Article created by: Austėja Akavickaitė
Humans have been puzzled by things like the depths of the ocean and outer space. But one equally mysterious object has been standing right in front of you when you look in the mirror. It’s a human body.
And one TikTok creator named Knowledgesaurus has been stripping away the mystery surrounding it in a series of “How Rare Is Your Body?” videos. From explaining what percentage of people have features like cracked tongue, angled palm crease, or an extra rib, to counting how many people have the ability to write with both their right and left hands, or can make a clover out of their tongue.
25% of people sneeze when they're exposed to direct sunlight. It's called the photic sneeze reflex.
30% of people can flare their nostrils on command. However that muscle has very little use and is usually weak, so a lot of people can't do it on command.
Only 12% of people have tetrachromacy - the ability to see a lot more colors than the majority of people. They can see about 10 times as many shades and colors as someone with normal vision.
2% of people naturally have red hair. In order to have a child with this hair color, both parents need to possess the gene, and while redheads make up a tiny part of the population, one study found that 30% of ads have people with red hair in them.
Less than 1% of people can hear colors or see sounds (synesthesia).
9% of people can taste the soap taste in cilantro. Cilantro contains the chemical that is also a byproduct of soapmaking.
5% of people have amber eyes - golden or coppery with flakes of gold, green or brown. Amber eyes are very common in dogs, bird and fish.
Less than 1% of people have this small little hole right on their ear. Some evolutionary biologists claim this used to be a gill on humans.
24% of people can raise one eyebrow, however you can learn to do this as well.
Only 33% of people can whistle. Almost everyone has the ability to whistle, it just takes the right techniques.
Only 1% of people are ambidextrous - they have no preference for the use of right or left hand.
1% of people need less sleep than the rest of us. These people have Sleeper Syndrome which allows them to go through a sleep cycle faster than an average person.
35% of people have no wisdom teeth. Wisdom teeth used to serve a purpose but now they no longer do, which is why we take them out so they don't get infected while they're pushing through your gums. If you don't have wisdom teeth, I'm jealous of you.
83.7% of people can roll their tongue, but only 14.7% of people can make a clover out of their tongue.
4% of people have Raynaud's syndrome. This is when a part of your body, usually your fingers or toes, starts to turn white when exposed to low temperatures. It's your body's overreaction to cold or distress.
Only 10% of people have Darwin's tubercle - the little bump on the outside of your ear. It's believed that people who have this are better at sensing voice tonality.
16% of people can make a roaring noise in their head using their jaw. They're able to do this because they can control a small muscle in their jaw that deafens chewing, but when it is flexed it makes a roaring noise.
Less than 1% of people have unbreakable bones. This is caused by a mutation in one of the genes that causes the bones to be up to 8 times denser.
35% of people can gleek. Only 1% of people can do it on command. Gleeking is when you're spitting saliva from under your tongue and it squirts out.
Less than 1% of people are born with a white patch of hair. It is called poliosis, which is caused by the lack of pigment called melanin in the hair follicles.
Only 5% of people have arched fingerprints. Most people have looped and whorled fingerprints.
Less than 1% of people have their heart on the right side of their body. Surprisingly, this doesn't normally come with any negative consequences.
Only 25% of people have dimples. You can have either two, or just one. Dimples are also hereditary, so if either of your parents has a dimple, it's more likely you'll have one as well.
20% of people have a gap between their two front teeth. What normally causes this is a discrepancy between the jaw size and the teeth. A lot of celebrities have this and don't correct it because they think it makes them unique.
Only 2% of people naturally have blonde hair. If you narrow it down just to white people in the United States, that percentage goes up to 5%.
70% of people bend their head to the right when kissing. Your brain is the cause for this. The left side of our face shows more emotion so we want to give our partner the more emotive side and we tilt our head to the right.
1% of people have a double row of eyelashes. While this might look like something a lot of you are jealous of, it actually can cause a lot of problems.
Less than 1% of people have pointy or elf-like ears. It's an abnormality called Stahl's ear, it's usually corrected early in life.
Only 35% of people have 20/20 vision. 2/3 people cannot see perfectly.
25% of people have perfect teeth and never need braces or any orthodontics. 45% of children need braces, but 75% need orthodontic care.
14% of people don't have this muscle - Palmaris Longus. This muscle was developed when our ancestors were big tree climbers. If you want to see if you still have it, pull back your palm on a flat surface, touch your pinky and thumb together and slightly lift them and you should see that ligament pop out.
6% of people can vibrate and rapidly shake their eyeballs back and forth.
10% of people can touch their nose with their tongues. In medicine, this is called the Gorlin sign.
20% of people are double jointed. This is thought to be genetic and due to a variation in collagen in your connective tissues.
4% of people are colorblind. Color blindness occurs in 8% of men and 0.5% of women.
5% of people have a double hair whorl.
Only 12% of people dream in black and white.
Only 1% of the population can lick their elbow. The people that can do this usually have either a long tongue or a short forearm, or both.
10% of people are left handed. Left handed people tend to live shorter lives.
25% of the population snores regularly.
8.4% of people have a counterclockwise hair whorl on their head, while the majority has a clockwise one.
8% of people still have chimp-like feet, that are specifically adapted to climbing trees. This is characterized by a mid-foot arch. If you want to check if you have this, see if you can bend the ball of your foot as well as the region half-way between your heel and the ball of your foot.
Less than 1% of people have an extra rib. Most people are born with 24, but some have 25 ribs. The 25th is called a cervical rib.
25% of people have a Hitchhiker's thumb - when the upper part of the thumb can bend 90 degrees backwards. It's caused by a certain gene.
