Bone
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Featured: A Scheme for abolishing all Words is one of the wittiest and smartest comments on semantics. (Illustration: extreme close-up from the movie "The Big Swallow" (1901), produced and directed by James Williamson (1855-1933) |
Bones are rigid organs that form part of the endoskeleton of vertebrates. They function to move, support, and protect the various organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells and store minerals. Because bones come in a variety of shapes and have a complex internal and external structure, they are lightweight, yet strong and hard, in addition to fulfilling their many other functions. One of the types of tissues that makes up bone is the mineralized osseous tissue, also called bone tissue, that gives it rigidity and honeycomb-like three-dimensional internal structure. Other types of tissue found in bones include marrow, endosteum and periosteum, nerves, blood vessels and cartilage. There are 206 bones in the adult body and about 300 bones in the infant body.
See also
- List of bones of the human skeleton
- Terms for anatomical location
- Orthopaedics
- Artificial bone
- National Bone Health Campaign
- Intramembranous ossification
- Endochondral ossification
- Osteoblast
- Osteoclast
- Bone marrow
- Bone mineral
- Mineralized tissues
