Bodily Oddities
136 Strange things bodies (can) do.
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ASMR
A pleasant tingling that starts on the scalp and moves down the neck and spine, set off by whispering, tapping, soft sounds, or gentle personal attention. Not everyone gets it. A large online community is built around it.
Benign fasciculations
Small visible twitches in the eyelid, calf, thumb, or arm that come and go with no weakness. About 70% of healthy people get them. They are not a sign of nerve disease.
BPPV
A short, intense spinning feeling set off by turning over in bed or tipping your head back. Tiny crystals in the inner ear have drifted into the wrong place. It is the most common cause of vertigo and it is very treatable.
Brain freeze
A short, sharp headache in the forehead a few seconds after cold food or drink touches the roof of the mouth. It passes in under a minute.
Brain zaps
A brief feeling like a small electric shock inside the head, often set off by moving the eyes. It is most common when stopping or lowering an antidepressant. It is unpleasant but not dangerous.
Call of the void
A sudden, brief thought of jumping when you stand somewhere high, or of swerving while driving, with no wish to do it. About half of people get it. It is the brain's safety system being misread, not a hidden wish.
Try one right now
See allEach of these takes under a minute and needs nothing but your own body.
Afterimages
An image that stays in your vision after the thing you looked at is gone. Bright things leave a same-colour copy for a moment. Long stares leave a copy in opposite colours.
Ambidexterity
Using both hands equally well for every task. Fewer than 1% of people are truly ambidextrous. Most people who say they are ambidextrous are mixed-handed: right hand for some jobs, left for others.
Attached and free earlobes
Some earlobes hang free and others join the head directly. Textbooks taught this as one gene, but a 2017 study found at least 49 genetic regions involved, and the two shapes blend into each other.
Bifid uvula
The uvula, the dangling flap at the back of the throat, is split into two lobes, in about 1 to 2% of people. On its own it is harmless, but in a baby it can be a clue to a hidden cleft of the palate.
Blue arcs of the retina
Look at a small red light in a dark room and two faint blue arcs curve away from it towards your blind spot. You are seeing the nerve fibres of your own retina light up.
Blue field entoptic phenomenon
Tiny bright dots that dart along wiggly paths when you look at a clear blue sky. They are your own white blood cells moving through the capillaries of the retina.
It felt scary but it is normal
See allThings that alarm people and turn out to be harmless. Each entry says when a doctor is still a good idea.
Accessory ossicles
Small extra bones, most often in the foot, that form when a growth centre never fuses with its main bone. They are harmless but can be mistaken for fractures on an X-ray.
Alice in Wonderland syndrome
Objects, body parts, or the whole room suddenly look far too big, far too small, or far away. It mostly happens to children, often during a fever or infection, and it passes on its own. In adults it is usually linked to migraine.
Cervical rib
An extra rib above the normal top rib, growing from the lowest bone in the neck. About 1 in 100 people have one, and most never know.
Charles Bonnet syndrome
People who lose a lot of their sight often start to see things that are not there: patterns, faces, small people in costume, whole landscapes. They know the images are not real. It is caused by the eyes, not the mind.
Derealization and depersonalization
The world suddenly seems flat, distant, or like a film (derealization), or you feel like you are watching yourself from outside (depersonalization). Most people have a brief episode at some point, usually under stress.
Diastasis recti
A widening of the gap between the two halves of the six-pack muscle, seen in nearly every pregnancy and in some men. A bulge down the midline when you sit up is the usual sign.