Zany Things to Do With Your Body Quiz

Answer: they all remain in reclined positions

The secret to this trick is a system of balanced forces. When two forces of equal magnitude act on a body but in opposite direction they are called balanced forces.
Even though gravity is pulling the people down, each one is supported by the legs of the person behind them.

Answer: Pinocchio

When we lie about our feelings, a brain element called the insula (insular cortex) is activated. As part of the brain's reward system, the insula activates when, according researchers, we experience "real feelings." The insula is believed to control both emotion and body temperature. Researchers found a strong negative correlation between insula activity and temperature increase.

Answer: False

Since we all are members of the same species, the vast majority of humans have the same number of bones and joints. While it's true that some people have more flexibility in their joints than others, the expression "double-jointed" implies something that isn't true.

People with more than normal flexibility of their joints are considered to have hypermobility - which means their joints (and surrounding structures, including ligaments and tendons) are able to bend farther than "normal," or farther than average.

Answer: scratching your ear

Dr. Scott Schaffer, President of New Jersey's Advocare ENT Specialty Center, offers the following explanation, "When the nerves in the ear are stimulated, it creates a reflex in the throat that can cause a muscle spasm which relieves the tickle".

Answer: cough during the injection

Dr. Taras Usichenko from the Greifswald University Hospital in Germany authored a study of the phenomenon. The "trick" causes a sudden and temporary rise in pressure in the chest and spinal canal which in turn inhibits the pain-conducting structures of the spinal cord.

Answer: 2-5

A more rigorous kiss can raise the calorie burning meter even further. If you're breathing heavily then it indicates that you're burning more calories. While 2-5 calories might not be a lot, kissing is certainly more pleasant than running on the treadmill!

Answer: blowing on your thumb

The vagus nerve, which triggers speeding up and slowing down of our heart rates, can be controlled through breathing. A vagal maneuver such as blowing on the thumb as if it were a trumpet (without letting any air out while blowing, i.e holding your breath while straining) will restore the heart to normal rate.

Answer: wiggle your ears

The auriculares muscles are any of three muscles attached to the cartilage of the external ear that assist in moving the scalp and in some individuals the external ear itself.

At one time, thanks to those zany auriculares muscles, our ears were able to do some pretty incredible things! Some mammals can move their ears in different directions to pinpoint the locations of sounds. (Just watch your cat sometime.)

Our primate ancestors used to have directional control over their ears also, to aid in detection of possible enemies and predators but lost the need for directional hearing when they began to live in groups.

Answer: methane

The practice of igniting the gases produced by human flatulence, often producing a flame of a blue hue, (known as a "blue flame or "blue dart") has found its way into pop culture. In May 2000, a U.S. patent was issued for a toy, gas fired missile and launcher assembly that allows one's "colonic gases" to be stored and used later to "fire the missile into space".

Answer: your arms continue to raise by themselves

All the muscles in our bodies work in pairs called antagonistic pairs and are needed because muscle fiber can only contract. One muscle on one side of a joint pulls the bone one way and another muscle on the other side pulls it back in the opposite direction.

When you stand in the doorway and push you fatigue one of the of muscles and it adapts to being under pressure. When you walk forward the antagonistic muscle is ready to go. It hasn't had to adapt. The two sets are now out of balance so the antagonistic muscle starts to contract and up go your arms!