A side note: "dumb" questions sometimes result in the most amazing answers. For example, the YouTube channel VSauce is popular for weird questions like "Where are your fingers?" and "What is the opposite of a duck?" and they are so freaking educational. So ask away!
ChapterBillion wrote:
None has yet to tackle these, so I shall tilt at these windmills
Why do we have left and right? Who invented this concept?
It goes back to the idea of "handedness." Left, right, clockwise, counter-clockwise, are parts of a how we interact and orient ourselves as 3rd dimensional beings, in a 3rd dimensional world. To communicate or even establish a notion of left and right, you have to appeal to some common experience, some tangible object or phenomenon. Its so ingrained in us, its really hard to explain it other than this. If you have a minute, this article is a great way to look at the subject.
Why do we have left and right? Who invented this concept?
It goes back to the idea of "handedness." Left, right, clockwise, counter-clockwise, are parts of a how we interact and orient ourselves as 3rd dimensional beings, in a 3rd dimensional world. To communicate or even establish a notion of left and right, you have to appeal to some common experience, some tangible object or phenomenon. Its so ingrained in us, its really hard to explain it other than this. If you have a minute, this article is a great way to look at the subject.
But why? 😵
I don't think these questions are at all stupid, I think they're interesting! Who doesn't enjoy idle philosophizing? 
Veins and capillaries are not synonymous terms; capillaries are tiny, tiny vessels that connect arteries to veins -- well technically arterioles to venules -- and allow gas exchange to occur while veins in the majority (though not all!) of cases bring deoxygenated blood back to the heart after gas exchange has taken place. Sometimes 'veins' is used as a kind of collective noun for all types of blood vessels, but they are in fact distinct from both arteries and capillaries. The blood vessels you see close to the surface aren't always capillaries, either -- for instance, when you have blood drawn, it is often drawn from the v. mediana cubiti in your elbow which, depending on the quality of your blood vessels, can be highly visible to the naked eye even without using a tourniquet.
Like Novalyyn said, likely StaticNightmares' biology teacher was referring to the color of blood plasma, that is, blood minus things like erythrocytes (red blood cells) which is what normally imbues blood with its red hue. Blood plasma is in fact yellow, so I guess 'the... creature...' who's been so heavily maligned might have had a point after all.
JustAPlayer wrote:
Blood inside of us flows around in smol tubes called the Arteries. Following that path, the blood sooner runs into even smaller ones, tiny vessels, called the capillaries or veins. The ones you see on your hands and mainly around your body. Those visible lines are indeed the capillaries. There are questions as to why some look blue, that is due because the light has to penetrate the skin to illuminate them. When it happens, the blood inside the vessels turn out to make the veins look blue.
Going back to the color of our blood, its actually always red. Not because its oxygenated. Inside the blood is always a dark red, almost a black-ish looking red. But after its taken out from your body let's say from a bruise or a cut, when the oxygen hits, it turn into a bright red.
Going back to the color of our blood, its actually always red. Not because its oxygenated. Inside the blood is always a dark red, almost a black-ish looking red. But after its taken out from your body let's say from a bruise or a cut, when the oxygen hits, it turn into a bright red.
Veins and capillaries are not synonymous terms; capillaries are tiny, tiny vessels that connect arteries to veins -- well technically arterioles to venules -- and allow gas exchange to occur while veins in the majority (though not all!) of cases bring deoxygenated blood back to the heart after gas exchange has taken place. Sometimes 'veins' is used as a kind of collective noun for all types of blood vessels, but they are in fact distinct from both arteries and capillaries. The blood vessels you see close to the surface aren't always capillaries, either -- for instance, when you have blood drawn, it is often drawn from the v. mediana cubiti in your elbow which, depending on the quality of your blood vessels, can be highly visible to the naked eye even without using a tourniquet.
Like Novalyyn said, likely StaticNightmares' biology teacher was referring to the color of blood plasma, that is, blood minus things like erythrocytes (red blood cells) which is what normally imbues blood with its red hue. Blood plasma is in fact yellow, so I guess 'the... creature...' who's been so heavily maligned might have had a point after all.
I think my brain just exploded with all this knowledge. poof
Rune_stoner wrote:
Like Novalyyn said, likely StaticNightmares' biology teacher was referring to the color of blood plasma, that is, blood minus things like erythrocytes (red blood cells) which is what normally imbues blood with its red hue. Blood plasma is in fact yellow, so I guess 'the... creature...' who's been so heavily maligned might have had a point after all.
Yeh I thought of the same thing.
StaticNightmares wrote:
I think my brain just exploded with all this knowledge. poof
Haha, aw man, I'm really sorry for going full tl;dr on you, I just think blood/circulation/cardiology/&c is super interesting
(It's a heart, get it!? Cardiology! Haha!) I actually kind of dig the image of blood absent of erythrocytes as yellow blood, I might steal that from your biology teacher. Sorry, StaticNightmares' biology teacher! It's mine now 
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