where did you come from? (just my own theory, not saying its right, but when it comes to beginning of the universe, no one know if they're right or wrong)

it actually goes deeper than this, in the beginning all matter as we know it was energy, confined to a small space (site of the big bang) as energy has no mass, it can be fit inside an infinitely small area, for millennium after millenium (or for milliseconds, there was no time before the big bang, so the formation of the energy and the expansion of the universe can be seen to have happened simultaneously, or with an age apart, depending on your perspective (cool huh?)) the energies were originally of balanced charge so stayed tight in a single nucleus

as energy slowly spread out (still before the bigbang, so happened over years, or in seconds depending on perspective) some of it began to condense into the matter that makes up the entire universe, cooling the energy further, and condensing more, as this happened rapidly, the changes in energy charges shifted, causing a rapid expansion due to imbalanced charge.

In the middle of this expansion was energy, and matter, in the form of dust, atoms, gas etc. already forming, expanding outwards, it is because of these gasses that a big bang was even heard (and the echoing can still be heard today if you tune a tv into static, the crackling? radio/x-ray echos of the big bang (remember, it was pure energy in the beginning, so makes sense its now on the electromagnetic spectrum))

however, if this energy is condensing, and the bits knocking around still in energy form are just about getting into x-ray, that means theres still a lot of energy in the universe, still condensing.

This theory opens the idea that the universe is expanding outwards at a rate of expansion caused by shifts in the universal energy charge, and the reason why now the universe is speeding up in its expansion, is due to the differences in energy being greater as the current energy waves are condensing, but due to their lower energies, are creating larger more dense molecules (dark matter? ) so the changes in universal charges are much greater.

This theory also implies that when all the residual energy from the big bag and finished condensing into matter, we will finally have all the matter our universe had to begin with as pure energy, and the universal charges will become uniform and the expansion of the universe will cease to happen, leaving the universe at a fixed finite size.

Just a theory i'm playing with ;D

 

Liam OUT!

Why use drugs to stay awake when you can use light?

Its exam time, and lots of students will be desperate to extend their hours of wakefulness so they can fit as much study in as possible (or soon will be) and many of them will turn to drugs such as caffeine to keep them awake and alert for longer, however, putting chemicals into your brain is a BAD thing, especially things that speed up the brains processing speeds too much as the neurons begin to misfire and signals don't go where they're supposed to.

But there is a much better way to stay awake, and that, is white light, no chemicals, some people would argue no particles at all! (but then we get into photons vs waves, packets verses continuous energy blah blah) and what causes this wakefulness? our old friend the pineal gland.

The pineal gland secretes melatonin, and as few people know, melatonin fights cancer, but a more known fact, is that melatonin controls the sleep wake cycles of the body,

Normally, melatonin levels begin to rise in the mid- to late evening, remain high for most of the night, and then drop in the early morning hours, so the best time to fight cancer is when you're sleeping, huh, being awake CAN increase your risk of cancer, so there's a down side, but you'll sleep and the risks will level out after exam times.

The reason why melatonin levels alter throughout the day is due to the amount of light, as light affects melatonin production, during shorter, darker days, the body will produce more melatonin and its levels will increase earlier in the day than usual, this change CAN lead to symptoms of seasonal affective disorder (SAD), also known as winter depression, so by staying up longer with this light you reduce your risk of that.

This is due to the darker days and longer night time periods we experience in the winter months, (ever noticed you feel more tired or gloomy on a grim wet day? its not JUST because of the weather, or it is, because the clouds are stopping the sun light)

So, if melatonin increases you become sleepy, this happens at night, so the converse must be true for during the day, melatonin decreases, you feel more awake, when the sun is out, so the best way to feel more awake? Have a very white light in your room.

It is worth noting (but not going into) that different wavelengths have different effects on wakefulness, red light, for example, promotes melatonin production, making you feel more sleepy, white light is the best, but certain wavelengths will have increased/decreased effects

providing you sleep and get SOME REM sleep, your brain will process the information still :) 
 
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12004644
www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/endocrine/otherendo/pineal.html
http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/tc/melatonin-overview

more interesting than revision xD

EEEEEEEEEEEEEE 2 DAYS!

in two days the Mayan long count calendar will reach 13.0.0.0
I have spent the past year, studying, researching and preparing for this (albeit in the past 6 months I've been much more vocal about it)

I honestly have no idea whats going to happen on December 21st 2012 at 11:11 but here is a list of possibilities:

1. The annunaki will come back and over throw the current government, we will be told they're invading, they will not be invading the earth, they will be hear to free us of the corruption, do not fight them and you will live
2.  The cycle of awakening will begin, and our knowledge of ourselves, the universe and even its creation will expand exponentially, as we cycle towards greatness, our knowledge will increase in accordance to the  Fibonacci  sequence
3. The world will end, either from:
1. a solar flare sent out by the sun
2. The poles of the earth shifting, rendering all our electronics useless
3. Freak weather
4. some kind of military apocalypse
5. a world wide epidemic
4. The human race will finally wake up and overthrow the current system and we will begin to live as nature intended
5.  Nothing

however, what IS NOT UP FOR DEBATE IS:
The mayans were more knowledgeable about the universe than we are, we are discovering things they knew WITHOUT our modern technology, where certain planets are, what their cycles are, hell, the Maya even predicted planets that we have only just discovered based on THEIR star graphs (but don't expect an astronomer to tell you this, they'll want all the credit)

They even created a sophisticated language composing of 62 MAIN characters (and many more minor ones) that even today we cannot fully translate, merely interpret (just as in Egyptian hieroglyphs)



as much as i'd love to be wrong, and for life to go on as normal, i think any body who lives on planet earth would be a moron to not at least be half prepared for the potential end of the world, maybe not in a apocalyptic sense, but certainly the world as we know it is about to change.

