The human body is an amazing thing . For each one of us , it ’s the most familiar physical object we bang . And yet most of us do n’t know enough about it : its features , functions , queerness , and mysteries . Our series The Body explore human anatomy , part by part . Think of it as a mini digital encyclopedia with a dose of wow .
At the edges of the eyebrows , you ’ll find the tabernacle , the flat , tender side of the head where you often press your fingers to relieve a cephalalgia . In movies , one karate chop shot to this region can allegedly pour down a person , but is this really true ? What lie down beneath that unruffled Earth’s surface of skin that ’s so delicate ? To ascertain more , Mental Floss address toDr . Abbas Anwar , an otolaryngologist and head and neck sawbones at Southern California Head and Neck Medical Group in Santa Monica .
1. THE TEMPLE IS A JUNCTURE.
It ’s technically where four skull bones — the head-on , parietal , temporal , and sphenoid — meet in the skull . This vulnerable critical point is called thepterion , which mean " annex " in Greek but sounds like a kind of dinosaur .
2. IT REVEALS A DISTANT LINK TO REPTILES.
The temporal ivory itself is made up of five smaller component part , which fuse together before parturition . One of these pieces , call thetympanic part , may be evolutionarily linked to the angulate bone in the lower jaws ofreptiles .
3. IT’S THE THINNEST PART OF THE SKULL …
While these skull bones are " relatively secure , " though thinly , Anwar tells Mental Floss , the point at which they take on is the weak dot because there ’s no solid osseous tissue beneath them . " As such , this area is at risk of exposure with direct horizontal blows . "
4. … WHICH IS WHY MAORI WARRIORS CRAFTED A SPECIAL WEAPON TO CRUSH IT.
When Maori warriors of the first nations tribes of New Zealand and Australia went into struggle , one weapon they strike with them was thepatu onewa , a categorical , heavy club carve from stone such as basalt , and sometimes jade , for the specific purpose of delivering a black , crushing setback to the temple .
5. THE TEMPLE COVERS A MAJOR ARTERY.
Running below these off-white is a tumid artery have it off as the halfway meningeal arteria . It supplies blood to the outer masking of the brainpower , the meninx . " If gain hard enough , one of the four bones at this point can break inward and lacerate the in-between meningeal arterial blood vessel , " Anwar explain . This can cause an epidural hematoma , fundamentally " a collection of parentage that build up around the brain and compresses it . "
Severe bleeding can have " ruinous consequences " if not recognized and treated promptly , include brain herniation ( bulging brain tissue ) , hemiparesis ( weakness of one side of the body ) , and last .
6. IS YOUR TEMPLE A SACRED SPACE?
etymologist do n’t entirely agree on the substance of the wordtemple , which has multiple descent . It may derive from the Romance give-and-take for time , tempus , harmonise to a Dartmouth Medical Schoolanatomy class : " The connection may be that with the passage of time , grey hairs appear here early on . Or it may relate to the pulsations of the underlying trivial secular arteria , mark the time we have leave here . "
It could also possibly hail from the Grecian wordtemenos , mean " place cut off , " which would explain the idea of a temple of worship as well as that juncture of bone at the side of the head .
InOld English , tempelmeant " any topographic point view as interest by divine presence , " which might be codification for the learning ability as the residence of consciousness or God .
More probable it ’s related to theGreekpterion , which as you ’ll recall intend " fender . " In Greek mythology , Hermes , messenger of the gods , wore a helmet with wings , which were positioned over the temple .
7. IT’S PRONE TO SKIN CANCER THAT’S HARD TO REMOVE.
Surgeon Gabriel WestonwritesinThe Guardianthat skin Crab frequently turn up in this field from over picture to the Sun , which make for a ambitious surgical procedure . " It is often not potential simply to sew up the hole in the skin after cutting a cancer out , since doing so can easily distort the contour of the eye , " he writes .
To get around the problem , Weston uses a special proficiency called a Wolfe grafting . After cut away the cancerous lesion , " I assess out a circle of adequate size in the skin above the collar - bone ( where the skin is similar ) and remove it . " He grafts this tegument patch to the patient role ’s synagogue " with tiny silk sutures . "
8. BRAIN FREEZE ISN’T IN YOUR BRAIN.
Sometimes when you wipe out or drink something stale too quickly , you get mastermind frost , which can feel like someone has taken knife to your temples . But the pain is n’t actually in your mind at all , as brains haveno pain receptors . While research worker have n’t been able to determine a cause of what ’s technically called sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia , or sometimesHICS(“headache attribute to intake or breathing in of a cold stimulus " ) , theytheorizethat the painful freeze you experience is belike stimulate by aquick coolingof the rake in the back of your pharynx at the juncture your inner carotid and prior intellectual arterial blood vessel , which can stimulate cramp or constrictions of the arterial branch .
