• Question: What is the most important bone in a human body?

    Asked by kamilo12 to David, Jonathan, Ou, Pete, Sam on 10 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Pete Etchells

      Pete Etchells answered on 10 Jun 2012:

      That’s a tough one! I’m not sure, to be honest – I guess that there’s no one single bone that we couldn’t live without. For example, if we didn’t have a spine, we wouldn’t be able to walk or protect our spinal cord, so we wouldn’t last long. Similarly, if we didn’t have a skull, we wouldn’t have anything to protect our brain. If we didn’t have ribs, our heart and lungs would be exposed to danger, and if we didn’t have a femur, our leg and foot would fall off! They’re all important, just in different ways.

Comments

  • Photo: Alison

    Alison commented on :

    I agree with Pete’s answer – but to flip the question on its head, there are some bones that we could (and some people go) live without!

    While most humans have 206 bones in their body, this isn’t always the case! The number of bones in our bodies can naturally vary between individuals, because of the sesamoid bones – these are very small bones that are found in locations where a tendon passes over a joint, like your wrists, knees, and ankles. There are some people that have ‘extra’ sesamoid bones (and some people that are ‘missing’ some). Neat, isn’t it?

  • Photo: richardnixon

    richardnixon commented on :

    I agree