Liam

OUT!

Would like to point out "jesus" was born in june:

In ancient Babylon, the feast of the Son of Isis (Goddess of Nature) was celebrated on December 25. Raucous partying, gluttonous eating and drinking, and gift-giving were traditions of this feast.

In Rome, the Winter Solstice was celebrated many years before the birth of Christ. The Romans called their winter holiday Saturnalia, honoring Saturn,

the God of AgricultureThe festival season was marked by much merrymaking. It is in ancient Rome that the tradition of the Mummers was born. The Mummers were groups of costumed singers and dancers who traveled from house to house entertaining their neighbors. From this, the Christmas tradition of caroling was born.

In northern Europe, the pagans celebrated their own winter solstice, known as Yule. It was always observed on the shortest day of the year. Huge Yule logs were burned in honor of the sun.

Mistletoe was considered a sacred plant, and the custom of kissing under the mistletoe began as a fertility ritual. Hollyberries were also thought to be a food of the gods.

The tree is the one symbol that unites almost all the northern European winter solstices. Live evergreen trees were often brought into homes during the harsh winters as a reminder to inhabitants that soon their crops would grow again

Then in 350, Pope Julius I declared that Christ's birth would be celebrated on December 25. There is little doubt that he was trying to make it as painless as possible for pagan Romans (who remained a majority at that time) to convert to Christianity.Christmas (Christ-Mass) as we know it today, most historians agree, began in Germany, though Catholics and Lutherans still disagree about which church celebrated it first. The earliest record of an evergreen being decorated in a Christian celebration was in 1521 in the Alsace region of Germany.

Your "christian" celebrations have no real origin in Christianity, If this, THE biggest holiday in the religious calendar is based on other religions and beliefs, how can you be so sure yours is right and theirs is wrong?

Don't worry, if Islamic/Judaic/Hindi religious festivals were forced down our necks as much I'd probably kick off about that too, i hate all organized religion equally

Celebrate Christmas if you want, but remember you're not actually celebrating anything, you're buying into the commercial market!
I'm not saying its not good ;) i've got £88 quids worth of food coming on the 22nd for christmas now :) all money going to mr ASDAs big brother mr Wallmart, but it'll  be a good munch, with 70cl of Jack daniels to go with ;D (but new years coming and i'd rather save it for that :P big plans ;) but thats all the world can know, i'm going off radar for 3 days , 30th,31st and most of the first :D (celebrating the world not ending)

Liam

OUT!

Anatomy and function of the pharynx

Ramble about the pharynx, was bored and this beats revision :P

The pharynx lies posterior to the oral and nasal cavities, anterior to the cervical vertebrae it is superior to the larynx and extends up  to the soft pallet where it terminates, the walls of the pharynx are made up of skeletal muscle, lined with a mucous membrane, these muscles, when contracted cause the "swallowing" action and move particles such as food down towards the lowest point, and when relaxed, help to maintain the patency of the pharynx It is split into 3 different sections:
The Nasopharynx
The Oropharynx
and the laryngopharynx

The Nasopharynx sits posterior to the nasal cavity and is used as only as a passage way for air inhaled through the external nares, it extends down from the soft palet to the opening of the oropharynx.
The nasopharynx has 5 main openings through which air can pass in and out; the 2 internal nares, 2 openings lead to the auditory (or eustachian) tubes and the main opening to the oropharynx at its base, the posterior wall of the naso pharynx houses the pharyngeal tonsil (AKA the adenoid) The Walls of the nasopharynx are lined with Pseudo stratified columner epithelium- which are designed to "waft" and mucous or obstruction down towards the esophagus where it is swalled.

The second section, the Oropharynx, lies posterior to the oral cavity, it is used as a passage way for both; air coming from the nasopharynx, and air and food coming in through the oral cavity, it begins at the base of the nasopharynx and extends down inferior to the hyoid bone, the Oropharynx only has 1 main opening through which substances may enter from the external environment, the fauces (aka the throat), it is lined with non keratinized squamous epithelium, designed to protect the muscular walls from the abrasive action of food passing through on a regular basis (and protects against the acidity of potential vomiting) the oropharynx houses 2 pairs of tonsils: the palatine, and the lingual tonsils, which function to capture and large foreign bodies (dust, viruses etc.) thus protecting the lungs from infections.

Finally the laryngopharynx (aka hypopharynx) begins at the hyoid bone level and extends until its inferior end opens into the esophagus posteriorly and the larynx in the anterior direction, this means the the laryngopharynx, like the oropharynx prior to it, is used as a passage way for both food and air, and as such, is still lined with the non keratinized squamous epithelium,to protect its muscular walls from abrasions/ damage.

References:

G.J Tortora, b. D. (2011). Principles of anatomy and physiology. Asia: John Wiley and sons. Book 2

 R. L. Drake, A. W. (2010). Gray's Anatomy for Students. Philadelphia: Churchill Livingstone.

My brain

As i said, was something to do - couldn't be arsed doing full revision so wrote this exam answer :)

Liam

Out!