Day 273: And the week is over. Sort of.

Come Tuesday, most of my workload is over. I have all my labs Monday and Tuesday so I'm going-going-going and then it comes to a bit of a standstill. It's nice because I work my butt off and then I recuperate the rest of the week.

Anyway, I was crazy productive on Sunday (for the first time in a long time). I ran six miles (again!) so go me.

With my BFFFHs commenting more, I'm going to try and find the perfect balance between science and personal.

Science-wise, Organic lab went great today. The other Organic professor asked my BFF Organic Lab Organizer who I was. That was pretty amusing. (I sent the other Organic professor an e-mail, essentially, complaining about how it takes two years to get our pre-labs when some of us want more than a day to prepare for lab. He replied and was extremely cordial about it. So he wanted to know who I was, haha) I'm a pretty big deal in the Chemistry department ... apparently. I just think it's funny.

Let's see, what fun facts can I tell you guys? Remember action potentials? Well, that's all your brain receives (is action potentials). That's why your life is based on action potentials. It's pretty crazy. We're learning about senses in physiology right now. Fun fact: When you taste food, sour and salty are tasted (milliseconds) faster because they directly affect the ion channels that affect the action potentials going to your brain.

These areas are actually completely random.
Your tastants are everywhere!

The other tastes (sweet, bitter and umami) need to create secondray signals that are eventually sent to your brain. This is why they are (milliseconds) slower to process. (Like I said, fun.)

Personal-wise, I'm trying to ooze more confidence (if that's possible). I need to learn to treat men like dirt so they'll want me bad (they're really that dumb :P). I think I want to run a 10K at some point and maybe a half-marathon by the end of the year? That's after I get all A-pluses, a perfect MCAT score and abs. I think that's it. Doable right?

Day 270: Radicals, antioxidants, peroxides and action potentials

All right, so the good stuff.

So the crazy mechanism from yesterday's post has to do with radicals. (Free) Radicals are unpaired electrons. Electrons like to be in twos. So when they're alone, they do crazy things (like a girl after she's been cheated on). Free radicals are what cause wrinkles and other fun things in your body.

Antioxidants. Now these suckers are cool. They're magical compounds that have the ability to pair up with these radicals without turning themselves into a radical. That's why everyone oohs-and-aahs about them. They do amazing things for your skin and for your body. Eat 'em (they can be found in most berries and fruits), slop 'em on your face, do anything with them really.

Peroxides. Where have you heard that before? Say, hydrogen (peroxide)? Or benzoyl (peroxide)? The fancily random things about peroxides is, they're very good at making radicals. And sometimes, we want those crazy things. Like that huge zit that's forming right now? Yeah, right there. If you put some benzoyl peroxide on it, the radicals created will pair off and kill things and chop things up and again, other things a woman scorned will do. It's pretty cool.

Lastly, action potentials. As my physiology professor put it yesterday, "it's amazing that your entire perception of things is based on action potentials." And she's right. Action potentials are electrical messages sent throughout axons which are in your neurons.

The connecting link between all the action potentials

What this means is that little electrical impulses are firing all the time -- to let you (and your body) know what's up. For example, when you press on your skin, those are action potentials firing. When you're smelling something, action potentials. Sight, action potentials. And yes, even feelings in the limbic system are based on action potentials.

I don't know, I may have just geeked out hard core just now but I really love this stuff. And I thought you would all enjoy a non-how's-Jessica-doing-in-school entry. And maybe you learned something, and who doesn't love that? :)