become more noticeable after age 30. That’s why elderly people often seem to have larger ears, even if they were proportionate in youth.

Image: Sander Dalhuisen

Receptors similar to those on your tongue exist in your stomach and intestines. They don’t "taste" in the traditional sense, though, but detect chemical signals.

Thanks to these oddly placed "taste" receptors, our bodies help regulate digestion and appetite by detecting nutrients and potential toxins. They’re crucial for gut-brain communication and may even influence cravings.

Image: Ali Shoaee

Yes, you read that right. Your eyelashes are home to Demodex mites—tiny, spider-like creatures that feed on dead skin cells and oils around hair follicles.

It may sound like something out of a horror movie, but most people—especially adults—have them. These mites emerge at night, mate on your eyelids, and retreat by morning. They’re harmless, but still undeniably creepy.

Image: Ana Itonishvili

Your body emits a small amount of radiation due to naturally occurring elements like potassium-40 and carbon-14, which are present in body tissues.

While this natural radioactivity is harmless, it’s still measurable. A single human body can emit around 7,000 particles per second—enough to trigger some sensitive detectors.

Image: Chaozzy Lin

Called haemolacria, it’s a rare condition where blood mixes with tears. Its causes can include infections, injuries, tumors, or hormonal changes.

Though quite dramatic and certainly alarming, some cases are benign. It has been documented in both adults and children, and it is often linked to extreme stress.

Image: MJH SHIKDER

Even just walking through a room, you leave behind a cloud of genetic material—skin cells, saliva, and sweat—all rich in your DNA.

Sometimes called a "biological fingerprint," this material is enough to identify you. Law enforcement and forensic scientists can even recover DNA from air filters or dust!

Image: Robina Weermeijer

Some people are born with supernumerary organs—extra kidneys, spleens, or even, in extremely rare cases, hearts. These additional organs are often non-functional but can still be detected.

For example, an estimated 1 in 1,000 people has an extra spleen, often discovered by accident during unrelated scans or surgery.

Image: Anshita Nair

Lack of sleep triggers glial cells in the brain to break down and consume parts of synapses—literally "cleaning house" in an extreme way.

This self-cannibalization can lead to cognitive decline and has been linked to neurodegenerative diseases in chronic cases.

Image: Alessandro La Becca

Osteomas are benign bone tumors that can sometimes protrude through the skin, resembling small "horns." Most appear on the skull or jaw.

Though rare, some osteomas can grow several inches. Surgical removal is usually performed for cosmetic reasons unless the growth interferes with normal function.

Image: Ümit Yıldırım

The human mouth can harbor over 700 different types of bacteria—many more than you'd find on a toilet seat.

Most of these bacteria are harmless—and even essential for healthy bodily functions—but under poor hygiene or illness, they can cause infections, tooth decay, or even contribute to heart disease if they enter the bloodstream.

Image: Robina Weermeijer

In extremely rare cases, a type of tumor called a teratoma can develop in the lungs and contain hair, teeth, or even eye-like tissue.

Teratomas are usually benign but still quite bizarre. They form from germ cells and can grow almost any tissue type due to their stem cell origin.

Image: Harlie Raethel

Even the hardest bones in your body are porous like a sponge. Under a microscope, they reveal a honeycomb structure filled with blood vessels and bone marrow.

This structure makes bones both strong and lightweight. However, in conditions like osteoporosis, those holes widen, weakening the bone from the inside.

Evolving lexicon

10 English words that shifted their spelling over time

Image: Matt Riches

Just like a river constantly flows yet maintains its continuity, languages change and evolve over time. Words can shift in spelling, alter their meanings, or branch into entirely new concepts while retaining the essence that once defined them. Even in modern times, with dictionaries and education standardizing pronunciations and definitions, notable differences persist across generations and regions. From musick to fyr, here are ten fascinating examples of words whose spellings have transformed into what we recognize today.

Image: Clark Young

The word musick was standard until the late 17th century. Influenced by the shift to a more simplified orthography, the "k" had been dropped by the early 18th century. Influential writers like Samuel Johnson popularized these updates in dictionaries, ensuring their adoption.

The simplification also reflects a push to align English with the etymological roots of the word, which derive from the Latin musica (the art of music, which, interestingly, also included poetry), itself originating from Greek roots related to all the arts over which the Muses presided.

