Street Smarts

1. What food contains the same chemical that the brain produces when people fall in love?


A. Oysters
B. Grapes
C. Chocolate
D. Roast beef

2. What part of your body acts as a compass?


A. Big toe
B. Eyes
C. Nose
D. Pointer finger

3. How many bees does it take to make a jar of honey?


A. 5,300
B. 12
C. 1,000
D. 53,000

4. What is the largest human organ?


a. Brain
b. Heart
c. Stomach
d. Skin

5. How much blood does your heart pump in an average day?


a. 100 gallons
b. 500 gallons
c. 1,500 gallons
d. 2,500 gallons

6. How many bones does the average adult have?

a. 87
b. 156
c. 206
d. 931


Answers

1. Love food?

Chocolate contains the same chemical--phenylethylamine--that the brain produces when people fall in love. By stepping up the heart beat and the body's energy levels, the chemical causes a happy, slightly dreamy feeling. Wooo! Wooo!

2. Compass?

All humans have a trace amount of iron in their noses; this helps them "sense" the earth's magnetic field. Many people have the ability to use these magnetic deposits to orient themselves--even when blindfolded--to within a few degrees of the North Pole, exactly as a compass does. Now if we can find something that points to where the pizza is . . . .

3. Bees and Honey?

It takes about 5,300 bees to gather enough nectar to make a pound of honey. The average busy bee will only produce about 1/12 teaspoon (or .013 ounces) of honey in its lifetime. No wonder they always look and sound as busy as . . . BEES!!

4. Largest organ?

The skin is the largest organ. Measured as a whole, the skin weighs 6 pounds and covers about 20 square feet on an average adult male. All of us completely change our outer skin about every 27 days. This adds up to almost 1,000 new outer skins in a lifetime. By the time we are 70 years old, we've shed an average of 40 pounds. This beats some diet programs.

5. Blood pumped?

Each day your heart pumps, on average, 1,500 gallons of blood. In a lifetime, the heart pumps enough blood to fill 13 super tankers, each holding one million barrels. Blood takes about 16 seconds to be pumped from the heart to the toes and back again. That's "pumpitude!"

6. Bones?

Babies are born with 350 bones, many of which fuse during growth, so upon reaching adulthood the number of bones drops to only 206. There is a strange exception: one out of every 100 people has an extra rib (most commonly found in men). Obviously, they must be able to take a good ribbing.

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