By Arianna Sukhdeo '25
This article can also be viewed in an exciting visual presentation with detailed images and diagrams here.
Brain
The brain is one of the most important organs in the human body. Our brain controls our everyday activities, functions and thoughts; including thought, memory, emotion, touch, motor skills, vision, breathing, temperature, hunger. Without our brain, we wouldn’t be able to complete tasks as seemingly simple as adding numbers together.
Ribcage
The main purpose of our ribcage is to protect our heart and lungs from damage. If our lungs, our heart, or even both of these organs are damaged, we could potentially die.Let's say that you are playing a sport and you fall “face front” on the ground. Your fall could have a severe impact on your organs , especially the vital organs, such as the heart or lungs, in your chest area. Without a ribcage to brace your organs from the fall, you would easily have severe injuries which could even result in death.
Liver
Our livers perform many important functions necessary to maintain homeostasis including the production of bile, and cholesterol, as well as cleaning, regulating our blood and preventing blood clotting, and balancing our glucose levels. If our livers were to fail, this would create a dangerous domino effect, harming the functioning of most other bodily organs and entire body systems.One disease related to this is hepatic failure:
Stomach
Our stomachs are a crucial organ in our digestive system, as they produce enzymes and acid juices that help to digest our food and extract its nutrients for uptake into the bloodstream. Without the stomach, we would not be able to digest and uptake the nutrients found in the incredibly delicious foods that exist on our planet.
Kidneys
Kidneys play an important role in our bodies, including the removal of waste, such as urine, unused food waste (known as stool), and carbon dioxide. Without the excretion of wastes, specifically with urine and stool, our entire body would cease functioning correctly.
Lungs
In their most simplistic function our lungs help us to obtain oxygen from the environment in order to perform cellular respiration. Without the mechanism to obtain oxygen, we could not perform cellular respiration, and we would not be able to create Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP), the essential compound that powers the metabolic processes in our cells that sustain all of life. Without ATP, our cells would not be able to perform their specializes actions, and we would quickly die, as is the case with patients who suddenly loose substantial amounts of oxygen.
Heart
Along with many other body organs, our hearts, the central organ in the circulatory system, pumps blood to transport throughout our body without stopping, which supplies oxygen throughout our body and enables cellular functioning.
Spleen
Unlike the heart, brain or kidneys, the spleen is a very under acknowledged and undervalued organ; however, it is still very important as its function in the immune system is to fight off pathogens, regulate the amount of blood cells, filter our blood cell, and remove old and damaged blood cells.
Small & Large Intestines
The main role of the small and large intestines, which are both collaborating organs in the digestive system is to further break down the food partly broken down in the mouth, absorb nutrients from food into the bloodstream, and solidify bodily wastes via dehydration and peristaltic, a wave-like involuntary muscle contraction that pushes stool or liquid waste from the inner linings of the digestive tracks into the urinary track for elimination. In order for your body to be able to properly digest food, it will take between 24 to 72 hours for your food to move through the digestive tract. An interesting fact about the small and large intestines is that even though the small intestine is narrower than the large intestine (hence the name), it is actually the longest section of your digestive tube, measuring approximately 22 feet.
Ovaries
The ovaries helps with the reproduction of the human population by generating gametes- sex cells called eggs, which are produced in the ovaries.
Testes
The testes helps with the reproduction of the human population by regenerating gametes-sex cells called sperm, which is produced in the testes.
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