Power Hour Reading: Drunk Tank Pink

Name of Book: Drunk Tank Pink

Name of Chapter: "Weather and Warmth"

Summary: Scientists have been noticing trends in human behavior in response to weather and have been trying to explain it since perhaps before the 1800's. In Drunk Tank Pink by Adam Alter, it is revealed that according to various experiments and observations made in the last century, warmth has the power to excites the brain and body, making the heart beat faster and encouraging testosterone levels to rise in males. Depending on the situation, the induced excitement can be interpreted in many different ways: from arousal to rage. An experiment conducted in Arizona found that road rage escalated when the temperature rose. Looking through history, tropical regions tended to participate in more civil conflicts (207-208).
Although rising temperatures can cause a bard sort of excitement, sunshine and warmth has also been linked again and again to physical and emotional well-being. Harry Harlow discovered that baby monkeys valued warmth more than nourishment (212), and another experiment found that students who held heated therapeutic packs felt less lonely (as opposed to those who held cooled packs) (213). On the sunshine aspect, exposure to light plays a large role in the release of melatonin, which basically signals the body that it is time for sleep. During the winter or when the clouds hang heavy, the absence of light prolongs the release of melatonin, making people feel less energized. In contrast, summer weather causes a "summer high", in which people generally feel more elated and relaxed (215-219).

Thesis: Weather and temperature alters animal behavior. In Alter's words, "Summertime War, Wintertime Love".

The reading is pretty credible-- all of the authors claims are backed up by examples or research. I liked the part of the book where he Alter explained why sunny weather makes us feel good. I've often noticed that waking up to blue skies and yellow sunshine improved my mood for the rest of the day, or at least for the rest of the morning, although I never really know why. Now I know!

A Woman Perpetually Falling

Cheryl is one of few people who have lost their sense of balance. Ever since being prescribed an excessive amount of gentamicin to treat an infection, her inner ear structures have been damaged, including her vestibular apparatus. The vestibular apparatus is the organ that gives a person his sense of space and orientation through the movement of fluids. Since she lost all sense of balance, she could no longer stand without falling, sometimes losing touch of even the ground. Bach-y-Rita, a well qualified neurologist, developed a helmet that would help replace the vestibular apparatus and transmit signals to the brain via tongue. Sensory signals now bypass the damaged vestibular apparatus to go straight to the area of the brain that processes balance. Amazingly, the longer the helmet is worn, the longer the "residual effect" lasted, meaning she could stay balanced without the help of the device. Long term use also eventually makes permanent adjustments to the brain so that the residual effect last longer every time. The amazing ability of the brain to take over the jobs of damaged brain parts proves the plasticity of the brain.

"[Cheryl] suffers from mental fatigue, as well, from being on constant high alert. It takes a lot of brain power to maintain an upright position--brain power that is taken away from such mental functions as memory and the ability to calculate and reason" (5). Her pain doesn't just stop with her loss of balance--everything about her life is damaged as a result. What is living if she can't do anything beyond trying to stay sane? Most of us take being able to stand for granted, but what she and others like her go through daily reminds the rest of us that we really should be grateful for even the small things.

"...It did keep up. Over the next year Cheryl wore the device more frequently to get relief and build up her residual effect. Her residual effect progressed to multiple hours, to days, and then to four months. Now she does not use the device at all and longer considers herself a Wobbler" (10). The capability for the brain to find new ways to compensate for damages sensory parts is truly mystifying. It can re train itself to bypass the vestibular apparatus and still process the sense of space and orientation--it seems like the brain can do more things than it can't.

"...my father had had a huge lesion from his stroke and that it had never healed, even though he recovered all those functions" (23). This time, it wasn't just a missing sensory organ. 97% of the nerves in that father's cerebral cortex and spine were destroyed. Because this cortex is mainly responsible for control in movement, he had become paralyzed. Pedro (the father), was somehow able to regain his ability to move even though the main processor for movement was permanently damaged. This just further proves how plastic the brain is in it's ability to reorganize and recover lost functions.

Clay Brain

We made two models of the human brain: one of the left hemisphere along the sagittal plane and one of the right cerebral hemisphere. In order to accurately portray all the parts of the brain correctly we googled a couple images and pieced the parts together. Then we used Play-Doh to to model the parts on a piece of card board.

Missing Brain Parts

Missing an entire portion of the brain sounds catastrophic--and even more so when that part of the brain contains 50% of the brain's neurons--but a woman the age of 24 proves just how adaptable the brain is. Usually those with missing cerebellums die at a young age, but this woman has lived with relatively few problems for her condition. She could not speak properly until age 6 and didn't walk until 7, but other than dizziness and nausea, her body functions normally. The cerebellum is thought to have a role in motor and speech control but mostly control voluntary movements, so it is amazing that she is living with such minor problems. Doctors say that the cortex probably took over those roles.

