Biology

I've been studying the skeletal and integumentary (skin) systems in my advanced biology textbook. Right now, I can name pretty much all of the major bones of the body, only the major ones, mind you, but it's still a lot - including most of the bones making up the skull. All in all it's probably about thirty or forty bones.

I'm also learning about all the different types of skin and how it works. Did you know that the reason we have fingerprints is that the dermal papillae form ridges under the skin to allow more contact between blood vessels and the epidermis? Without fingerprints, our skin would be malnourished. Also, did you know that our hair follicles provide protection against scars from second degree burns? They hold extra epithelial cells deep within the dermis, so that if all of the epidermis is burned away, it can still grow back. The human body never ceases to amaze me.