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Learn About the Human Skull

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The skull or cranium is the hard, bone case that protects your brain. The skull looks as though it is a single bone. In fact, it is made up of 22 separate bones, cemented together along rigid joints called sutures.

The skull is one of the least deformable substances found in nature with it needing the force of about 1 ton to reduce the diameter of the skull by 1 cm

Life Size Model Human Skull

Amazon Price: (as of 06/02/2012)

This skull is cast in durable hard plastic. The calvarium is sectioned and can be removed to show internal details. The mandible is hinged, and the model is life size.

Cranial vault

The dome on top is called the cranial vault and it is made from eight curved pieces of bone fused (joined) together. As well as the sinuses of the nose the skull has four large cavities - the cranial cavity for the brain, the nasal cavity (the nose) and two orbits for the eyes.

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Janice VanCleave's The Human Body for Every Kid: Easy Activities that Make Learning Science Fun (Science for Every Kid Series)

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This science activity book not only provides simple, easy-to-follow demonstrations, but also is a solid resource for learning about the workings of the human body.

There are holes in the skull to allow blood vessels | and nerves through, including the optic nerves to the eyes and the olfactory tracts to the nose.

Budget Life-Size Skull

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Image:Human skull side simplified

Image:Human skull side simplified (bones).svg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

National Geographic - Inside the Living Body

It explores the senses and how they work, brain development, digestion, blood circulation, cell division, the hardening and replenishing of bone, puberty, sexuality, childbirth, changes inherent in the aging process,

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Foramen magnum

The biggest hole is in the base. It is called the foramen magnum, and the brain stem goes through it to meet the spinal cord.

In the 19th century, people called phrenologists thought they could work out people's characters from little bumps on their skulls.

Facial bones

The fourteen bones at the front of your skull hold your eyes in place and form your facial features. Your mandible, or jawbone, is the largest, strongest bone in your face. It holds your lower teeth in place and you move it to chew your food. Apart from you mandible and your vomer, all your facial bones are arranged in pairs. That's why your face is symmetrical. For example, your two zygomatic bones form your cheekbones and the outside of your eye sockets on either side of your face.

GRINNING SKULL

From flexible to fixed joints

A human skull is almost full sized at birth. However the eight bones that make up the cranium are not yet fused together. This means that the skull can flex and deform during birth, making it easier to deliver a baby through the narrow birth canal. These individual plates of bone fuse together after about 24 months to form the adult skull.

The only bone in your skull that forms freely movable joints is your mandible, or jawbone.