hey there! welcome to the new episode of Curiosity! A series in which we will answer some of the questions that makes us all curious.
At one point in your life, you must have thought, what if an ant enters your ear , crawls to your brain causing damage making you mad and even killing you while you are asleep. Also, you might have heard the news like a little boy died , because of an ant that was found in his brain. But how much of this is true? We are talking about an ant managing to survive long enough in the completely hostile environment and wait for them them to the damage to our brain. Is there really a way that an insect could possibly to the damage? To answer this we need to take a closer look to the anatomy of our ears. So, let's get started.
Anatomy of our Ear
Fig: Anatomy of Ear (Credits)
In simple way, the Ear consists of 3 parts. Namely, Outer ear, middle ear and inner ear. The outer ear includes the parts like auricle (a cartilage covered by skin) , Ear canal and outer layer of the ear drum which is also called tympanic membrane.
The middle Ear consists of remaining part of Ear drum, a cavity known as tympanic cavity and 3 very tiny bone known as ossicles. These ossicles consists of three bones namely, incus , malleus and stapes. (Fact: Stapes is the smallest bone in the body). As show in the picture above , the bone attached to the ear drum is malleus, the bone attached to the cochlea is stapes and in-between them lies incus.
The Inner ear includes the inner oval window that connects the middle ear to the inner ear. Semi-circular canals which lies above the cochlea and filled with fluid helps in balancing the head. Cochlea is the spiral shaped organ in the inner ear that converts sound in to the nerve signals ans send them to the brain and finally , there's a tube name Eustachian tube which drains fluid from the middle ear to the nose.
So, Can an Ant cross all this?
Lets, say an ant dared to be the ant knight to cross all this hazards. To do this, ant will have to cross different checkpoints in the Ear. Let's see what are those check points.
Fig: Check points (Credits)
The points marked in red are the different checkpoints that an ant would have to cross successfully to reach our brain.
Check point No.1 - Ear Canals
our Ear canals are pretty rough place for a insect like ant. Small hairs and wax are the characteristic features of the Ear canal. The normal diameter of our ear canal is 0.8 cm and the size of an average ant is 0.1-0.2 cm. So, it might be possible for an ant to cross this checkpoint. let's say, it does . so what would happen at the next check point?
Check Point No.2 - Middle Ear
To travel to the middle ear, the ant would have to cross the Ear drums or the tympanic membrane. This membrane consists of 3 layers of tissues. This tissues are extremely sensitive. So for any ant to cross this barrier and to reach the next check point will have to chew off the membrane which cannot go un-noticed. But lets say, the ant crossed this barrier to. what's next?
Beyond the middle ear lies two paths, Eustachian and the inner ear. A wrong turn of an ant can lead it to fall through the Eustachian tube which opens in to the nose. Probably the ant will fall through the inner nostrils and be swaolled un-noticed. But what if the ant did't choose this path ,then?
Check Point No.3 - The Inner Ear
At this point, even if somehow ant reaches the inner ear, it would look like a complete maze. It would be completely lost in the maze. It would look something like this to an ant.
Fig: Maze (Credits)
Finally, the Brain
To reach the brain the ant would have to survive all this obstacles first. Then it, would have to travel through the auditory nerve to the first defensive part of the brain. The ant would have to borrow itself in the three different layers of meninges. Meninges is the covering that protects brain and spinal cord and holds the brain itself.
Conclusion
It's likely impossible for an ant to survive all this obstacles and cross all these barriers. Even if it reaches the inner ear, it not possible for an ant to pierce all three layers of the brain. It just cannot happen at any cost. So, from now on you don't need to worry because any kind of insect invasion to your brain is simply not possible.
That's it for this episode guys. Hope you Enjoyed it. If you did then up-vote and comments your thoughts below. And don't forget to follow me for more interesting contents like this in the future. Thank you
Stay Curious
References used:
[1]- Quora
[2]- Ants in your brain
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