Innerbody Explorer

Innerbody Research is an online home health and wellness guide. I do not know enough about their other offerings (telehealth, online therapy, testing, products, or supplements) to comment on or endorse them, but I did have a good time browsing through their Innerbody Explorer--Anatomy offering. This resource divides the human body into 12 systems: skeletal, muscular, cardiovascular, digestive, endocrine, nervous, respiratory, immune/lymphatic, urinary, female reproductive, male reproductive, and integumentary. Each system starts on a general overview page with a comprehensive interactive diagram, I browsed through the Integumentary system first--the skin, hair, nails, and exocrine glands. A factoid I had heard before but I am still amazed by was on the webpage: the skin is the largest organ in the body by far! On average 10 pounds, with a surface area of almost 20 square feet. The site is very interactive--I could click on the parts of the integumentary system to learn about, for example the toes, or I could chose to learn about the three layers of the skin, the epidermis, dermis and subcutis. Did you know that ruffini endings/terminals are the endings of encapsulated nerves thought to mediate the sense of warmth? I have to say, I did not know that, until I read it on the Innerbody page, and then Googled it to fact check!

Even though the 12 systems are individually listed, the website links the systems together. For example, when I took a look at the urinary system, I was able to click on a link "blood supply to the kidney" and was sent over to the cardiovascular system, which allowed for a useful holistic view. I think human anatomy is pretty complex, and the Innerbody team has made a comprehensive tool that really helps.