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Different cells have different jobs to do. Each cell has a size and shape that is suited to its
job. Cells that do the same job combine together to form body tissue, such as muscle,
skin, or bone tissue. Groups of different types of cells make up the organs in your body,
such as your heart, liver, or lungs. Each organ has its own job to do, but all organs work
together to maintain your body. A group of different organs working together to do a job
makes up a system. All the systems in your body are like members of a team whose job it
is to keep you alive and healthy.
The different types of cells in your body have different, specialized jobs to do. The
specialization of cells depends almost always on the exaggeration of properties common
to cells. For example, cells that line the intestine have extended cell membranes. This
increases the amount of surface area that is available to absorb food. Nerve cells can be
very long, which makes them efficient in sending signals from the brain to the rest of
your body. Cells in heart muscle process a lot of energy, so they have a large number of
mitochondrion, the part of the cells where energy is made.
Like all living things, cells die. The number of cells that an adult male loses per minute is
roughly 96 million. Fortunately, in that same minute, about 96 million cells divided,
replacing those that died. Just as you shed dead skin cells, dead cells from internal organs
pass through and out of the body with waste products. The length of a cells life can vary.
For example, white blood cells live for about thirteen days, cells in the top layer of your
skin live about 30 days, red blood cells live for about 120 days, and liver cells live about
18 months.