The Complexity of the Human Body

The human body is unbelievably complex.

This claim, is well understood by just about any researcher who decides to dabble in the subject, by diving into the function of any biological process of the organism. For example, you can take a human body, and break it down to the function of its organ systems. These organ systems include skeletal, digestive, muscular, lymphatic, integumentary, urinary, nervous, cardiovascular, and reproductive systems. Refer to the following images (Illustrations from asweknowit.net):

Each of these organ systems, have their own functions, and are composed of key organs. For our purposes, Take the cardiovascular system. Its main components are the heart, and then the blood vessels (arteries and veins) of the body. Various functions of the cardiovascular system, are to supply oxygen to the cells and tissues of the body, while removing wastes and CO2 from those cells, and providing a source of thermoregulation, through vasoconstriction and vasodilation of the blood vessels.

(Image: American Medical Association)
The organs of the cardiovascular system can be broken down into various tissues: Endothelial tissue, cardiac muscle tissue, and smooth muscle tissue. Each tissue has its own role/function, and all three are required in order for the heart to perform its normal tasks:

These three tissues are composed of individual cells, which contain their own tiny organs, or "organelles" that perform essential tasks for the cells existence. These are functions such as protein synthesis, DNA replication, gas exchange, etc. These tiny organelles are made up of their own monomers, called molecules, which can be broken down even further, into individual atoms.

What's my point?
There's a lot of detail.




There are a lot of tiny pieces, and a lot of whole functions, that all work together to make your body function the way it does. In a way that we commonly refer to in an oh so scientific manner: normal. Not to say that there is one, perfect reference of what is "normal" (we'll get into that later).
Nevertheless, we'll take baby steps. There may be a lot of information about the human body, but let me be neither the first or last to say that it's all some pretty interesting stuff. From the naming of structures, to the variations in placement, we'll start from some basics, and go from there.