7 mind-bending comparisons between the Universe and the human body Compared to the scale of the cosmos, a single human body might seem insignificant. But there's an entire Universe within each of us, too. This illustration blends a dusty, star-forming galaxy with a human-like eye and spooky, white tendrils.
Is the Universe, somehow, looking back at us when we observe it? Our observable Universe is enormous compared to a human: over 10²⁶ times as large. This horizontally-oriented logarithmic map of the Universe shows how, from left-to-right, we go from Earth-sized scales to the largest cosmic distances of all.
As spectacular as this logarithmic view is, it “only” spans about 20 orders of magnitude: from the size of the Earth to the size of the present-day cosmic horizon. A human is a further factor of 7,000,000 smaller in scale, roughly, than planet Earth. These 7 comparisons give perspective to these vastly different scales.
The elements of the periodic table, and where they originate, are detailed in this image above. While most elements originate primarily in supernovae or merging neutron stars, many vitally important elements are created, in part or even mostly, in planetary nebulae, which do not arise from the first generation of stars. Beryllium, boron, and some lithium are primarily created through a process known as spallation: when cosmic rays strike and split apart heavier atomic nuclei.
The human body, although it contains over 70 types of atoms, is primarily made up of only four: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen. There are approximately 30-40 trillion red blood cells in the human body: by far the most common type of cell that is made by humans within the body, and representing around 90% of all cells. In addition, approximately an equal number of non-native cells live within our microbiome, mostly inside our digestive tract.
Each human body possesses 80 trillion cells, half of which are human. While cells in the digestive tract and red blood cells make up the majority of cells in the human body, the next most common cell type are the cells of the immune system, making up approximately 1.8 trillion cells on their own. Their estimated distribution and location is shown here.
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