Saturday, February 17, 2007
You Come Here Often?
Sometimes, looking at my refer logs for this site is just too much fun. Or, more importantly, just more fun than whatever I'm supposed to be doing at a given moment. Anywhom, it is from this sort of distraction that I have learned that The Articulatory Loop is Google's number one search result for the phrase "purell on the armpits."So yeah. My expert advice to Mr/Ms 71.129.103. from Los Angeles? Raise your hand if you're Sure. If not, please do so only in the presence of people with a certain set of fetishes (NSFW!).
Labels: armpits, blogging, hygeine, life, Purell, referral, ridiculous
Monday, February 12, 2007
More Armpit Sweat
We learned last week that sniffing your coworkers' armpits may be a good way to decrease stress at work, but were left wondering why. Well, a Berkeley study has found that a male pheromone, androstadienone, secreted in sweat, caused exposed heterosexual womens' cortisol levels to become elevated. And they got turned on. So, it seems that maybe too much antiperspirant may not be a great idea.
Speaking of taking the romance out of things, US researchers have found that insecure babies grow up to have relationship troubles. What makes a baby insecure? Since no one knows precisely, we stick with the default: blame your parents!!!
You can blame everything on your parents, you know. After all, they gave you your genes. They may have given you a mutated SLC30A8 zinc transporter, increasing your risk of type 2 diabetes, or they gave you a common version of DARPP-32, which makes you a better thinker (by improving communication between the striatum and PFC) but may also put you at risk for schizophrenia (if the cortex is otherwise compromised and can't handle all that striatal input).
And finally, genes aside, your brain needs sleep. Mouse studies indicate that sleep deprivation inhibits hippocampal neurogenesis, and while we're not sure exactly what those new cells are needed for, it's probably a safe bet that their lack is related to the cognitive deficits seen in sleep deprivation.
Speaking of taking the romance out of things, US researchers have found that insecure babies grow up to have relationship troubles. What makes a baby insecure? Since no one knows precisely, we stick with the default: blame your parents!!!
You can blame everything on your parents, you know. After all, they gave you your genes. They may have given you a mutated SLC30A8 zinc transporter, increasing your risk of type 2 diabetes, or they gave you a common version of DARPP-32, which makes you a better thinker (by improving communication between the striatum and PFC) but may also put you at risk for schizophrenia (if the cortex is otherwise compromised and can't handle all that striatal input).
And finally, genes aside, your brain needs sleep. Mouse studies indicate that sleep deprivation inhibits hippocampal neurogenesis, and while we're not sure exactly what those new cells are needed for, it's probably a safe bet that their lack is related to the cognitive deficits seen in sleep deprivation.
Labels: armpits, babies, brains, corisol, neurogenesis, pheromones, relationships, romance, schizophrenia, sweat
Friday, February 09, 2007
Brains and Armpits for Stress Relief
Modern life is a stressful place to live. We have nagging mothers, screaming children, overbearing bosses and co-dependent boy/girlfriends, unless we don't in which case it's even worse. How can you cope with all that stress? Well, you can take Prozac, exercise, or sniff your co-workers' armpits. No details are given on why this might work, other than the hilarity which might ensue trying it without warning, but ... wow ... I really don't know what to say.
Speaking of stress, now they really can read your mind. Not really, but just put it out there.
Speaking of stress, now they really can read your mind. Not really, but just put it out there.
Labels: armpits, brains, computers, memory
