Yawning

Why do we yawn? There are many theories about yawning and why we do it. One is that when we are tired we don’t breathe as deeply as we usually do. This theory suggests that we use yawning to help bring oxygen to or blood and get rid of any carbon dioxide. There are many other theories about yawing, why we do it, and how does it affect the others around you.

            Stating just the simplest theories about yawning there is the one about being tired and taking less deep breathes to help loose carbon dioxide and for your blood. Studies were done and according to them breathing more does not decrease yawning. Likewise, breathing more carbon dioxide does not decrease yawning. There is also one about how yawning is just to stretch out your lungs. It is that yawning stretches the lungs and lung tissue. Stretching and yawning may be a way to flex muscles and joints, increase heart rate, and feel more awake. This works out sometimes, for some people. Another theory is that yawning is a protective reflex to redistribute the oil-like substance calledsurfactant that helps keep lungs lubricated inside and keeps them from collapsing. So this is saying if we did not yawn taking deep breathes would be harder to do! (click click click)

             There’s one thing that everyone seems to agree on though. That yawning seems to be contagious! Certain studies make a point that yawning could be a social bonding type of thing. Like contagious laughter and crying. (CLICK for more info) Yet autistic kids are less likely to catch onto the yawns. Apparently yawning could bring a sort of calmness to a group. Even as you read about yawning you might feel as if you have to yawn.

            Why exactly do we yawn? Science basically says it is a result to drowsiness or weariness. (clickity click click) And why is it contagious? Studies say it is because of a social bond we discover at a young age that makes us prone to yawning when others do.

The Science of Social Networking

“Add me on Facebook! Follow me on Twitter! Subscribe to my YouTube channel!” I’m sure everyone one of us has said at least one of those three phrases. Those are the go to sites when we turn on our computers. Social Networking has become an integral part of present day society. Teachers, organizations, and companies have Twitters and Facebook pages for us to “follow” and “like”. Bet you didn’t know that our school has a Twitter. So what is it exactly that makes social networking so addicting? Why do we find ourselves spending countless hours staring at news feeds, even if we aren’t talking to anyone (just stalking others via the internet – you know you do it)?
For some reason we have the desire to splatter our lives all over the internet, secretly counting how many people like the status or retweet the tweet. When we go on vacation or a birthday party, we all just have to document the experience by taking an excess amount of photos only to post them on Facebook for all of your “friends” to see. However, whether you know it or not, Facebook is helping you with more than just procrastinating on your homework.

“New research confirms that social complexity enriches cognitive growth. Could having more Facebook friends actually make you smarter (Johnson 1)?” In this article from Scientific American, Johnson references back to the hunter-gatherer societies that us humans used to live in. Those of whose populations ranged from 150-200 people, due to our social nature. Jump into the 21^st century and 200 people in a population looks like an exponentially small number compared to the thousands of people we see in our everyday environments. He then goes on to talk about the Social Brain Hypothesis that Robin Dunbar created in the 1990s. He hypothesized that “the demands of group living resulted in a selection pressure that promoted the expansion of neocortical growth.” The neocortex is mostly composed of gray matter that makes up the outermost rim of our brains. Dunbar’s discoveries showed that mammals who lived in large social groups had larger neocortex to brain ratio.

“Primates, and humans in particular, are such good social cooperators because we can empathize with others and coordinate our activities to build consensus. It is what also makes us so remarkably deceitful, allowing us to manipulate other members of our group by intentionally making them think we will behave one way when our actual plans are quite different. A successful primate is therefore one who can keep track of these subtle details in behavior and anticipate their potential outcome (Johnson 1).”

However, the question that they had to answer was whether or not it was the social networks that led to the neocortical growth, or vice versa. This new study, involving rhesus macaques, confirmed that the larger social networks correlated to an increase in the gray matter. “Their analysis revealed a clear, linear relationship between the size of a monkey’s social network and an increase of neocortical gray matter in regions involved with social cognition (Johnson 1).” Interestingly enough, the study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society, in which researchers compared the differences between people and the number of online friends, real-world friends, and the size of the neocortical brain regions associated with social behavior, showed a distinct correlation between the volume of 3 gray matter regions and the number of Facebook friends that individual had.

To read the rest of the article and about the actual experiment, click the links provided in this post.

What happens to a person when they have insomnia, and what can help?

Insomnia is a disease that affects millions of people throughout the year. Insomnia effects are felt by those people in various degrees, according to how difficult of a time they’re having falling asleep. Most people that have a problem with sleeplessness have what is known as transient insomnia. This is just a problem that many people have of falling asleep for a night or so. If the problem persists, however, it can become chronic or even acute and affect a person’s sleep pattern for many months.

Some of the insomnia effects that you might be going through are an inability to concentrate, a general tired feeling during the day, reduced energy levels, blurred vision, irritability and even hallucinations in those who suffer from insomnia to an extreme degree. Any one of these problems could make your day to day life difficult, but the unfortunate thing is that many of these insomnia effects are felt by people who are going through a problem with sleeplessness. Because these sleep problems can affect your entire life, here are some potential natural cures that might help you to overcome your problem.

