Human Body on Pitara Kids Network

Why Do We Have Wrinkly Fingers After Swimming?

Sat, 26 Mar 2005 10:05:37 +0000

You’ve been playing in the pool for almost an hour now, practicing your best underwater somersaults. Now it’s time to get out, and as you look at your hands, it’s . . . it’s . . . it’s the attack of the wrinkly fingered monster!

Don’t get frightened or run for cover under your towel yet. After spending lots of time in the water, it’s totally normal for fingers (and sometimes toes) to wrinkle.

Why Do We Have Wrinkly Fingers After Swimming?

Even though you can’t see it, your skin is covered with its own special oil called sebum. Sebum is found on the outermost layer of skin. Sebum lubricates and protects your skin. It also makes your skin a bit waterproof. That’s why getting caught in the rain, hopping in the shower after a game, or washing your hands before dinner won’t leave your skin soggy. Sebum is there to keep the water out.

Why doesn't our stomach get digested?

Mon, 04 Apr 2005 18:26:52 +0000

All the food we eat goes into our stomach. Here, it is broken into smaller and simpler substances and get absorbed into the blood. Then, the blood carries these food particles to the different cells of the body, where they are used to provide energy to our body.

Why doesn’t our stomach get digested?

How is food broken into smaller particles?

Why Do we Get Tired?

Fri, 03 Aug 2001 12:03:42 +0000

Sumit was a tireless bundle of energy. He was always up to some mischief or the other. As he grew, to his mother’s relief he became a more relaxed child, and over the years his energy level seems to have come down considerably. However, now he feels tired and fatigued. At times he wonders why he gets so tired so soon when there is so much that he wants to do?

What is it in our body that causes fatigue? Why do we feel listless and sapped of strength at times? Fatigue is caused by a kind of poisoning produced by our organs. When a muscle in our body works, it produces lactic acid. If we remove the lactic acid from a tired muscle, it is able to start working at once.

How do Nails Grow?

Mon, 19 Mar 2001 17:10:41 +0000

Put your hands face down and look at the fingernails on your hand. Are they long or short? Dirty? Covered with polish? And the nails on your toes? Are they tearing up your socks? When my nails do that to my socks I know that it is time to get hold of a nail trimmer to cut them down to size.

Meanwhile, my sister wants to show hers off. So she spends hours every day polishing her nails endlessly. She wants to look different. But whatever people do to their nails – paint them, cut them, grow or colour them – yours, hers, mine and everybody else’s nails are made of the same material called keratin.

Why do Humans Sweat?

Tue, 15 Oct 2002 01:52:22 +0000

It is an annual ritual in most Indian homes. With the onset of summer it is time to bring the rusty, rickety old coolers down from the terrace and get them repaired. The reason is obvious – it is difficult to live through the hot, sweaty Indian summer without an air cooler. But did you know that the human body has its own cooler as well?

Think of the times you have travelled in a car. How hot the vehicle engine gets after a long journey. Similarly, as our bodies chug along they produce heat in the process.
They normally maintain a temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degree Celsius) and become feverish if it rises above this point.

Why do Doctors Examine the Pulse?

Tue, 14 Nov 2000 13:23:52 +0000

If you place the first three fingers of your hand on the inside of your wrist, a dull throbbing reverberates through your hand. Da-dub, da-dub, da-dub. Very reassuring, these gentle thuds, that remind us that our bodies are kicking along, and that, at least at last touch, we’re alive and well.

By pulse we mean the regular throbbing of arteries caused by the successive contractions of the heart. During the action of the heart there is a pause. During this pause, the wall of the aorta contracts. The aorta is the great trunk artery that carries blood from the heart to the rest of the body.

Why do we Blink?

Fri, 28 Nov 2003 18:17:35 +0000

How many times do you blink in a minute? Weird, who knows! Well, mostly people blink around 15 times a minute (Reader’s Digest – Why in the World).

Blinking is an involuntary action that protects the eye. Most of our eye is enclosed in a bony socket covered with a layer of fat, which forms a protective cover. But when the eyes are open, one-tenth of the total surface area is exposed to the atmosphere. This means the eye, the most delicate and sensitive part of the body, has to withstand the dust present in the air.

Why do Ears Pop?

Mon, 26 Oct 1998 01:08:58 +0000

Recently I went to the top of a skyscraper in a lift. After I had gone up a few stories, I felt a funny sensation in my ears. My eardrums seemed like they were growing and were about to burst. As I went a little higher, the sensation was worse. My fellow passengers in the lift told me to swallow a few times. This would help the sensation pass, they said. And, it did.
This happens to a lot of people when they are flying, or skiing downhill at very high speeds, or going deep into a mine well.

Why do Some People snore More than Others?

Sat, 28 Jun 2003 21:04:24 +0000

If you ever slept in a room with an uncle or an aunt who snores, you would know how annoying it can be. The person causing all the noise sleeps like a log, while the room partner spends the night tossing and turning; waking up bleary-eyed the next morning.

Did you know that snoring is a common ailment all over the world? Believe it or not, but on an average one in every four adults snores, says the website sleepquest.com, a site listed by Britannica.

Why do we Get Hiccups?

Fri, 25 Aug 2000 04:04:30 +0000

Hic! You’ve just hiccuped for what seems like the tenth time since you finished your big dinner. Wonder where these funny noises are coming from? The part to blame is your diaphragm, a dome-shaped muscle at the bottom of your chest, and all hiccups start here.

The diaphragm almost always works perfectly. It pulls down when you inhale to help pull air into the lungs, and it pushes up when you exhale to help push air out of the lungs.

Why do we Yawn?

Sat, 13 Apr 2002 13:56:37 +0000

Do you think that a great big yawn means you are really bored? Well, if you do, then you cannot possibly be further from the truth. Until recently many researchers used to think yawning is essential to increasing the oxygen intake to the lungs. A few on the other hand insisted that yawning is similar to stretching as it increases blood pressure and heart beat rate.

While both research findings are correct, new studies show that yawning actually perks you up instead of doing the opposite (as many of us seem to think). Scientists point out that we have a tendency to yawn before a big event – athletes yawn before a race, pilots yawn before take-off and you yawn before an exam.

A Quiz about Human Body

Tue, 13 Jul 1999 02:11:17 +0000

Click here to test your knowledge about the different organs of the body. [A sciene quiz for children about human body]

The Living Body

Fri, 26 Jan 2001 12:23:53 +0000

As children we have a lot of queries about our body. Sometimes we get the answers sometimes we don’t. Check out this quiz, it may be able to answer some of those queries.

Why is Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow?

Mon, 26 Nov 2001 12:47:32 +0000

Here’s a quiz question: what is curly or straight and needs to be combed, brushed, plaited or twisted? It is gelled, shampooed, dyed, coloured black, blonde, white, red, brown and needs to be cut once in a while. A hint – the answer is above your head – it’s your hair!

Each time you pass by a mirror, the one thing that strikes you is the hair on your head. Hair is something that grows by itself without any help. Well, actually, brushing and combing and even oiling it does help or else you tend to lose your hair.

Why Do Knuckles Pop?

Mon, 27 Aug 2001 07:48:35 +0000

Have you ever laced your fingers together and bent your fingers back? If you pressed hard on any bent finger, you would have heard a popping sound? Finger joints produce that loud c-r-a-c-king sound. The sound comes when bubbles in the fluid around the joint burst!

Our entire body is made of a skeleton of 206 bones. Bones help in giving shape and support to the body and help us move about. Our bones are not too long otherwise we would not be able to bend or grasp things. Bones fit together at joints which is the meeting place between different bones of the skeleton.