The photic sneeze reflex, also called photoptarmosis or Autosomal dominant Compelling Helio-Ophthalmic Outburst (ACHOO) syndrome is a hereditary trait which in some cases causes sneezing when a individual is suddenly exposed to large amount of bright light. This gene has been shown to exist more often in the genome of Caucasians, with more than 90% of photic sneezers observed being Caucasian, and 64% being female. People for hundreds of years have wondered exactly why we do this, what purpose does it serve? Our earliest records of this phenomenon can be tracked back to Aristotle in his book, Problems, book XXXIII, which was written somewhere between third and sixth century CE. In our modern age with advances in chemistry and biology we can finally see exactly why this occurs, and our knowledge of evolutionary biology shows us why this gene helped our ancestors.
Our ancestors had little in the way of cleaning and washing technology. Not only did we not yet understand the importance of cleanliness, but we simple did not have the means to keep ourselves clean. No antibacterial soap or running water meant that our primitive bodies had to create means of defense versus the bacteria which threatened our bodies. There are lots of examples of techniques our bodies use to help defend ourselves from harmful bacteria. An example which closely relates with our phenomenon in question is when the olfactory glands are irritated by something such as black pepper. Black pepper contains a chemical piperine, which acts to mimic the chemical makeup of many bacteria. This is a defense adapted by the pepper itself which acts to scare off potential predators who may be sniffing around for food. Since our olfactory glands are already attuned to "flush the system" when it detects bacteria, it will then detect the pepper, mistaking it for bacteria, and thus inducing the sternutation.
Many bacteria have evolved to be undetectable by our olfactory glands. This leads to problems for humans when the bacteria start to reproduce and grow unattended to. So what is the solution? If our bodies were to sneeze at random intervals, bacteria would of course never be able to settle and to reproduce. This explains the reason for sneezin', but why the photic response in some individuals? The answer is that individuals with the gene have a small amount of cone cells coating their nostrils which serve to detect UV light given off by the sun, causing the sneeze reaction. Studies have shown that before the 14th century between 10-20% of the world population had this gene.
But why are there such a significant number of Caucasian and specifically Anglo-Saxon people with this gene? Originally scientists determined that it was simply a random coincidence which led to this, however recent research has shown that the number of people of Anglo-Saxon descent with this gene is simply too great compared to people of other descent in order to be a coincidence. It turns out that this can be explained due to the massive loss of population during the Black Death. The Black Death killed around 60% of the entire European population in 14th century, and it isn't hard to understand exactly how useful the photic sneeze reflex would be for a person living in that time. Even the few extra times per day that it allowed the carriers of the gene to sneeze was enough to decrease likelihood of disease transmission by 60%! In the 15th century it is estimated that between 90-95% of all Europeans had the gene for photic sneeze reflex.
Friday, March 28, 2014
Friday, October 4, 2013
On The Subject Of Lightning
Many, if not every person that has ever lived probably understands the concept of lightning. They will see the sudden flash and may even catch a glimpse of the snaking, forking occurrence. However, studies held at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, showed that many people didn't understand the actual scientific processes that occur during the incident of a lightning strike (Green 202). This is troubling, as understanding the process through which this dangerous event occurs could help prevent serious and sometimes fatal incidents. Green states that, "Raising lightning and thunder awareness is really important to me and my colleagues," and that "because people do not understand the dangers of lightning, they could be putting themselves, and their loved ones at risk." (Green 213).
Rain
To understand lightning, we must first be able to understand the basic principles behind the process of rain and the clouds that hold them. As we know, as liquids are heated, they become gaseous, once gaseous, they tend to accumulate together into what we know as clouds. This is because of the Ideal gas law, which gives an approximated idea of how an average gas would act under normal conditions (Ideal 324). Once the gases form a cloud, they are ready to capture and contain water. As gaseous, evaporated water enters a cloud, it is sucked towards the middle, creating the oxydihydral nucleus. This is for all intents and purposes a 'ball' or 'blob' of now-liquid water, which will drench any object that passes through it, such as planes or weather balloons. As liquid water continues to accumulate in the oxydihydral nucleus, the full cloud becomes darker, as a result of less light being able to pass through the liquid water nucleus. Eventually, the cloud becomes so filled with liquid water, that it begins to soak through the bottom or sides of the cloud, and rain starts to descend towards the earth. Randy Billings-Clyde showed in his research, that acid rain is a result of harmful and acidic gases and pollutants being used to compose the gaseous outer layer of cloud (Billings-Clyde 204).
