Category Archives: Science

What Do I Want To Do Today? Power Up

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Late last night I saw this on Pinterest.  Wha??

I mean, not only did I not expect to find something actually helpful amidst all the shoes and motivational workout posters and yogurt parfait recipes, but really??  Why did I not know this??

Also, does that really work?  I mean, it made sense, but it was April Fool’s Day yesterday so I was on my guard.

Well, according to the internets: Yes, yes it does work.

But who am I to just go on the blind faith of what other people tell me?  I mean, who am I to do that today?  Because if it weren’t a day when I needed to write a blog post, well… who knows?

So, I tested it out using two different methods:

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What Do I Want To Do Today? Your Face

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Yesterday I watched a documentary on the History Channel called, Secrets of Body Language (that’s a history channel clip, the full show can be found here).

In it there was a segment on facial expressions and micro-expressions.  As you can imagine, there is an incredible amount of diversity in facial and micro-expressions and it’s astonishing how telling they can be.

Here’s the problem: Y’all, I kinda suck at reading facial expressions.

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What Do I Want To Do Today? Figure Out Why Cops Do That Thing

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I went to see The Dark Knight Rises yesterday evening.

In case you’re wondering, yes, it was awesome n’ stuff.

Now, I know that while watching a movie I’m supposed to be caught up in the moment and suspend my disbelief and just let myself be sucked in and go with whatever premise is presented.  But while watching I noticed something.

No, it was not how amazing Anne Hathaway’s ass looks in her Catwoman costume nor how totally practical her running heels are.  Though, really, she is hot so… you know, meow.

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What Do I Want To Do Today? Submit Myself To Research

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Let it never be said that I’m not a generous gal.

I even offered myself (and the mister) up for research.

Goodness, I hope they give me this shirt when it’s all said and done.

Ok, maybe it’s not as wackadoo as it sounds.

Right before the mister and I got hitched, I learned of a research study being conducted about newly married couples at the University of Texas at Austin.

I thought, “This oughta be fun.”

So I emailed the contact and asked if they were still accepting suckers… I mean… applicants.

It turns out, the mister and I would be married just right before the marriage cut off date, meaning we would be one of the last couples accepted into the study.

Sweet.

Just guess which one of us dances like this when we get good news. (hint: it’s me)

So for nearly three years we’ve been sending saliva samples, submitting questionnaires, providing interviews and being videotaped all in the name of (soft) science.

I have to admit, it’s actually been kinda fun.

Honestly, how many couples get to look back at their relationship in their first years of marriage, really think about how they are doing and what the issues might be, and then catalogue and discuss it?  Bonus, the information gets to be used to help determine what makes a couple strong and/or stay together.

We’ve filled out our most recent questionnaires and today we go in for another interview and to drop off saliva samples. (who says research isn’t sexy?)

If you’re interested in the study, check out Austin Marriage Project.  The mister and I are enrolled in Study 1.

I don’t think the information is really earth-shattering or anything, but it’s been interesting to see how the process of “reasearchering” is conducted.

If you’re interested in finding out what research studies are near you, a simple Google search should yield some pretty interesting results.

Have any of y’all participated in research studies (crazy or non)?

What Do I Want To Do Today? Watch Some Stuff About Space

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I recently saw this video:

It is amazing and inspiring and makes me feel like a dope for not knowing more about that expanse around us we call the universe.

You know what else makes me feel like a dope?
Not using the metric system.

Though I’m pretty sure it has to do with the fact that the thought of some king dying from chocolate milk would call into question way too many things that Americans hold dear. Like chocolate and milk.

Clearly, I digress.

I found Carl Sagan’s Cosmos streaming on Netflix (no, I’m not providing a link to Netflix) and decided that I’m going to do a Cosmos marathon sprinkled with episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. (that show is awesome shut up don’t judge me!)

I’m going to boldly go where about a million nerds have gone before.

I’ll see you guys on the other side.

 

Also, Picard ftw against Kirk any day.

What Do I Want To Do Today? Read Some Medical Mystery Stuff And Make Horrible Guesses About It

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Recently, the mister showed me a New York Times column called, “Think Like A Doctor.”  The author presents a “medical mystery” and asks readers to submit their guesses.  The next day the answer is presented. It’s pretty interesting and never ceases to make me feel as though my medical knowledge is completely inadequate.  Good times.