If someone had their corpus callosum severely damaged or removed, the brain would have little or no connection between the left and right hemispheres. Surgeries on removing the corpus callosum have been done to treat severe epileptic seizures, so it is clear that people can live without this part. However, damage to the corpus callosum could result in a lack of will to move or speak, called akinetic mutism. Separating the left and right brain can also lead to split-brain syndrome, where the patient's body will act differently on the left and right side because of the brain's inability to cohesively communicate to control the entire body at once. There really is no other part of the brain that can take ovre the role of the corpus callosum because it physically connects the two hemispheres.

20 Time Project: H2OnTheGo (Post1)

20% Time is a personal project in which individuals or pairs have time to work on something that interests him/them. 20% of the time in a typical class once a week is dedicated to this.

To begin, I asked myself, "What are some day-to-day problems I face?" After long deliberation, I finally realized that I don't drink enough water. Especially during  week days, I drink maybe half the amount of the daily recommendation of 7 cups a day. At school, I'm often occupied with work or friends and I forget to drink regularly. I keep my water bottle in my backpack, so it's even harder to to remind myself to drink. For my project, I am attempting to end chronic dehydration--primarily in the United States. Drinking enough water is a crucial step to maintaining health. Dehydration can cause fatigue, high blood pressure, kidney disease, headaches ect.; simply drinking water is a easy solution anyone is willing to take--so as long as they remember to. That's where my idea comes in. 

H2OnTheGo is a water bottle that reminds the user to drink on an hourly basis. In addition to time reminders, it will recommend an increase in water intake in accordance to the surrounding temperature. For example, if it's a hot day, the temperature sensors in the bottle will indicate the user to drink double his normal amount. Most of the technological elements will be located in the cap of the bottle.

This projects will require me to do some research about how much technology like bluetooth chips or temperature sensors cost and how small each element can be in order to fit all of it into a cap. My goal will be to design an ergonomic glass thermos bottle with a sturdy waterproof cap that holds all the required technology. I will decide later what functions will be included and what should be cut based on cost and consumer tastes. Progress can be measured in the steps taken to produce a plausible plan for the creation if this product.

From here on out, I will be working on the design of the glass bottle, color schemes, waterproofing, technology, and whatever else necessary for the completion of the H2OnTheGo water bottle.

Unit 5 Reflection

http://kidshealth.org/en/kids/digestive-system.html

In Unit 5 we learned out the functions of the digestive, endocrine, and lymphatic systems. 

The digestion system does 6 things: ingests food, secretes enzymes and acids, mixes the food, digests, absorbs, and defecates the waste out once the nutrients have been stripped. The entire digestive tract is essentially a very long tube the wraps around itself, connecting the mouth to the anus. Once food is chewed in the mouth, it takes on the name "bolus". After leaving the stomach, the bolus is termed " chyme". Protein digestion starts in the stomach, while carbohydrate breakdown begins in the mouth with the mechanical grind up of food by the teeth but also the secretion of amylase. Most of the food gets digested and absorbed in the small intestine. Accessory organs like the liver and pancreas delivers bile and enzymes to the small intestine to aid the digestion. Any left over food is dried out in the large intestine in preparation for defecation and water is absorbed to rehydrate the body.

In the fed state, the absorbed sugars will mostly be processed for storage. When the body enters fasting state, the stored glucose will be released into the blood to keep the fuel supply up. In addition to sugar, the body will begin to rely more on fats for energy so that the majority of glucose can be saved for the brain and red blood cells to use. If meals are not eaten for 4-5 days, muscles will solely rely on fats and the brain on ketone bodies until proteins become the only source of available energy. This stage is called the starvation state. Too much protein consumption results in organ failure, and eventually, death.

https://fwcdscience.wikispaces.com/Membrane+Proteins--Receptors

The endocrine system is responsible for secreting hormones that control various actions in the body. Steroid hormones can diffuse through cell membranes to affect cells directly, while nonsteroid hormones need to connect to cell receptors on the surface of cells to initiate a signal cascade. We have many different glands all responsible for producing their own specialized hormones. Among those are the pituitary gland, posterior lobe, anterior lobe, thyroid, parathyroid, and adrenal glands. The pancreas is a particularly important gland that secretes insulin and glucagon, which as we learned before, are very important in maintaining blood sugar levels and health.

The lymphatic system is responsible for immunity, lipid absorption, and fluid recovery. Like blood vessels, there are lymphatic vessels that run through the body that collect cellular waste and traps foreign substances to be destroyed by immune cells. 

I think this unit was pretty successful--I learned more about how I should take care of my body and why it is essential to keep the body healthy. I didn't really have any setbacks this units; it went smoothly.

A lab we did for this Unit was looking at how long our digestive system is based on the lengths of other parts of the body. It was surprising to look at how much tubing can fit into your body.

I want to further research the reading we did on resistance training being beneficial and even necessary for metabolism rates. If learn about how I should effectively work out to maintain appropriate type II muscle, I can still have decent muscle mass when I age and live an even more fulfilled life as a result.

My new year's goals was to start running on the weekends again and not slack off on work as a second semester senior. I actually have ran a couple times since the year started, but unfortunately, have not entirely succeeded in keeping myself motivated to work. I'm still doing fine in my classes, but I know I'm not spending as much time as I could on work. I've also watched out for my diet a little more and stayed away from eating unhealthy foods and overcarbsumption.