Human Body Explorer
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flagWhat you'll discover
- arrow_forwardName the major body layers: skin, muscle, skeleton, organs
- arrow_forwardLocate the heart, lungs, brain, liver and stomach in 3D
- arrow_forwardDescribe one job each major organ does to keep you alive
- arrow_forwardExplain how the skeleton and muscles work together to move you
You are built in layers
Your body is not one solid lump — it is organised in layers, like a Russian doll. On the outside is the skin, your waterproof, sensing suit and the body's largest organ. Just beneath sit the muscles, red ropes that can pull your bones to move you. Deeper still is the skeleton, a frame of 206 bones that holds you up and protects soft parts. Tucked inside that frame are the organs — the heart, lungs, brain and gut — each running a different life-support system.
In the simulation, drag the layer slider to lift each layer away and reveal the next. You cannot see these layers in a mirror, but they are inside you right now, working together.
Organs and their jobs
Each organ has a specialty. The heart is a muscular pump the size of your fist, pushing blood around your body about 100,000 times a day. The lungs take in the oxygen every cell needs and breathe out waste carbon dioxide. The brain, wrapped safely in the skull, is the control centre — it processes your senses, stores memories and sends the signals that move your muscles.
The liver is the body's chemical factory, cleaning the blood and helping turn food into energy. The stomach churns food into a soup so the intestines can soak up the goodness. Tap each glowing organ in the 3D model to hear its job — none works alone, and not one could keep you alive by itself.
Bones and muscles: a tug-of-war
Muscles can only pull, never push — so they work in opposing pairs. To bend your elbow, the biceps on the front of your arm contracts and pulls; to straighten it again, the triceps on the back takes its turn. Your skeleton provides the levers: each muscle is anchored across a joint to two bones, so when it shortens, one bone swings.
You have more than 600 muscles and 206 bones, and almost every movement you make — walking, writing, blinking — is the result of dozens of these tiny tug-of-wars happening in perfect coordination. The 3D model lets you toggle the skeleton and muscles together to see how they line up.