14 September,2012 11:56 AM IST | | ANI
Not only that, they so not know how much blood they have, how many teeth are in our mouths or what roles their vital organs perform.
Many of the 2,000 respondents questioned by researchers were unable to say what our correct body temperature should be, while nearly 10 percent were unsure of the number of kidneys they have.
Additionally, the study also found that 60 percent of the participants could not name their own blood type.
The research was commissioned by the Museum Of London to mark the launch of its October exhibition Doctors, Dissection And Resurrection Men.
"It seems we have a depressing lack of anatomical awareness," the Daily Mail quoted Jelena Bekvalac, Curator of Human Osteology at the museum, as saying.
"Perhaps we have a tendency to rely on medical authorities to do all they can for us without really understanding the way that we work.
"We are reassured by expertise and don't take the time to understand the basics of how our own bodies function or are structured.
"The Museum of London's new exhibition, Doctors, Dissection And Resurrection Men explores the extreme lengths 19th century medical pioneers went to to increase anatomical understanding.
"Surgeons faced a torturous dilemma - learn their skills on stolen corpses or practice on a living patient.
"And so began a gruesome trade. Body-snatchers stalked the city's graveyards to supply fresh corpses for medical dissection.
"It is therefore sobering to consider our less than exemplary knowledge of basic biology," Bekvalac said.
The study found that just half of those polled could correctly identify the heart's location in the left-centre of the chest, while three-quarters were stumped when it came to guessing how many bones are in the adult human body.
