Some habits are extremely beneficial; the ones that you go through as part of your morning routine before work are a good example of this. Other habits activate the pleasure centres in our brains, triggering the release of a feel good chemical called dopamine. It doesn’t distinguish whether the habit itself is good for us, …
This phenomenon is also known as sympathy vomiting. Scans of the brain have actually shown that when you see someone vomiting, your brain has the same activity as if you’re the one vomiting. You’re feeling the same disgust that they are. Scientists think that this could be the source of empathy, and may also be …
Pins and needles is a type of ‘paraesthesia’ -a word which comes from the Latin for ‘abnormal sensation’. It tends to happen when the blood supply to a nerve is temporarily reduced, like when you sit with your legs crossed for too long, or when a nerve is squashed. Nerve cells are constantly pinging signals around …
The feeling is all too familiar: a growling in the pit of your stomach that usually starts around late morning when breakfast is just a memory and lunchtime is still a tiny speck on the horizon. It’s hunger – a feeling that begins with the hormone known as ghrelin. Once your body has finished digesting …
Like all living organisms, our bodies are made up of cells – humans are built from trillions of them – and over time, many of them become old and worn and need to be replaced. To keep up with this constant wear and tear, our bodies produce millions of new cells every single second. The …
Just one ten-thousandth of a milligram of stinging nettle fluid is enough to unleash that unpleasant tingling beneath the skin and the accompanying red rash. When disturbed, the stinging hairs on the nettles’ leaves act like needles and inject a chemical cocktail into the skin. Scientists aren’t entirely sure what chemicals the liquid contains, but …
Javier Sotomayor’s world record for the high jump currently stands at 2.45 metres. That’s pretty impressive by human standards (it’s stood for 23 years now), but it’s a distance that a puma would find laughable. The feline predators can leap more than double that height – up to 5.4 metres from a standing position. And …
Long before the advent of the light bulb, candles were our primary form of artificial light, with the art of candlemaking, or chandlery, both celebrated and profitable for those with the necessary tools and expertise. Indeed, while today candles are made en masse by machines, right up until the early-20th century teams of workers harvested …
In Ancient Egypt, the image of an individual often acted as a substitute for the body in the afterlife. Therefore, in funerary paintings, both males and females are shown in their best clothes, wigs and makeup. In life, the Egyptians utilised a variety of pigments to adorn the face. The most predominant of these was …
Chocolate is derived from the theobroma (‘food of the gods’) cacao tree and was consumed by the Mayans as a drink. Chocolate became a sacred elixir to both the Mayans and Aztecs. Archaeologists have discovered residues of chocolate in ancient jars that were found in Honduras and date to 1100 BCE. Cocoa trees grew in …
Chocolate – A Sacred Drink Of Ancient Civilisations? Read More »
The Peruvian coastal plain in South America is home to a wonder of archaeology. The ground is scarred by images, or geoglyphs, known as the Nazca lines, thought to have been constructed by the people of Nazca between 500 BCE and 500 CE. The ancient artworks – most easily viewed from the air – were …
Those who suffer from migraines know they are a constant concern as they are liable to strike at any time. Essentially, a migraine is an intense pain at the front or on one side of the head. This usually takes the form of a heavy throbbing sensation and can last as little as an hour …
Just by breathing, sweating and urinating, the average person loses ten cups of water a day. With H2O making up as much as 75 per cent of our body, dehydration is a frequent risk. Water is integral in maintaining our systems and it performs limitless functions. Lubricating the skin, flushing out waste and keeping blood …
What Happens To Your Body When You’re Dehydrated Is Incredible Read More »
The active ingredient in pepper spray – capsaicin – comes from the chilli plant. Produced to protect the plant’s seeds from being crushed by the teeth of grazing animals, this molecule binds to TRPV1 receptors on the endings of pain nerves, causing them to fire and inducing a feeling similar to burning. Pepper spray is …
For millions of years, the Aequorea victoria jelly fish held the secret to green fluorescent protein (GFP) – a protein that absorbs the energy from the blue and ultraviolet (UV) range and re-emits it as a green light. Biologists got their hands on the glowing jellyfish in the 1960s, extracting the protein and then uncovering …
Illuminating Cells: How Do They Revolutionize Medicine? Read More »
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