Sorry for not having the time for a text post lately - I start my Life Sciences course late this month, so after a few weeks adjusting, you’ll probably end up with a storm of crap that probably won’t make sense.
Hell, I’m in it for four years!
Love. <3
![Basically.
Carbon is a part of every organic compound, and is so abundant because, as this meme suggests, it bonds to anything it can.
That is, biologically important elements hydrogen, nitrogen and sulfur, as well as others.
It even bonds to itself very well, if you know what I mean.
When there’s any reference to organic chemistry, it’s essentially saying this is something about carbon.
That is all.
[image from http://fysciencemajormouse.tumblr.com]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2n9w2VWNG1qmyl02o1_400.jpg)
Basically.
Carbon is a part of every organic compound, and is so abundant because, as this meme suggests, it bonds to anything it can.
That is, biologically important elements hydrogen, nitrogen and sulfur, as well as others.
It even bonds to itself very well, if you know what I mean.
When there’s any reference to organic chemistry, it’s essentially saying this is something about carbon.
That is all.
[image from http://fysciencemajormouse.tumblr.com]
SO, there are acids, and there are bases.
Acids are corrosive, and give out hydrogen ions (protons). There are strong acids, and weak acids. Strong acids are, as the name discretely points out, pretty freakin’ strong, compared to weak acids - they completely ionize in liquids (aqueous solutions), which means they lose a proton (all of their hydrogen atoms) to the liquid, while weak acids are stingy, and donate only a partial amount of their atoms, so the formula of the liquid stays the same. Most acids are weak acids.
Bases are hydrogen receivers. They take in the hydrogen ions (protons) that acids give out, neutralizing them, forming a salt and water when they react. Similarly to acids, there are strong bases that take protons from (deprotonate) very weak acids, and even Superbases.
And I’m not even kidding. Superbases are a thing.
Incidentally, I decided to use Magic cards to teach myself the maximum numbers of the shells of electrons.
Cards flipped represent a new shell. (It’s 2, 8, 18, 32, 50.)
Neat, huh?
You’ve all heard of “tugging ones heart strings”. Well, yesterday, my father joked about needing to go see a doctor because he couldn’t find any heart strings in him.
What he didn’t know was, heart strings actually exist.
They’re strong, chord-like bits of tissue used to connect what are known as the “papillary muscles” to the heart.
That’s really as romantic as science gets. Unless you’re a reproductive biologist, that is. But that’s always grim.
Have a good’un, everyone.
Or, as infamous biologist Charles Darwin would say,
“I’d select you…naturally.”
Happy Valentines Day, all! <3
Think back to one of those disastrously depressing songs that make you tear up, or at least, bring you close to doing so. Now, question. Why? Why do you love hearing something that lowers your mood so drastically? How could we be that retarded as a species?
The first step: they sensitize you.
When music breaks from its expected pattern, our sympathetic nervous system goes on high alert. Our hearts race, and we can interpret it as a positive or negative response.
The second, it’s the dope.
Similar to the effects of food, sex and drugs, the shit we love to do despite it being terrible for us, the pleasure and reward centers in our brain just get pumped full of neurotransmitter dopamine, which we then seek to recreate. This makes the slow, emotionally intense music we hear that much more addictive.
And that sums up the success behind Adele’s music career. It’s why people can say they’ve listened to a sad song over and over. Cool, right?
Right now, you’re on the internet. Chances are, if you managed to find YCMMB (congratulations, you.), then you’ve probably found a few memes along the way. Those captioned images with a homicidal wolf, or a scumbag, or a levitating cock. (Yes, that’s one.)
While these images seem to have emerged within the last year or so, a scientist by the name of Richard Dawkins, or “Dick Dorkins” to his high school classmates, suggested the existence of the meme in 19-freaking-76, through his book “The Selfish Gene”.
He suggested that human society evolves via contagious communication, such as gossip or world news, similar to how the gene pool evolves over time.
Internet memes got that name, most likely, through their “contagious” and addictive nature. They’re colorful, funny, and easily shared.
And that is meme theory. Go figure!
Now, long-term memory is stored at a part of the back of the brain, the hippocampus, while short-term memory, attention, planning etc. is situated in the frontal lobe.
I remember the term “hippocampus” for one reason. I didn’t do any practical work to keep it stored, and I didn’t write a report on it. I remember it because I think of one thing;
A college with a hippo in it.
See, the brain works surprisingly well with association. Your brain is full of neurons, each linking up to one another to create sequences, for example, when I see a taco, different neurons spark to tell me it’s savory, yellow, brown, green and delicious. If I saw an open burrito, I’d probably experience similar sensations and assume it to be similar to that taco I saw. And I’d be right.
It’s obvious, and everyone experiences it every day, but association is the key to remembering. Quite often, if you associate something with something bizarre or funny, you’ll remember it more easily.
Start with hippocampus. It works friggen wonders.
