A cast is a big, hard bandage that’s usually made of material like fiberglass or plaster. Casts keep bones in place while they heal. Kids get casts for many reasons. Usually they’re for broken bones, but kids also might get casts to help bones and surrounding tissues grow properly, or …
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About Body Basics
Remember the biology class you had in high school? Well, even if you do, lots of new knowledge about how the body works helps us to understand it now better than ever. Body Basics is a collection of articles for parents that explain just how each body system, part, and …
Blood
Humans can’t live without blood. Without blood, the body’s organs couldn’t get the oxygen and nutrients they need to survive, we couldn’t keep warm or cool off, fight infections, or get rid of our own waste products. Without enough blood, we’d weaken and die. Here are the basics about the mysterious, life-sustaining …
Bones, Muscles, and Joints
Every time you walk, settle into a chair, or hug your child, you’re using your bones, muscles, and joints. Without these important body parts, we wouldn’t be able to stand, walk, run, or even sit. Bones and What They Do From our head to our toes, bones provide support for …
Brain and Nervous System
You’re in the middle of a meeting at work, but your mind keeps drifting to the parent–teacher conference you have tonight … and the dry cleaning you have to pick up on the way home … and how you wish you hadn’t skipped lunch because the rumbling in your stomach is …
Digestive System
The first step in the digestive process happens before we even taste food. Just by smelling that homemade apple pie or thinking about how delicious that ripe tomato is going to be, you start salivating — and the digestive process begins in preparation for that first bite. Food is our fuel, …
Endocrine System
Although we rarely think about them, the glands of the endocrine system and the hormones they release influence almost every cell, organ, and function of our bodies. The endocrine system is instrumental in regulating mood, growth and development, tissue function, and metabolism, as well as sexual function and reproductive processes. …
Eyes
All About Eyes Sight, more than any of our senses, helps us navigate the world around us. In a single glance, lasting a fraction of a second, our eyes work with our brains to tell us the size, shape, color, and texture of an object. They let us know how close …
Female Reproductive System
About Human Reproduction All living things reproduce. Reproduction — the process by which organisms make more organisms like themselves — is one of the things that sets living things apart from nonliving matter. But even though the reproductive system is essential to keeping a species alive, unlike other body systems, it’s …
Heart and Circulatory System
With each heartbeat, blood is sent throughout our bodies, carrying oxygen and nutrients to every cell. Every day, the approximately 10 pints (5 liters) of blood in your body travel many times through about 60,000 miles (96,560 kilometers) of blood vessels that branch and cross, linking the cells of our …