Heart and Lungs

Today we discussed the lungs and heart.

One of the strangest things about the lungs is they aren't directly connected to the chest. What keeps them in place and allows them to inflate is the power of nothing - or vacuum. As long as the chest cavity is sealed, the outside of the lungs is stuck tight to it. And despite having two lungs, puncturing the seal on either side will cause both to collapse as the vacuum fails, because both lungs are in the same single cavity. Evolution, unfortunately, is brainless and can't make obvious fixes. For homework, try and think about the body. Can you think of any improvements that would make the human body work better?

And for more on the amazing power of vacuum, here's an MIT video going through the history of vacuum.