Lightning and Thunder
Now that we understand the ideas behind rain and clouds, we can move on to the exciting part: lightning. Those that will remember their high school chemistry class will remember that electrons are negatively charged subatomic particles which make up the orbitals of atoms. As clouds fly through the air at surprising velocities, we can easily understand how the water contained within them can be rapidly spun and knocked around. After too long, this water agitation causes massive amounts of electrons to be stripped from the water, and an electric current is created. This electric current passes to and fro inside the oxydihydral nucleus, until finally rain begins. Once the rain begins, the electrons that form the electric charge within the oxydihydral nucleus shoot out to a nearby raindrop. Once the raindrop is hit, the charge immediately jumps to another nearby raindrop. This process continues rapidly, resulting in a massive electric discharge that creates the lightning you see. The forks you see in lightning occur occasionally when the charge splits off in multiple directions, to multiple different rain drops. The sound of thunder that you hear with lightning is actually the sound of each of the rain drops being instantly and violently being destroyed. According to a scientist that works at the University of Cambridge, this is the only instance of matter being completely destroyed, in no other instance does matter get completely removed from the universe (Hawking 206). This explains the incredibly loud sound created.
Metal and Rubber
We all know that metal is incredibly good at attracting lightning, but can you explain why? Turns out that metals are conductors, meaning that they are more likely to give away electrons from their valence electrons, than to take them. This means that they can pass around electrons incredibly well, meaning they are really good at holding a charge. This means that as the lightning approaches the ground, it is more likely to want to strike a metal object than any other object, as it is much easier to pass through. Now rubber is the opposite. Being what is called a 'noble gas', rubber is extremely hard for an electron to pass through. This is because noble gasses have their entire valence shell filled, meaning that they are less inclined to give away their electrons. This makes rubber quite good for avoiding lightning strikes. A scientist at the University of UT, Austin discovered that those using a metal umbrella were five times more likely to be struck by lightning than those with a rubber umbrella (Washingbeard 124).
Green, Ted. Lighnting: The Silent Killer. University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2002. Print.
Ideal, Howard. My Gas Law. Cambridge, 1843. Print.
Washingbeard, Jhon. Lead Umbrellas: Directors Cut. University of UT, Austin, 2014. Print.
Rain
To understand lightning, we must first be able to understand the basic principles behind the process of rain and the clouds that hold them. As we know, as liquids are heated, they become gaseous, once gaseous, they tend to accumulate together into what we know as clouds. This is because of the Ideal gas law, which gives an approximated idea of how an average gas would act under normal conditions (Ideal 324). Once the gases form a cloud, they are ready to capture and contain water. As gaseous, evaporated water enters a cloud, it is sucked towards the middle, creating the oxydihydral nucleus. This is for all intents and purposes a 'ball' or 'blob' of now-liquid water, which will drench any object that passes through it, such as planes or weather balloons. As liquid water continues to accumulate in the oxydihydral nucleus, the full cloud becomes darker, as a result of less light being able to pass through the liquid water nucleus. Eventually, the cloud becomes so filled with liquid water, that it begins to soak through the bottom or sides of the cloud, and rain starts to descend towards the earth. Randy Billings-Clyde showed in his research, that acid rain is a result of harmful and acidic gases and pollutants being used to compose the gaseous outer layer of cloud (Billings-Clyde 204).
Lightning and Thunder
Now that we understand the ideas behind rain and clouds, we can move on to the exciting part: lightning. Those that will remember their high school chemistry class will remember that electrons are negatively charged subatomic particles which make up the orbitals of atoms. As clouds fly through the air at surprising velocities, we can easily understand how the water contained within them can be rapidly spun and knocked around. After too long, this water agitation causes massive amounts of electrons to be stripped from the water, and an electric current is created. This electric current passes to and fro inside the oxydihydral nucleus, until finally rain begins. Once the rain begins, the electrons that form the electric charge within the oxydihydral nucleus shoot out to a nearby raindrop. Once the raindrop is hit, the charge immediately jumps to another nearby raindrop. This process continues rapidly, resulting in a massive electric discharge that creates the lightning you see. The forks you see in lightning occur occasionally when the charge splits off in multiple directions, to multiple different rain drops. The sound of thunder that you hear with lightning is actually the sound of each of the rain drops being instantly and violently being destroyed. According to a scientist that works at the University of Cambridge, this is the only instance of matter being completely destroyed, in no other instance does matter get completely removed from the universe (Hawking 206). This explains the incredibly loud sound created.
