Biology pertaining to humans
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19 views
Is there an entry-level circadian model of serotonin, ghrelin, dopamine and the sense of well being?
I've long been interested in circadian rhythms and recently came across a variety of articles that appear to indicate that the following neurotransmitters, transferases and hormones are connected. ...
1
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0answers
37 views
Why do people feel extreme cold at different temperatures compared to other people of same body structure?
I have seen some people shivering in the room temperature of 18°C while others of similar body structure do not feel that much amount of cold.
Of course the clothing of both people is similar if ...
4
votes
0answers
54 views
Functionality of vitamin A, Bx, C, D, E, K as used in cosmetics for the skin?
I was wondering if someone can compare the functionality of vitamin A, Bx (x means numbers, such as 1, 2, 3, ...), C, D, E, K in the skin? They are used in cosmetics but what is their actual effect?
...
4
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1answer
49 views
Are serotonin levels in humans affected by light?
I'm reading this Wikipedia article on light therapy and noticed a peculiar statement:
The production of the hormone melatonin, a sleep regulator, is
inhibited by light and permitted by darkness ...
2
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1answer
30 views
2
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0answers
46 views
Can frequent ultrasound diagnostics be harmful?
Are there any short or long term effects apparent in tissues if a zone (or the whole) of human body is scanned with ultrasonic waves often?
5
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2answers
439 views
Why can't you taste food when you have a cold?
It is a common observation that food is tasteless when we have a cold. Why is that so?
What is the cause of inability to taste when we have a cold? Are the nose and ability to taste connected?
2
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1answer
57 views
Are humans hardwired to continue gathering resources after the costs outweigh the benefits?
An animal will stop foraging in a berry bush if the perceived cost of searching for berries remaining is greater than the cost of finding another bush which isn't as picked over. People do the same ...
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0answers
13 views
What are studies linking dietary choices over life with probability of reaching higher ages?
Are there big studies that link diet and lifestyle choices with the probability of reaching a certain age? What are their conclusions?
-2
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1answer
38 views
Good place to ask health based questions? [closed]
I like the development of biology.stackexchange.com, but it is still in an early stage and far from perfection. While we develop it further, could you guys help me finding places to ask questions ...
6
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3answers
101 views
How to map the Gene name to its Gene Symbol?
I am learning in Gene data lately so I apologize for the silly questions in advance. I read a paper for a cancer on human which found some important genes. For example, the paper listed one of genes ...
13
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2answers
247 views
How is temperature sensed?
Can anyone summarize the mechanism by which when an object of a given temperature is placed in contact with, say, the skin on a human fingertip, the average speed of the particles of the object is ...
10
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3answers
276 views
Where does the 'C' in exhaled CO2 mostly come from?
When a human being exhales $CO_2$, what is, by the numbers, the main source of carbon atoms exiting the body in this way? I mean what class of cells, or which tissues are the biggest on a pie chart of ...
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0answers
95 views
Can dry air make a person more prone to catching a cold?
I'm interested if there is a correlation between room air humidity and risk of catching a cold.
3
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2answers
96 views
Can children restore brain cells?
By "children" I mean young people at the age of 10 or lower.
I know that the adult brain cannot restore brain cells, but what about children? I mean, the brain must develop from a few cells to a 90 ...
6
votes
3answers
1k views
Can a human smell through the ears?
The title does, prima facie, appear absurd.
Performing a swallowing action whilst pinching the nostrils shut gives the impression of listening through a bucket filled with water around the head; ...
16
votes
2answers
17k views
What's the maximum and minimum temperature a human can survive?
This is a question that has been in my mind since I was a kid. I'm not a doctor, nor even a biology student, just a curious person. What is the minimum and maximum temperature a human body can stand ...
8
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2answers
219 views
How much weight/volume do microbes occupy within the human body?
Microorganisms constitute the bulk of all the biomass on Earth. I weighed myself yesterday, and wondered how much less I would weigh if I were completely free of bacteria and microbes, inside and out. ...
8
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2answers
212 views
Do memories have mass?
If it were possible to live forever, would our brains grow infinitely with the number of memories that we store? Or would we remove old memories as we create new ones?
3
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2answers
102 views
Ultrasound during pregnancy
In a hospital I can see a long queue of pregnant women waiting for their turn for ultrasound. Is it safe to go through the ultrasound during pregnancy, especially during last few weeks?
Is ...
6
votes
1answer
577 views
Why do vaccines cause your arm to hurt?
When you get a shot for a vaccine (for example, the annual flu vaccine), the nurse frequently indicates that your arm will ache for a day or two, maybe more. This ache is typically not just a pain ...
7
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2answers
351 views
Is nicotine toxic to humans?
More specifically, is nicotine in the concentrations that smokers receive when smoking cigarettes toxic? I know that in great enough concentrations it can be toxic (but then, so can just about ...
6
votes
1answer
78 views
How does the body measure dehydration?
What, physically, does the body do to measure it? I assume it's measured by how how turgid or plasmolysed certain 'sample cells' are, or water concentration in the blood,
What is the way they use to ...
7
votes
1answer
70 views
What happens when we know that there is something that we forgot but we can't remember what it was?
I think it happens for everyone that sometimes we go to a room and forget why we went there. Is there any research or article on this?
14
votes
2answers
643 views
How and where, in the human brain, are memories stored?
Background
I am a computer programmer who is fascinated by artificial intelligence and artificial neural networks, and I am becoming more curious about how biological neural networks work.
Context ...
3
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2answers
138 views
What makes urine smell acrid?
Occasionally, after someone's been, there is an awful acrid smell lying about long after them. What causes this? The food that they've eaten? Urea less dilute due to dehydration?
