Matters of the Heart

Love letter
red heart drawn on white printer paper on pink surface
Hi! I’m back with a little (love) note to share.

So it’s been a little while since I’ve written something here. And it’s not because I haven’t still been learning new things. I am. All the time. Every day.

I’ve just been busy, okay? Ha.

Anyway! I’m back today to share something I recently learned about my heart. Well, not just my heart. Yours, too!

Okay, so we all know what the human heart looks like, right?

3D medical illustration of a human heart
Yup. There it is, in all its beautiful blood-plumping glory.

But did you know that it didn’t always look like this? In your body, I mean. Before you grew a mini version of this inside your mother’s womb when you were nothing but a teeny-tiny embryo-type thingy, you had something that looked more similar to the heart of a goldfish—like a little tube. Then after some more growing, it transformed into a two-chambered heart, like a frog’s. After that, the third chamber developed, looking a little bit like a snake’s heart. Which is kind of badass, I think. (Just me? Cool, cool.)

Eventually, that final fourth chamber developed, started beating, pumping blood and oxygen, and all that good life-sustaining stuff.

I gather this may be basic biology for some (or even most of you). But I had actually never had it explained to me in this way before—and I like it.

Speaking of animals and hearts, did you guys know that the zebrafish can fully regenerate their heart muscle? I feel like that could come in handy. Broken heart? No problemo. Just grow a new one!

Or something like that…

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