Ramblings

-Migraine? Soak your hands in hot water

-Headache? Drink a glass of water

-Phenylethylamine (PEA) is a hormone produced by the brain when some one is in love, and is also found in chocolate. Salami contains 3 times more PEA than chocolate, but it is unlikely it will ever replace chocolate as a romantic gift

-Though researchers say no PEA can get to the brain through food, this explains why people often crave chocolate after break-ups. Its the body’s natural way of trying to raise PEA levels

-Aspirin is 40% more effective when taken with hot chocolate

-Chocolate contains similar chemicals to those found in marijuana, but it would take tens of kilos to achieve the same “high-like” effect.

There’s a really interesting read on the past decade and why it went so wrong in Time Magazine here:

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1942834-1,00.html

After reading that Time article, it really makes you realize that nothing really had to happen this decade. We knew 911 was coming. We knew the levees in New Orleans were going to flood the city. We knew the Mississippi bridge was structurally unsound since 1991 when it collapsed in 2007. We were just too lazy to fix anything. “Here again, why should a politician spend money today to fix something that won’t collapse until tomorrow? Especially if he or she could get re-elected by cutting taxes instead.”

- Claims of vampires in the past may have actually been caused by Porphyria: a disease in which Heme, the red pigment in hemoglobin is not produced properly.

- Symptoms of this disease include skin lesions from being out in mild sunlight, excessive hair growth, and shrinking of the skin (which in turn causes the gums and lips to recede, making it appear as if some one has fangs)

- Since the stomach can absorb small amounts of Heme, many people who suffered from the disease in early times would drink blood in hopes of curing the disease. It was effective, but not efficient.

- Garlic also contains many of the chemicals known to destroy heme. As such, it may make sense that “vampires” would have avoided it.

- King George the III of England may have had the disease. (He went mad)

- Porphria comes from the greek word for purple (The color of a phyriac’s urine)

- The story of Dracula can also be interpreted from a psychoanalytic standpoint as a story of personality disorders.

I just started reading an interesting book on the brain called “The Odd Brain: Mysteries of our Weird & Wonderful Brains Explained” br Dr. Stephen Juan, and I figured a lot of it was pretty interesting, so if anyone else’s interest is perked, heres a summary of what I’m reading:

- The brain is one of the cleanest organs in our body; it continually cleans itself with the help of its glial cells. (Cells in the brain that digest and consume dead or diseased neurons and also provide them with sustenance needed for life). Compared to the skin, it can almost be called antiseptic

-The glial cells have been hypothesized to correlate to intelligence, since more glial cells = a faster more efficient, clean brain. In one part of Einsteins brain, he had 73% more glial cells than other typical males. However, critics say this may be because the older people get, the more glial cells they gain since theyre neurons die faster.

-The brain produces more electronic impulses than all the telephones in the world in 1 day

-Contrary to popular myth, the brain does NOT use only 10% of its matter. It uses 100%, just not all at the same time.

-During youth the female brain weighs 2.65 to 2.87 lbs and the male 2.87 to 3.09 lbs.We lose 0.04 to 0.11 ounces per year during 20-60 and 0.11 to 0.14 after 60.

-The brain contains a steroid hormone called Cortisol that destroys neurons and is produced when the body feels stressed. Thus, children who are nurtured when young and treated well are found to have greater intelligence and learning capability than those who are neglected. In addition, these children are better at controlling the Cortisol system, whereas the neglected children who have an excess of Cortisol have trouble dealing with stress.

-The above is hypothesized to be why children are so attracted to their care givers. They need to develop relationships early on in life to control their Cortisol naturally.

Kinda got a messed up color scheme going on though, going to have to see if I can fix that. Click photos at the top of the page

I’ll post here if I ever find the time, Shouldn’t be too hard with dead week coming up here at UC Berkeley.

And now I’m off to hit the sack for early class tomorrow. Lates.