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Between you and the rest of the world
lies an interface
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that makes up 16% of your physical weight.
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This is your skin, the largest organ
in your body:
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laid out flat, it would cover close to
1.7 square meters of ground.
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Its purpose may seem obvious—
to keep our insides in.
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But a look beyond the surface
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reveals that it plays a surprising
number of roles in our lives.
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First, the basics.
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Skin is the foundation
of the integumentary system,
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which also incorporates your hair,
nails, and specialized glands and nerves.
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Made up of three layers,
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the epidermis,
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dermis,
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and hypodermis,
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skin’s thickness varies
from 0.5 millimeters at its thinnest
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and up to four millimeters
at its thickest.
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It also carries out three key functions:
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protecting,
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regulating,
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and sensing the world beyond its limits.
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On a daily basis, its huge surface
processes hundreds, if not thousands,
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of physical sensations,
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relying mostly on large,
pressure-sensitive skin components
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called Merkel cells.
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In your fingertips alone,
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there are 750 Merkel cells
per each square-centimeter of skin,
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coupled with over 2,500 receptors
that give you your sense of touch.
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This surface is also the body’s first
major line of defense.
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Without it, you’d be a soggy mass
of tissue and fluids,
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fatally exposed to the elements.
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Skin effectively seals off your insides
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and also absorbs pressure and shock
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with flexible collagen
that makes up most of its dermal layer.
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The epidermis is made up mainly
of skin cells called keratinocytes
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that are completely replaced
every four weeks.
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As new cells form at the base of the
epidermis, older ones are pushed up.
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When these cells move upwards,
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they’re filled with a hardened protein
called keratin.
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Once they reach the surface,
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they form a tightly-overlapping,
waterproof layer
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that’s difficult for invading
microbes to breach.
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Any harmful microbes that make it
into the epidermis
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will encounter Langerhans cells.
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This group of protective skin cells
detects invaders
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and communicates their presence
to resident immune system T-cells,
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which react by launching
an immune response.
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A crucial feature of this immune defense
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is the several thousand
species of microorganisms
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that inhabit the planes,
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folds,
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and crevices of your skin.
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These microbes,
which include bacteria and fungi,
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thrive in the sebum,
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an oily substance that’s secreted
onto the skin’s surface
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by sebaceous glands nestled
inside the dermis.
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These skin microbes keep the immune system
in a state of constant surveillance,
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ensuring that it’s ready to react
if the body really is at risk.
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Beyond this protective role,
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your skin is also a sensory organ that
helps regulate your body’s temperature,
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two roles that are closely interlinked.
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Nerves detect whether your skin
is warm or cold
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and communicate that
information to your brain.
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In return, the brain instructs
localized blood vessels
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to either expand if the body is too warm,
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releasing heat from
the blood through the skin,
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or to constrict if the body is cold,
which retains heat.
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At any given time, up to 25% of the body's
blood is circulating through the dermis,
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making this process extremely efficient.
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Under warm conditions,
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the skin’s sweat glands will secrete sweat
via ducts onto the surface,
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transferring heat out of the body.
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Hair can also be stimulated
to conserve or release body warmth.
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The average human
has 5 million hair follicles
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embedded everywhere on the body
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except the palms of your hands
and soles of your feet.
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Ninety to 150,000 of those
are on your scalp,
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where they help shield
the large surface area of your head
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from physical damage and sunburn.
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When you're cold, tiny muscles
called arrector pilli
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cause hair to stand upright
across the body.
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That’s the phenomenon known as goosebumps
and it traps body heat close to your skin.
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Skin’s vast surface isn’t just a shield;
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it also enables us to interact
and connect with the world.
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Its multifunctional layer cools us down
and keeps us warm.
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The integumentary system
may be many things,
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but it’s certainly more than skin deep.