Tag: physiology

Hair

Hair has been much on my mind recently, probably because it keeps getting in my eyes. I grow it thick, and I usually put off haircuts until the last minute, so I’ve had plenty of occasion to wonder just what this stuff is that sprouts from our bodies and we spend so much time cutting, …

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Taste

  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. Yet our tongues both respond to the same four (and only four) …

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Tears

  There are two kinds of people in the world: those who cry at movies and those who don’t. I freely admit I’m one of the former. I even cry during TV sitcoms. Heck, sometimes I even cry during commercials (only the really good ones, though). Just why some people cry more easily than others …

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Hiccupping, itching and sneezing

We like to think we control our bodies. As I type this, my fingers oblg — er, obEY me pretty well, and if I choose to stand up and walk away, my legs won’t argue. Sometimes, however, our bodies seem to have minds of their own: like when we’re hiccupping, itching and sneezing. A hiccup …

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Exercise

I hate exercise. It’s uncomfortable, sweaty, and cuts into quality TV time. Unfortunately, it’s good for you. Exercise is physical exertion for the purpose of improving physical fitness. (If it’s for any other purpose, we call it “hard work.”) Modern fitness programs got their start in Prussia in the 1800s (which should tell you something). …

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Locomotion

Walking, crawling, hopping, slithering, creeping, gliding, leaping–the ways animals (and people) get from place to place are endlessly diverse. This ability to move is one of the main differences between most animals and most plants, and has a definite survival value, because when the glaciers start pushing south or food or water fails, species that …

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The brain

“I think, therefore I am” may be great philosophy, but let’s face it, there’s more to life than thinking. Most of us also have a body of some description (some descriptions are better than others), and our bodies and brains working together make us us–which is not to say that there’s any doubt about who …

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Nutrition

Considering the number of books written on the subject, the stacks of pamphlets available at any doctor’s office, and the fact that a column concerning it already appears in weekly newspapers across the province (I used to edit a weekly newspaper, so I know), you could consider it an act of hubris that this week …

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Sleep

  “To sleep, perchance to dream. Aye, there’s the rub . . . “ Aye, there’s the rub indeed–the rub being, nobody’s really sure why we sleep. Or why we dream. Or why either is important. Some scientists doubt that dreaming is of any great importance. They don’t have those doubts about sleep. We know …

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The heart

“Have a heart!” “You’re breaking my heart!” “He’s a man after my own heart.” “He showed a lot of heart.” “He wears his heart on his sleeve.” “Hey, wanna play hearts?” We use the word “heart” in a lot of different ways–so many, in fact, that the Oxford English Dictionary (which admittedly is not known …

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The sense of smell

If you’re like most people, when you’re asked to list the five senses, your order will be something like: sight, hearing, touch, taste and–oh, yeah–smell. Like Rodney Dangerfield, smell “can’t get no respect.” But all that may be changing. And the Japanese, as in so many other areas of technology, are leading the way–by a …

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Perception

Is what you see what’s really there, or is it all in your head? “Well, I don’t know about you,” I hear you say (which is a good trick, considering this is a newspaper column), “but I see what’s really there. This newspaper is really here in my hands–I’m not imagining it.” No, you’re not. …

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