Monday, September 19, 2011

sooo why am i not in med school?

[via globalhealth.stanford.edu]

.....oh yeah, because i hate needles.
and, ok, sometimes blood makes me queasy.

but what got me started on this is something i've come to realize:
i am in love with the human body
it fascinates me!
seriously, we are walking miracles
i love learning about it
talking about it
etc etc etc

i've recently gotten in the habit of googling things as soon as i get curious about them
you know all those things you say "i wonder why..."
well, i started finding some answers

here's a couple tidbits i learned this wknd:

1. nasal cycles
turns out you don't breathe equally through both nostrils
at any given time, the majority of air is passing through just one side
but every hour or so, it switches
the internet called this a "delicate dance"
groove on, olfactories!

2. why are girls colder than boys?
i love this one!
so, how cold you feel is determined by the temperature of your extremities [e.g. hands and feet, etc.]
the answer to the aforementioned question involves blood flow
as females, our bodies know that our core needs to stay warm
our child-bearing organs demand it, if you will
so, most of our blood flow stays around our midsection
thus, it doesn't make it to our hands and feet as well
thus, we feel colder

3. why do kids get more ear infections than adults?
so there's this tube that runs from your ear to your throat
[goes by the name of eustachian]
any unwanted fluid in your ear drains through it and you swallow it
if you get too much fluid in your ear, you get an infection
but if you get sick, sometimes little germs sneak into the tube
thus clogging it
thus preventing drainage
thus causing an ear infection
so why does it happen to kids more?
well, their trusty ol' eustachians are shorter and more horizontal than adults
shorter = easier for germs to clog it up
horizontal = doesn't drain as well
clogging + lack of drainage = ear infections

and there you have it kids!
kind of having a nerdy science day up in here
look out, bill nye!

8 comments:

Katie said...

Hahaha YES. I want you to write for the MSN Lifestyle type news pages. I would so read your "Health" articles.

Unknown said...

I am so impressed!!! I love the medical field. I am a healthcare junky. No lie.

Kristin said...

this was an extremely informative post. I learned 3 new things. Thank you, thank you. I support this becoming a regular feature on the ol' bloggy blog.

The Ballard Family said...

That was fun. :)

Emma Frances said...

I google EVERYTHING too! Usually to prove that I am right about things to my hubby. {Not a good habit and one that I'm trying to break}. Anyway, I love this post and all of this stuff is definitely super interesting. Now how to get you to become a doctor without having to deal with all the nasty stuff...you should google it to find a way! You would make a great doctor!

Casey said...

wow, I love this! and I used to idolize Bill Nye hands down, but now I can say that you are giving him a run for his money.

Myke said...

I almost feel like I knew that intuitively about my nose, but it's good to have it explained like that.

Jonathan said...

And here I always thought girls were colder than guys as a grand plan to make us cuddle. Hmm. I think I still like my theory more.