You can't sneeze with your eyes open...and other trivia of the human body

Some people sneeze with their eyes open and some don’t, so really the title of this post is false--but it has been widely believed. According to studies, we have no control over whether or not we close our eyes when we sneeze, though. It’s a reflex, just as sneezing is--and, no, your eyeballs won’t pop out if you don’t close your lids.

Check out these other interesting facts about the human body:

• Coughs release a burst of air moving at speeds of up to 60 mph, while a sneeze can exceed the speed of 100 mph.
  
• The average human scalp has approximately 100,000 hairs and loses an average of 40 to 100 strands per day. Also, blondes have more hair than people do with dark hair.
  
• Babies are born with 300 bones, but adults have only 206 in our bodies. The reason? Some bones fuse together as a baby grows.
  
• Every person has a unique tongue print.
  
• Most people lose half of their taste buds by the time they’re 60 years old.
  
• Lack of sleep will kill a person faster than starvation. You can live a few weeks without food, but only about 10 days without sleep.
  
• It takes 43 muscles to frown and only 17 muscles to smile.
  
• Laughing lowers stress hormone levels. Laughing also strengthens our immune system. Children typically laugh an average of 300 times a day while adults only laugh between 15 and 100 times per day.
  
• Historically, it was believed that men spoke only 7,000 words per day, and women spoke nearly 20,000. Not so, according to researchers who say that both men and women typically speak about 16,000 words per day.
  
• If a person goes blind in one eye, they lose about one-fifth of their vision, but all of their depth perception.

Do you have any other interesting facts about the human body? Feel free to share them in the comment section. Also, what other (trivial?) facts are you interested in knowing?

Lincoln Penny Trivia

In 2009, the Lincoln penny will be turning 100 years old. Here's a bit of Lincoln penny trivia:

In 1943, pennies were only made of copper for a short time before they were made of steel because, during World War II, the U.S. needed the copper to make communications equipment.

The 1943 copper-alloy cent is one of the most sought after items by coin collectors. There are only about 40 of these known to be in existence today.

You can tell if your 1943 penny is copper with a magnet. If a magnet won't pick it up, then it's copper--and might be worth a lot of money!

On December 22, 1999, a copper cent was auctioned off for $112,500.

In 1959, the Lincoln penny's original reverse design, two wheat stalks, was replaced with an image of the Lincoln Memorial.

In 1982, the composition of the Lincoln penny was changed from primarily copper to mostly zinc, with a thin outer copper plating.

When the U.S Mint discussed getting rid of the penny, the public was outraged--especially in Illinois, the home state of Abraham Lincoln.

Do you know any other interesting penny trivia? If so, please share it in the comments section.

Women Inventors...betcha didn't know women invented these!

Many people believe that Sybilla Masters was the first American woman inventor. It is suspected that she developed a corn mill in 1712, but was denied a patent because, up until the late 1800s, women were not allowed to own any property or enter into any legal agreements in their own name. Masters' corn mill was finally patented three years later in her husband's name.

Though we'll probably never know how many women inventors there were in early American history, here are some of the inventors and their inventions that we do know about:

Circular Saw: Tabitha Babbitt (1812)

Submarine Telescope and Lamp: Sarah Mather (1845)

Paper Bag Machine: Margaret Knight (1871)

Dishwasher: Josephine Cochran (1872)

Elevated Railway: Mary Walton (1881)

Fire Escape: Anna Connelly (1887)

Medical Syringe: Letitia Geer (1899)

Street Cleaner: Florence Parpart (1900)

Windshield Wiper: Mary Anderson (1903)

Rotary Engine: Margaret Knight (1904)

Electric Water Heater: Ida Forbes (1917)

Muffler for Automobile Engine: El Dorado Jones (1917)

Scotchgard™ : Patsy O. Sherman (1956)

Kevlar (used in radial tires, crash helmets and bulletproof vests): Stephanie Kwolek (1966)

Stay tuned...

I'll be posting random bits of information--that I find interesting-- possibly to educate, but mostly for fun. Stay tuned.