FUN FACT: Why are many babies born with blue eyes?

Many babies are born with blue eyes, which may later change their color. The colored part of a person’s eye is called the iris, and it is this part that controls the amount of light that is allowed to enter the eye. A baby’s eyes are often blue because they contain only a small amount of pigment, called melanin. Melanin is a brown pigment molecule – the more melanin that is produced in the eyes, the darker they will be. Melanin production generally increases during the first year of a baby’s life, often leading to a deepening of the eye color. At around one year old, our eye color has usually settled on the color we retain throughout our lives, but there are some cases in which eye color can change throughout adulthood.

For more, check out Why You Shouldn’t Eat Your Boogers & Other useless or Gross Information About Your Body by Francesca Gould

FUN FACT: Did Iron Age men use hair gel?

In 2003, well-preserved human remains were discovered in peat bogs in central Ireland.  These Iron Age men had lived more than 2,000 years ago and were thought to have been wealthy individuals, as it was evident that they did not carry out manual work.  Their nails and hair were so well preserved that scientists were able to observe that one of the men had manicured nails and the other wore hair gel! The gel was made of vegetable oil mixed with resin from pine trees and was thought to have been imported from France.

For more, check out Why You Shouldn’t Eat Your Boogers & Other useless or Gross Information About Your Body by Francesca Gould

FUN FACT: Where do collagen injections come from?

There are various forms of collagen, some of which can be used to help smooth wrinkles or plump up our lips. Bovine collagen is extracted from the skin of dead cows, sterilized and turned into a liquid. It can be injected into a person’s lips to enlarge them, or injected under wrinkles to fill them out. However, bovine collagen will eventually be absorbed into the body, which is why the effect only lasts about three months.

It is not only the skin of dead cows that can be used to help plump up out lips. The filler alloderm is derived from the skin of actual dead people and can be used to create fuller lips. It is made up of thin sheets of freeze-dried human collagen that can be rolled and placed through tiny incisions to full one lip or both. It is specially treated to reduce the risk of rejection by the body, and to ensure that it is free from disease. Alloderm has been successfully used for sometime in the treatment of burns. It is also used in penis enlargement treatment, which involves several layers of alloderm strips being placed around the penis shaft to make it thicker.

Still curious about the human body? Check out Why You Shouldn’t Eat Your Boogers & Other useless or Gross Information About Your Body by Francesca Gould

FUN FACT: Are there health benefits to having red hair?

Scientists believe that redheads are able to fight off certain debilitating and potentially fatal illnesses more effectively than blondes or brunettes. The reason for this is that pale complexions allow more sunlight into the skin. As a result, more of the sun’s UV rays penetrate through the skin’s layers, encouraging the production of vitamin D in the body, which helps to prevent a range of conditions including rickets, and the lung disease tuberculosis, which can be fatal. Even as recently as fifty years ago, rickets was a fairly common disorder, which led to the weakening and bowing of people’s bones.

For more fascinating miscellany, check out Why You Shouldn’t Eat Your Boogers & Other Useless and Gross Information About Your Body by Francesca Gould