In order for a person to overcome sleeplessness they must understand what is behind it. If you feel that a medical condition that your doctor must be made aware of is responsible for your sleeplessness, by all means speak with your doctor to see what can be done. If it is simply because you’re stressed out over your day-to-day life, then here are some things that can help you to be able to fall asleep naturally.

Preparation is the key in order to be able to overcome insomnia that is caused by stress. Exercise during the day will help your body to be relaxed and healthy and ready for a good night’s sleep. Whenever the evening rolls around, make sure that you don’t read any stimulating material or watch TV shows which could affect your sleep patterns. Instead of doing these things, try a nice warm bath and listening to some relaxing music. Simple changes in your lifestyle, such as these, will help you to get a good night sleep.

By Ashley

What is solar energy and what is it used for?

                                    What is solar energy and what is it used for?

                                                            By Bobby Gardineer

            What is solar energy? Solar energy is the energy (solar radiation) received by the earth from the sun. This solar energy is necessary to support life on our planet. The Sun’s energy provides the Earth with heat and light. Plants, our food source, use the sun’s energy to make food and oxygen through photosynthesis. Now people have been able to use the same solar radiation to create electricity.

            The Sun’s energy is needed and used, one way or another, by every living thing on the planet but the focus of this writing is the application of the sun’s energy to produce electricity. To understand how it works we have to look at how the technology was created. The “photovoltaic effect” was first observed by the French physicist Antoine-César Becquerel back in 1839. During his experiment Becquerel observed a voltage develop on his electrode when it was exposed to light. This was the first step toward the development of a solar cell which is defined as any device that uses photovoltaics to convert solar radiation to electrical energy.

            The solar cells that were developed before the 1950’s were very inefficient. They could only convert 1% of the sun’s energy to electrical energy. Because of this reason, solar energy was not viable as an energy source. In 1954, three American researchers developed a solar cell made of silicon that was able to convert 6% of the lights energy to electrical power. They went on to create the first solar panels and a solar battery for Bell Laboratories’ telephone system in 1955.

Calvin S. Fuller at work diffusing boron into silicon to create the world's first solar

cell

Since that time the technology continued to be refined to create better efficiency. Today, most commercially available solar panels are about 12% efficient at converting light to electricity.

            Why is this important? Solar power (photovoltaic) is a renewable energy source. It’s not like coal, gas, or oil which have to be found and dug up and ultimately have a limited amount. As long as the Sun continues to shine down on the Earth, which it will do for billions of years to come, we will be able to use its energy as a source of power. It is also different from fossil fuels in the fact that it does not pollute our environment. Because of these facts it is obvious that solar power will continue to be used more and more in the future over fossil fuels.

            Today, is solar power practical enough for home use? In my opinion, for the average American the conversion to solar power is still pricey. The Federal Government offers a 30% tax credit as well as incentives by state and local utility companies to help reduce the overall conversion cost. While researching this writing I looked at one website that offered a medium sized solar energy system that would generate 692 kWh a month that would cost about $11,000. The site says that with the 30% federal tax credit along with state a local utility company rebates that the system would ultimately cost about $6,500. That cost doesn’t include installation.

            It is my belief that the use of solar power will continue to grow in the coming years. The recent economic downturn has fueled the development of solar power as a new and growing industry with companies starting up all over the country. Individuals and companies appear to be looking for ways to cut costs and purchasing a system to replace/supplement the high cost of electricity from local utility companies seems to have become more popular.

Solar power is a clean renewable energy source that I believe is the most viable energy source to replace fossil fuels in the years to come.

http://www.clean-energy-ideas.com/energy_definitions/definition_of_solar_energy.html

http://solarexpert.com/pvbasics2.html

http://inventors.about.com/od/sstartinventions/a/solar_cell.htm

http://solarelectricityhandbook.com/Solar-Articles/build-your-own-solar-panels.html

Why do turtles have shells?

Why do turtles have shells? A question I have always wondered ever since I got my turtle 11 years ago. Turtles are very interesting cool creatures. There are so many different one such as sea turtles, snapping turtles, red eared slider, eastern painted, etc. All these turtles have shells, but what makes them different. All turtles have different shapes, sizes,tectures, color to there shells. The size depends on how big you turtle is. The other things such as texture might depend on where your turtle lives and what kind it is. Also there are different types of shells, between sea turtles and and freshwater turtles. They also have different purposes to them. Sea turtles shells are there back are a leather typed shell that’s how they got there name(ex: Leatherback sea turtles). The sea turtles shells purpose is to help it go deeper in the water . Thesea turtles type of shell is a softer type. As for freshwater turtle there shells surve a different purpose. They have a harder shell and tend to shed more. There shells are mainly used for protection from predators . If you have ever seen a turtle when it gets scared it goes in its shell, that’s cause that is it’s protection. In conclusion, because a turtle’s shell is attached to its ribs and spine, a turtle can never “take off” or “leave” its shell. But with all the benefits of having it, it’s hard to think that a turtle would ever even want to leave its special, protective shell! If you were a turtle would you like to have a shell on your back?