the.com/immune system
Your body's army, snitch network, and overreacting parent, all in one.
means The network of cells, tissues, and organs that detects and defends against pathogens, toxins, and abnormal cells in your body.
from 'Immune' traces to Latin immunis — 'exempt from public service or burden' (in-, 'not,' plus munis, related to munus, 'duty' or 'gift/service'). Originally it meant someone excused from taxes or obligations; by the 1800s it had narrowed to the medical sense of being exempt from a disease. 'System' comes from Greek systema, 'an organized whole put together,' from synistanai, 'to combine.' So the phrase literally means 'the organized whole that grants you exemption' — your body's bureaucratic department of not-getting-sick.
- memory cells
- remember invaders for decades after one encounter
- friendly fire
- allergies are just it panicking at pollen
- gut residents
- trillions of bacteria help train it daily
- fever logic
- raises body heat to cook invaders alive