the.com/spine
the scaffolding that lets you stand tall and crumble dramatically on cue
means The spine is the column of linked bones running down your back that supports your body and protects the spinal cord — and, by extension, the central supporting part of anything, or the courage to stand firm.
from From Latin spina, meaning a thorn or prickle, which also came to mean the backbone — perhaps because the bony vertebrae jut out like a row of thorns along the back. The word entered English through Old French in the late Middle Ages, carrying both senses: the literal ridge of bone and the sharp little spike, which is why botanists still call a plant's thorns 'spines.' The figurative 'courage' meaning is a much later flourish, the idea that a person with backbone won't bend.
- bone count
- 33 vertebrae fused down to 26 in adults
- shrink cycle
- you lose height daily, regained while sleeping
- taller in space
- astronauts gain up to two inches
- shock absorbers
- discs are gel-filled cushions between bones
- spinal cord
- a billion neurons inside your bony armor
atlas vertebra — topmost cervical vertebra in humans that supports the skull
lumbar vertebrae — 5 vertebrae in lower back bearing most body weight in humans
great wall of china — mountain spine running 13,171 miles across northern china