If it helps I've ...
2
votes
1answer
39 views
Is it more likely to develop a throat-ache at night?
I have noticed that I rarely develop phlemmy throat-aches in the daytime, but often notice them after I have been sleeping. Is this a recognised phenomenon? Could it be because viruses or bacteria ...
2
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0answers
36 views
Do humans have chemosensors for nutrients or chemicals?
I'm reading about chemoreceptors on Wikipedia, and see that the typical ones are mentioned: taste, smell, co2. I would like to learn more about the other kinds of chemoreceptors that humans may ...
1
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1answer
47 views
In a human, what non-germline cells have the highest/lowest mass?
I'm just curious which cells are largest/smallest in the human body other than sperm/ova.
8
votes
4answers
2k views
What is the armpit hair for?
Modern human beings, especially women, cut their armpit hair. It seems to me the armpit hair is trivial/useless. Shortly speaking, what is the armpit hair for?
3
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1answer
97 views
Do adipose cells divide in adults?
I have a dim recollection of having heard that when humans gain weight, adipose cells just get larger, rather than dividing. True?
6
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1answer
895 views
Will a bone marrow transplant change one's blood type?
Will a bone marrow transplant change one's blood type?
Or is the donor blood type matched with the person before transplant?
2
votes
3answers
158 views
Is there such thing as “half-life” of dopamine?
If a dopamine is released at T=0 and binds to receptor D2, what determines the time when the concentration of this neurotransmitter bound to the receptor reaches half of the original concentration? In ...
9
votes
2answers
174 views
How is human biological clock modelled in modern science?
Im an engineer by education and i program a lot, so the question sounds weird to people from other disciplines.
Im trying to better understand the human biological clock. Yet i do not really know ...
1
vote
0answers
70 views
What triggers creative thought in humans?
Creativity, innovation and ideation. Is there something in the brain that makes the brain think that way, as opposed to "normal baseline". What triggers creative thought in humans?
4
votes
1answer
101 views
Do effects of caffeine on human body change with habitual use?
I've been reading about homeostatic nature of a lot of neurobiological processes - the brain is trying to maintain a balance by desensitizing receptors, re-uptaking and breaking down ...
4
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0answers
107 views
How do the pharmacodynamics of the NSAIDs differ and are there “resistant” COX phenotypes?
I know that the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (e.g., aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen) affect the enzymes cyclooxygenase (types I and II).
Is there any difference in the degree to which these ...
2
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0answers
122 views
Are inflammation and anxiety connected?
I've been reading a curious paper about the use of cannabis, and one of the passages piqued my interest:
There’s also been a lot of work done on another constituent of
marijuana, cannabinoid, ...
4
votes
2answers
87 views
Does the brain and the body use the same energy source (glucose/ATP)?
I've heard that the brain consumes quite a lot of oxygen and energy, compared to the rest of the body. What I'm interested in is if this is the kind of energy and oxygen that the rest of the body ...
9
votes
3answers
1k views
Height and natural selection in humans?
I watched the documentary "Evolve" recently and in the segment on "size" Scott V. Edwards, Harvard evolutionary biologist mentioned the idea that humans might evolve to be 7' tall in 'hundreds of ...
2
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0answers
67 views
Virucides - Herbal and otherwise, for HHV6 type virus or any inner-cell virus
Does anyone know where I can find a reliable list of virucides (not anti-virus) that can be used by humans? This virucide must be able to affect viruses that are already inside the cells. St John's ...
3
votes
2answers
117 views
The probability of indirect human fertilization?
What is the probability of conception in situations when sperm isn't directly ejaculated into the woman's vagina, like:
The man's or the woman's hands come into contact with sperm, for example when ...
5
votes
1answer
57 views
Is there any biological reason for humans to rest after x days of work?
A lot of people live in a 7 day cycle, where 5 days of work are followed by 2 days of "rest". Vacations and holidays can increase the time available for resting.
Is there any biological reason for ...
7
votes
1answer
411 views
Preferred Aspect Ratio for Human Eyes
Our eyes are spherical, our retina is circular, but still our eyes can see more in the horizontal direction than in vertical direction. Why is it so, why is the preferred aspect ratio not square?
...
8
votes
2answers
360 views
How does sodium in one's diet affect blood pressure?
Due to high blood pressure, my doctor has recommended I go on a low-sodium diet. So, that got me wondering what it is about sodium that drives this recommendation?
What does sodium do to a body ...
6
votes
2answers
265 views
Is there any biological reason that professional swimming is dominated by white people?
I suppose that the question should be turned around to "Why is it extremely rare to see black people competing in professional swimming?" because it is the absence of this phenotype while watching the ...
2
votes
1answer
39 views
PGC-1β Sod2 limiters/blockers
I'd like to block a percentage of PGC-1β or Sod2 expression. According to the following paper's figure beta-blockers inhibit some expression of PGC-1α. Are there any medicines/chemicals which safely ...
2
votes
2answers
63 views
Is there some branch of biology that deals with the entire organism?
I'm reading about various parts of the human body and brain and started to wander if there's a branch of biology that deals with the entire human? I know that there are branches various -biologies, ...
10
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1answer
107 views
Does stress physically age our body?
Going by the assumption that stress eventually triggers a flight/fight response, and the subsequent realization that flight/fight puts the body in a system of readiness to use it's available resources ...
3
votes
2answers
84 views
What is the biological basis for a human's ability to think clearly and be aware while “fighting/competing”?
I'm interested in learning more about the biological systems or hormones or parts of the brain that affect short term (<15 minutes) ability to concentrate attention on the task and be aware of the ...
