From the brains behind brains on, this is the moment of um.

Um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, moment of um comes to you from APM studios. I'm Anna Weggle.

Um, I don't know about you, but sometimes if I have a tiny cut on my finger, I have this

impulse to, and okay, I know this might sound kind of gross,

put it in my mouth really quickly to try to stop the bleeding. Trust me, I am not a vampire.

It's just an impulse that I've had before. And when I did it, I noticed a sort of strong,

icky metallic taste. Have you ever

noticed that? I'm not recommending that you do it, but I'm just saying if you have, then maybe

you've noticed that too. And if you're wondering why our blood tastes that way, you're not alone.

Listener Sophie was also wondering why blood tastes like metal. And additionally, listener Adrian

was wondering why our bodies

aren't magnetic. We have just the expert to answer both questions. Well, you kind of answered it

for yourself, but blood is actually quite rich in iron, and that's why it leaves that metallic taste.

Hi, I'm Courtney Jordan Beckler, and I'm a cardiologist. That means I'm a heart

doctor that takes care of mostly adult patients. But luckily, we became internist or internal

medicine doctors first before we became cardiologist and learned a lot about taking care of sick

people and in general how our bodies work. We need iron

for our hemoglobin and hemoglobin is part of our red blood cells. So there's all different types.

There's white blood cells. There's red blood cells. There's platelets. They do different things.

The white blood cells help fight off sickness.

The platelets help the blood clot. So when you bleed, your blood clots in part because the

platelets are working well. The red blood cells are what carries the oxygen to our lungs and

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