Scientific Challenges from Everyday Life | Page 11
How tall can a person get ?
If it were possible to manipulate the genes that determine our height , how tall would we grow ?
Overall , there ’ s no way you can increase your height . Each person is born with genes that will help dictate how tall they become , but other factors such as inadequate nutrition or medical conditions may alter this outlook .
Hormonal conditions may be the few exceptions . If a lack of thyroid or human growth hormones is detected during childhood , then taking medications may help reverse the effects on height .
However , once you reach adulthood , taking hormonal replacements won ’ t make you taller . At this point , your full height has already been achieved , and taking any medications or supplements won ’ t make a difference .
Is there a natural limit to human height ?
According to John Wass at the University of Oxford , a specialist in acromegalic gigantism ( explained below ), our upper limit is around 9 feet . To survive even for a few months at that height would be a bit of a miracle . In order to regularly produce people over 9 feet tall , the reproducing pair would probably need to be a different shape — not the usual human shape . This is because of the square-cube law . To put it simply , this law says that as a shape grows taller and taller , its volume increases at a much greater pace .
How tall can a person get ?
If it were possible to manipulate the genes that determine our height , how tall would we grow ?
Overall , there ’ s no way you can increase your height . Each person is born with genes that will help dictate how tall they become , but other factors such as inadequate nutrition or medical conditions may alter this outlook .
Hormonal conditions may be the few exceptions . If a lack of thyroid or human growth hormones is detected during childhood , then taking medications may help reverse the effects on height .
However , once you reach adulthood , taking hormonal replacements won ’ t make you taller . At this point , your full height has already been achieved , and taking any medications or supplements won ’ t make a difference .
Is there a natural limit to human height ?
According to John Wass at the University of Oxford , a specialist in acromegalic gigantism ( explained below ), our upper limit is around 9 feet . To survive even for a few months at that height would be a bit of a miracle . In order to regularly produce people over 9 feet tall , the reproducing pair would probably need to be a different shape — not the usual human shape . This is because of the square-cube law . To put it simply , this law says that as a shape grows taller and taller , its volume increases at a much greater pace .