Hay... A technical post.

Today, I found myself actually enjoying Ma'am De Vera's toxic toxic class of animal physiology. Although I wasn't really 100% listening to the discussion (I was multi-tasking again: blab,write, laugh, and listen mode.) I learned so many things from her. I have summed up all of these into a list, so you guys enjoy the following fun facts:

1. Technically, you don't "emote" by your heart, instead by your limbic system (composed of olfactory lobe, the "hippocampus", the ever-famous "amygdala" and basal ganglion). This system is responsible for our "primal" emotions. What are these "primal" emotions you may ask....? This includes: fear, sexual drive (I pipped out "lurrrve!" but it wasn't actually a primal emotion), anger, anxiety and others. In addition, I watched "Chemistry of Love" last February 14 (2004 I think) and the narrator told that the amygdala is the one responsible for triggering the "love" sensation that we feel. Sorry for those hopeless romantics because your ever-famous cheesy line: "I love you from the bottom of my heart" is a goddamn misnomer. It's supposed to be like this: "I love you from the cortex of my amygdala." (it's not pleasing to the ear) But seriously, what's the point of telling that to your love one? (unless you're both a science geek) We've associated the heart (which is just a muscle) to love and for me, it would be taboo for people to stop being romantic and just be science freaks. Life will not be great if there's no concept of romance. You stop being happy because you live without purpose. Objectivity vs. Subjectivivty. Hay.

2. So much for emotions... Do you wonder why alcoholic beverages have a quick effect on our motor responses (i.e. movement) compared to nicotine in cigarettes? It's because alcohol readily diffuses (passes) to the Blood-Brain Barrier (epithelial lining which prevents the blood to come in contact with our brain). In contrast with cigarettes, the nicotine in our bloodstream cannot pass through this so-called barrier. So there. Kahit mag-yosi ka pa ng isang sako, hindi ka mababangag, mamamatay ka lang sa emphysema.

3. Another popular belief: "When you sniff Rugby (contact cement), it would destroy your brain." was also disproven in our class. The chemical gas which Rugby emits cannot penetrate the BBB (Blood brain barrier), so it has no direct effect on your brain. But I'm not saying that Rugby is allll goood... Addiction to sniffing Rugby is bad because it sort-of have a bad additive effect on your body. I don't know exactly what Rugby can do to your mind or body, but I think (theory) that it has a hallucinatory effect (like LSD and other popular "dangerous drugs") and it whacks your head (heaven...!) (sabi kasi nila, pag naka-Rugby ka daw, feeling mo busog ka.. But recently, the Rugby company (Rugby is a brand, contact cement is its generic name, mind you.) told the masses that they had already removed the "addictive" chemical substance in their product. I don't know what chemical substance, but when I took a sniff (uh-oh abi, Rugby girl) of the so-called "reformulated" Rugby, it smelled the same from the original. Well. I don't know. Maybe they were secretly putting magic dust (shabu) on their product before as some sort-of mind controlling device (just kidding! I don't want to get a law suit from Rugby!).

Oh well. I'm really tired of typing, so I'll be posting the rest tomorrow (I don't have classes on Friday). Enjoy! :)

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Post-script:

Last Tuesday, animal physiology laboratory:

Ma'am De Vera: Oh syempre pag nasira na yung CNS (Central Nervous System), mawawalan na ang isang hayop ng sense of....
Class: (in chorus)...balance!
Abi (disturbed): ...direction. (serious tone pa un a)
LeeAnn: Tumawa.
Dianne: Tumawa.
Jian: Tumawa.
Abi (disturbed pa din): Bakit?

(Note: We were discussing balance. Ewan ko ba kung bakit nasama yung direction? Patawa. Para akong bangag.)