A: Hey, I’m reading this really interesting article about the human body.
B: Yeah? Well, we know all about that from biology lessons.
A: No, we didn’t learn much at all at school! They’re discovering loads more things all the time. Really amazing things! Did you know that only about one tenth of the cells in your body are really you? The rest are bacteria.
B: What? I’m not really me?
A: No, of course you are you, but you also have millions, or trillions, of bacteria in you.
B: Eeeeuuugh!
A: No, they’re mostly really helpful. Someone did an experiment to see if animals can live without bacteria, and he found that a lot of them died or had to have a special diet. Animals need bacteria to digest food, you see. So we’re better off with bacteria.
B: Unless the bacteria are bad.
A: Unless they are bad, but they’re nearly all good. Oh yeah, and going back to cells, do you know how many cells you have in your body?
B: Quite a lot, I’d say. A good few.
A: Yeah, but how many?
B: I don’t know. I’m not mathematical.
A: 7 octillion! That’s 7 plus 27 noughts.
B: I knew it was a lot.
A: OK, that’s an amazingly huge number, almost impossible to imagine. But the really weird thing is that most of the atoms are empty space, just air or nothingness. And if you took out the empty space, you could fit your body inside a tiny cube which measures one 500th of a centimetre on either side. That’s a box measuring 0.002 of a centimetre on each side. You’d be much too small to see.
B: Mmm, I can imagine that. It sounds like something that would happen in a really bad Hollywood movie. You know, a mad scientist goes: (funny voice) ‘I’m going to extract all the air from your body’. OK, enough facts for one day.
A: Don’t go! One last thing, did you know …
B: No.
A: Did you know that you probably have mites in your eyelashes?
B: Mites in my eyelashes? What are mites exactly anyway?
A: Yeah, they’re very small creatures, like insects, only not insects. They’re about a third of a millimetre long, so you can’t really see them. These particular mites live in eyelashes and eyebrows.
B: But in mine?
A: Well, maybe not. Only about 50% of people have them, and more older people. So you might not have any. Anyway, they’re completely harmless, they just eat dead skin.
B: Yeah, right, harmless. I really would have preferred not to know that.
A: Sorry.
B: I mean, really!
Comments
I don't know anything about the human body because I haven't studied biology yet. : <
human body have total 206 bones,our heart beats 72 times in a minute.
this is kind of similar to biology class honestly it has more facts
One interesting fact about human body is that our brain generates electricity that can easily light a small light bulb .
When we are awake our brain generates electricity in the amount of 15-25 watts.
I'm a biology student but the amazing facts about human body is our artery can round the world.
It was interesting to listen to the dialog. I knew some facts but it always interesting to find out in foreign language and remind to myself what a wonderful creatures we are - humans. And whitch secrets keeps our body. I think scientists will open a huge of abilities of human's organizm in the future!)
I never heard this fact before, thanks BBC :) Oh ya, in my opinion the most amazing facts is all about the universe, stars, and galaxies. How about you?
Really impressive it is too hard study because i am understand basic english its helpful for me and a lot of learning thanks
Our body can almost take care of every sickness we get for instance if we get a cold we don't neceserey need to treat it, usually our body will treat the disease.
video is not playing nor the download link is working.
Hi ali,
There isn't a video on this page - just audio to help you practise your listening.
Have you tried right clicking on the word 'download'? I've just checked it and it works fine for me, so I think the problem must be a local one on your computer.
Can you try on another computer or device, or try a different browser? You can also try to 'clear the cache' on your browser then try again.
I hope that helps!
Best wishes,
Jo (LearnEnglish Teens Team)
oh, you know, amazing information. Never hear it before...thanks :)
I didn'n know interesting facts about human body, but now I know that.
I'm interested in the differences between nought and zero. Could you tell me when we should use 'nought' and when we should use 'zero' please?
Intestinum is the second brain of a human body because it controls immune systems.
i think no. i know biology very badly
Unfortunately, I don't know any interesting facts about the human body...
nothing that I find interesting
I read something about atoms.They are formed nucleus and electron. Nucleus is divided proton and neutron. Proton and neutron are consist of quarks and electron is consist of leptons...
It's very hard to understand these words because i'm really bad Biology
I can not download the mp3 , and also it is not plalying
Hi medo77. Thanks for reporting the problem. I've just tried it, and the mp3 plays ok for me. Downloading also works ok. Perhaps there was a temporary problem but it seems to be working again now.
Could you try it again and let us know if it still doesn't work? You can also try using a different web browser - sometimes that fixes the problem.
Jonathan (LearnEnglish Teens Team)
I don't know especially about human body but i can google it. I know only that we have huge number of bacteria in our body. This count is impossible to imagine. Of course it's not good but in some animals bacteria are ok because of digest food.
My name is Izaro. I am named after an island on the Basque Coast. It is a very beautiful special place. I think I am lucky to have my name.
I had some idea about bacteria and their function in our body, for example the drugs in the laboratory are made of bacteria for attack sickness
omg I understand 50\50.
That's why antibiotics are danger, though. They've saved millions lives already.
I don't know anything about human body because I haven't studied biology yet.
Seriously I got it all correct without even listening to the audio. I mean we already learned this in biology.
Did you know that 75 percent of your body is made up of water, but did you know that 80 percent of your brain is also water?
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