the.com/intestine
twenty-five feet of plumbing that thinks for itself and runs without your permission
means The long, coiled tube of the digestive tract running from the stomach to the anus, where food is broken down further and nutrients and water are absorbed.
from From Latin 'intestinus,' meaning 'internal' or 'inward,' built on 'intus,' meaning 'within.' The same root gives us 'intestate' (a cousin in form only — dying without a will), but the gut-sense came through the Latin plural 'intestina,' the 'inner parts,' which is exactly what they are: the works on the inside.
- second brain
- contains more neurons than a cat's brain
- surface area
- absorbs across roughly half a badminton court
- length
- stretches longer than a giraffe is tall
- gut bugs
- home to trillions outnumbering your own cells
- total rebel
- keeps working even disconnected from the brain
small intestine — duodenum, jejunum, ileum — 20 feet long in humans, where 90% of nutrient absorption occurs
large intestine — colon and rectum — 5 feet long, absorbs water and forms feces in humans