Image: Erik-Jan Leusink

Colour shifted to color in American English, thanks to Noah Webster’s spelling reforms in the early 19th century. Webster believed English should reflect American identity and reduce unnecessary letters.

His 1828 dictionary cemented spellings like color, while British English retained the original. He also simplified similar words like flavour to flavor, rumour to rumor, honour to honor, and many more.

Image: Kelly Sikkema

In Middle English, daughter was spelled doughter, echoing its Germanic roots and the Old English spelling dohtor. Over time, the spelling simplified as pronunciation became more standardized.

The "gh" sound, once pronounced like a guttural "ch," fell silent, leading to modern daughter. This was part of a broader trend where silent letters persisted in writing but disappeared from speech. By the 15th century, the modern spelling of daughter as well as the modern pronunciation became the norm.

Image: Mike Petrucci

Though today it’s just a fancy spelling of the word shop, often used to convey an old-fashioned or quaint feel, shoppe actually used to be the preferred spelling in Middle English.

The word originates from the Old English scoppa, which appears like a completely different word but was pronounced "shop-pah," not too far from the modern spelling and pronunciation. As the language evolved and shop became the dominant pronunciation, the silent "e" in shoppe was eventually phased out by the 17th century, as it no longer served a phonetic purpose.

Image: Sergei Solo

It is not surprising that a word pertaining to the very essence of change and transformation has itself changed so much throughout history. The Old English word for fire was fyr, related to the Old Norse word fūrr and the German feuer, all of which share roots with the Greek pŷr (as in the modern prefix pyro-, as in pyrotechnics or funeral pyre).

The Old English word evolved into the modern fire during the Middle English period, influenced by a process of major changes in vowel sounds, known as The Great Vowel Shift, which took place between the 15th and 17th centuries.

Image: Ivan Aleksic

Gaol is now an almost obsolete alternative spelling of jail, though their pronunciations are identical (both pronounced "jail"). Historically, gaol was derived from Anglo-Norman French, while jail originated in Old French.

The two words coexisted in English for centuries, but jail eventually became the preferred spelling in the 20th century. However, gaol is still considered a correct spelling and continues to be used in some countries, like Ireland and Australia, primarily in legal contexts.

Image: Nick Fewings

This is one of the rare cases where the trend of simplification in English words does not apply. Rime was the original Middle English spelling, derived from Old French rimer. The modern form of the word was introduced in the 16th century as an attempt to restore a classical spelling, based on a mistaken connection to the Greek word rhythmos.

However, despite their similarities, there is no direct relationship between these two words. The etymological link was later proven false, but the new spelling persisted.

Image: Tara Evans

Sometimes changes in spelling also involve a shift in meaning, though there is often a connection or thread linking both words. In the case of clew, which originally meant a ball of thread, the word eventually morphed into clue by the 16th century, taking the sense of a hint or guiding piece of information.

Moreover, this sense shift specifically referenced the ball of thread given by Ariadne to Theseus to guide him out of the Labyrinth in Greek mythology. Today, clew only survives in specialized contexts, such as nautical terminology.

Image: Annie Spratt

Just like shoppe or doughter, olde was once an older spelling of the modern word old (puns and redundancy unintended). However, this isn't entirely accurate—**olde** might just be a modern spelling designed to evoke nostalgia and a sense of antiquity.

While there are examples of olde used in place of old in the 15th and 16th centuries (not surprising, given that English was far from standardized at the time), it was not as common as those fancy-lettered "Ye Olde Shoppe" signs might lead you to believe. People simply knew that in earlier forms of English, many words resembled their modern counterparts but included an extra "e" at the end, which led to the spelling becoming popular as an alternative with an archaic feel.

Image: Matt Benson

The word knight underwent a significant transformation from its Old English form cniht, meaning a young man or servant. As English evolved, the word was influenced by French, particularly after the Norman Conquest, and the spelling shifted to knight.

The "k" was likely added due to the influence of French and its phonetic tendencies, despite the "k" being silent in the modern pronunciation. During the Hundred Years’ War, the word began to be used in a specific military sense and afterwards it gradually rose in importance, eventually becoming a rank in the nobility by the 16th century.