Metal and Rubber
We all know that metal is incredibly good at attracting lightning, but can you explain why? Turns out that metals are conductors, meaning that they are more likely to give away electrons from their valence electrons, than to take them. This means that they can pass around electrons incredibly well, meaning they are really good at holding a charge. This means that as the lightning approaches the ground, it is more likely to want to strike a metal object than any other object, as it is much easier to pass through. Now rubber is the opposite. Being what is called a 'noble gas', rubber is extremely hard for an electron to pass through. This is because noble gasses have their entire valence shell filled, meaning that they are less inclined to give away their electrons. This makes rubber quite good for avoiding lightning strikes. A scientist at the University of UT, Austin discovered that those using a metal umbrella were five times more likely to be struck by lightning than those with a rubber umbrella (Washingbeard 124).
Green, Ted. Lighnting: The Silent Killer. University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2002. Print.
Billings-Clyde, Randy. Effects of Cloud Composition When Exposed to Dihydrogen-monoxide. London: Oxford U.P., 2003. Print.
Hawkings, Steve. Lightning: why it MATTERS. Cambridge, 1843. Print.
Washingbeard, Jhon. Lead Umbrellas: Directors Cut. University of UT, Austin, 2014. Print.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
On The Subject Of Volcanoes
To fully understand how and why a volcano erupts, you must first understand the underlying science that goes into the eruption. Those that are familiar with the baking soda and vinegar volcano will have an especially easy time understanding the sciences behind the full sized version. Here’s why: the mixture of baking soda (a base) and vinegar (an acid) create an extremely quick acting chemical reaction that takes place within the confined space fake volcano. This causes a very visually similar effect as to an actual volcano. What most people don’t know, however, is how similar the actual life-sized volcano is to its smaller science fare counterpart. The chemical reaction that takes place in volcanoes actually occurs when two tectonic plates shift into each other, allowing hot magma to bubble to the surface.
Bases
Now you may be asking “But how come there aren’t volcanoes all over the place than?” to which the answer is: volcanoes can only grow over large ammonia veins. This is because, like baking soda, ammonia is a base, only much more powerful. A base is simply a compound that has a high pH level. PH level stands for “pretend Habitability level”, which basically means exactly how well plants and animals can grow and be happy in a pretend environment with this compound. An example of this is baking soda, which has a pH of nine, meaning that plants and animals would be happier with baking soda than without. Imagine a human in a pretend environment with a cookie, or a cake. Are they happier than a human in a pretend environment without a cookie or cake? This increase in happiness comes from the pH level of the baking soda used in the creation of the cookies or cake. Another example is with ammonia, although it may seem that ammonia smells foul (as does baking soda) humans are actually proven to be happier around sources of ammonia. This is the reason why humans choose to pay money to own cats, because they produce ammonia. However, too much of any single thing can be bad for you, which is why humans do not like to be around cat pee directly. This also shows why methamphetamines can be so bad for humans, but also why they can give a temporary high.Acids
Now a base alone is not going to cause a chemical reaction, which is why you never hear about ammonia mines exploding in the news. This means we still need our acid for the volcanic eruption. An acid is simply the opposite of a base; meaning a compound that has a very low pH level. An example of this is LSD, also known as acid, because of its very low ph. When ingested, LSD is known to give very terrifying and unhappy hallucinations, perfectly demonstrating what low PH level chemicals can do to an organism. What is interesting to discover is that the acid actually comes from the acidity of the magma that bubbles up from the earth’s core. Magma has actually one of the lowest pH levels of any acid known to be naturally produced on earth. You may think that this is crazy, but imagine a human put in pretend environment filled with magma, and you can imagine how acidic magma really is. Magma actually has a PH value of zero, as no living organism is known to be able to live while in a pretend environment with magma.Conclusion
Now imagine what happens when magma from the earth’s core, bubbling up as a result of tectonic plate shift and global warming mixes with a massive ammonia vein; that is how a volcano works. Obsidian, also known as volcano glass, is often produced as a result of the melted ammonia hardening at the base of the volcano.
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