Tag: physiology

"Yield not to temptation, for yielding is sin…"

…goes an old hymn I remember well. But we do yield to temptation, as every dieter knows. It’s such a human trait that it’s the whole basis for the Bible–Adam yielded to temptation, and God had to send his Son to die for all our sins as a result. (That’s the short version, there’s lots …

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A treatment for tinnitus?

It’s not a cure, but scientists have discovered an unexpectedly effective way to treat the symptoms of tinnitus, at least in one patient. As I’ve mentioned before, my ears have been ringing for as long as I can remember. Mostly I ignored the problem; occasionally it annoys me, usually when I read something about tinnitus …

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A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and dissimilar major histocompatibility complexes

The candlelight is gleaming, soft jazz is playing, the fireplace is crackling, and you’re snuggled on the couch with the woman you love. You finger the diamond ring in your pocket. There’ll never be a better time to pop the question. You look deep into her eyes and say, “My darling, why don’t we get …

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Practice makes perfect?

Nope. Turns out: “The main reason you can’t move the same way each and every time, such as swinging a golf club, is that your brain can’t plan the swing the same way each time,” says electrical engineering Assistant Professor Krishna Shenoy, whose research includes study of the neural basis of sensorimotor integration and movement …

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How long can an unprotected human survive the vacuum of space?

It may not be a question you’ve ever asked yourself, but it’s certainly germane to any number of science fiction writers. Turns out you’ve got about 10 seconds of consciousness, and if air pressure and oxygen are restored within a minute and a half, you can be revived without serious consequences. Beyond that, what with …

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Making sleep optional

It’s a safe bet that there have been a lot of bleary-eyed people around Regina this week, following last week’s Grey Cup revelry.  But then, there are a lot of bleary-eyed people around all the time, since very few of us ever get as much sleep as we really need. That being the case, wouldn’t …

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From tennis elbow to hot-tub lung

Once upon a time, most of the injuries people suffered were the result of the hard physical labor they had to perform day-in and day-out to survive. Today we have a whole new set of injuries and ailments that are the result, not of hard work, but of recreation. Take hot-tub long, for instance. This …

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The tick of the biological clock

Before I had a baby daughter to keep me sleep-deprived, I almost always woke up a few minutes before the alarm went off. It’s a common phenomenon, and it’s only possible because we each have an additional clock, not on our bedside tables, but in our heads.  These clocks regulate a number of bodily functions, …

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Bitterness blocking

Taste is highly subjective.  You may like rhubarb, which I regard as mutated celery.  I, on the other hand, like haggis, whereas organ meats ground up with oatmeal and boiled in a sheep’s stomach may not appeal to you.  And so on. And yet soon we may all be able to agree on what we …

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The science of stink

We all have our favorite smells, which remind us of our favorite things. The smell of baking bread may make you think of Grandma’s house. The scent of lilacs may remind you of warm summer evenings. Then there our are less-favorite smells, like the smell of an outhouse on a hot day, or the smell …

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Sneezing and coughing

If you’ve been to a concert or play recently, you know ’tis the season for coughing and sneezing–usually during the quietest moments. Both coughing and sneezing are reflex actions (sneezing more so than coughing–you can cough deliberately, but it’s almost impossible to fake a sneeze.) And as the proud father of a five-and-a-half-month-old baby girl, …

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Perfect pitch

The Harding University A Cappella Chorus, when I sang with it, seldom relied on pitch pipe or tuning fork to pitch songs.  Instead, we relied on Eve, who hummed pitches as needed–ask her for an A or a C-sharp, and she could produce it, accurately, out of thin air. Eve was one of the estimated …

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