Also, it makes me realize that I would make a terrible doctor.  I’d be like House, MD, but without ever finding the correct answer, even after the 12 life-threatening, ill-advised, horrific treatment attempts and smarmy, off-putting antics.  I imagine my medical advice would consist of:

  1. Put some IcyHot on it.
  2. Walk it off.
  3. Stop whining, are you sure you used enough IcyHot?
I like long walks on the beach and telling people to shut the hell up.

 

Here’s the most current column (as of March 2nd): Think Like A Doctor: Doubled Over in Pain

And here’s the Diagnosis column main page (it has all of the Think Like A Doctor articles).

 

 

What do I want to do today? Understand how vomiting works

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It’s sad to say that I’ve been thinking about this for a while, but to be fair, I live with two cats and a dog.  So, for those of you out there without animals, that’s like living with a two-headed baby version of the girl from The Exorcist. Head spins and everything. True story.

Looks cute, but that’s a veritable shit storm waiting to happen

To be perfectly honest, I’m a little amazed that this has never crossed my mind before.  Think of it this way: I’ve grown up around animals (that probably ralphed), I now have some of my own (that definitely ralph), I know I’ve had my own bouts (drunken and non-drunken ralph), I know the mister has, too (sorry, dude, but you can’t deny the ralph), and NOW I’m suddenly wondering how the magic happens?

Well I will live in ignorance no more, my friends.  The magical mystery tour of the secrets of the body’s puke mechanism (I’m fairly certain that’s the scientific term) is boarding right… now.

First things first, it’s important to clarify exactly what I’m trying to understand.  I want to know what basic mechanisms occur within a body that allow it remove a perceived threat from it’s system via the process of barfing. Oh, yeah, this is going to be real science-y, y’all. I’m not looking to understand the gag reflex in and of itself, nor am I looking to understand how emetics work (or bulimics for that matter).  I want to know the basic, I consumed something icky and it didn’t agree with me and now it’s a-comin’ back up.  Yeah, totally gross. But gross for science so it’s ok.

I wanted to make sure I got my facts straight so I, of course, went to Wikipedia first.  Just to be super safe, I also checked some other websites and YouTube.  This info’s gotta be sound as a pound, right?

Here’s what I learned:
Food/poison/shoes/whatever goes in (through the mouthal region, just in case you weren’t sure). The esophagus muscle contracts to force the food/poison/shoes/whatever towards the stomach. Stomach goes, “Ew.”

Here’s where things start to get fun: The 4th ventricle of the brain (a cerebrospinal fluid filled cavity located next to the medulla) contains receptors that, when tickled, act as a trigger zone for the process of vomiting.

The 4th ventricle sets off a series of reactions that include: increased salivation (to protect tooth enamel) and deep breath (to avoid aspirating vomit).  Sounds nice, right?  The 4th ventricle is trying to protect us, right?  No!  That B just makes you think it’s helping and then starts this shizz: retroperistalsis. That’s when the small intestine gets all contract-y and pushes all of the contents of the digestive tract into the stomach, through a “relaxed” pyloric sphincter.  Gross!

The good times continue with the first actual phase of vomiting: retching!  Abdominal muscles contract and intrathoracic (fancy word for “inside the chest”) pressure lowers causing stomach contents to propel, nay LAUNCH, into the esophagus (cause the esophagus just rolls over, plays dead, and relaxes it’s lower sphincter.  Way to go, esophagus).

But wait, there’s more!  The second (and luckily last) phase of vomiting is expulsion. Expulsion is when the upper esophageal sphincter relaxes and the stomach and intestinal contents are expelled. Did you catch that the esophagus has two sphincters (heh heh, sphincters), both of which just lame out at the first sign of stress? Bonus, the expulsion act causes horrible pig sweats and increased heart rate. On the flipside, though, once the ordeal is over, the relief of pressure and release of endorphins makes you think it wasn’t so bad after all.  You’re wrong, but hey, at least your done puking.

They may think that’s a demon coming out, but really it’s just lunch.

If you’d like to learn more (you probably don’t), here are the sites I used:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vomiting

‘http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iiWtKhlBR0

http://www.suite101.com/content/what-is-vomiting-and-why-do-we-vomit-a119827

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003117.htm

http://www.umm.edu/ency/article/003117.htm (same info as nlm.nih.gov)