You’ll never have as many bones as you did at birth (and other strange skeleton facts)
The human skeletal system contains 206 bones—but that’s only after it’s done growing.For February, we’re focusing on the body parts that shape us, oxygenate us, and power us as we take long walks on the beach. Bony bonafide bones. These skeletal building blocks inspire curiosity and spark fear in different folks—we hope our stories, covering everything from surgeries and supplements to good old-fashioned boning, will only do the first. Once you’ve thoroughly blasted your mind with bone facts, check out our previous themed months: muscle and fat.From your femur to your stapes, your bones help you maintain your signature human shape; without them, you’d just be a pile of mush. But the skeleton isn’t just a lifeless scaffolding for the rest of your flesh. Erin Waxenbaum, an assistant professor of anthropology at Northwestern University who has studied human osteology for more than a decade, says that while people tend to...