Insomnia

So what is insomnia for those of you out there who don't know it is basically having trouble staying of falling asleep. I never had this sleep disorder or any sleep disorder and I'm kinda glad I don't, it really does not seem fun at all. I have had my sleepless nights and I'm everything but a ray of sunshine. If this was to happen ALL the time I would lose my mind.
I have however a good experience with insomnia not personally but with a friend. He is really something. Since he can't have a good nights rest he is really irritable. Really isn't the right word lets go with SUPER irritable. It insane how people would set him off (he doesn't like people to begin with so being cranky doesn't help) he wouldn't start fights or anything, just hate their guts and glare. He also had mega dark circles. He looked like a panda, he doesn't enjoy the nickname but it's true his eyes are panda eyes. He also smoked a lot but he was always calmer after so that could be a good thing. He would also tell us how he would get up around 3 or 4 in the morning and go into the living room and his dad would be there watching a movie so they would watch movies together all night long since they both have insomnia. Even if he was sleep deprived he did ok in his classes, the only thing that seem to be affected by the insomnia was his mood but if you were one of the lucky ones that didn't irritate him then you would be able to see his awesomeness. If your special.

CAH

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is a disorder which is inherited from parents and it greatly affects the adrenal glands. An example is a genetic female who is exposed to more testosterone than the average female making her more masculine. 

This really got my attention while reading the text. I had no idea that an abundance of testosterone could affect the development of the fetus. Sure I knew about smoking, drinking, drugs, but hormones? That was shocking. I guess I didn't think about hormones because they are supposed to be regulated by your body. I thought it was that way for everyone I was wrong.

This disease affects both physical and mental aspects of the female (I decided to use female because that is the gender that is used in the text). Its interesting how the female mental state is more in tuned with that of a males because of the high levels of testosterone they were exposed to. 

Girls with CAH are more likely to choose a more "boyish" toy like a car or gun than girls without CAH. They are more "boyish" in their actions as well. They can be considered tomboys since they like to tumble and wrestle. While girls not affected act like typical girls (tea parties, keeping clean, dresses, etc). CAH girls also differ in adolescents as they are more into "manly" hobbies and interests like sports. In adulthood they have more of a probably of occupying male dominated fields. 

So you're telling me we use our nose to select our partner?

Over the weekend my boyfriend and I were on netflix and we were looking for something interesting to watch. We picked a bunch of videos we thought would be entertaining and I picked "the science of sex appeal". It was amazing how our bodies (without our knowledge) were picking our mate. Sure it sounds a bit farfetched that your body was interacting with the outside world on a purely biological level without your consent. But as I kept watching it surly blew my mind. 

The actual video is pretty long and they go through the many different ways your body is selecting a mate. It ranged from symmetry of a face to how the skin look to smell. Smell one of your basic senses was so keen on determining wether we would go for a person or turn then down. As I read the text I realized how similar it related to the video we watched. I actually felt intelligent for the first time since I understood what it meant.

The whole "family members will avoid mating with each other because they smell similar" thing was tested in an experiment and it turned out to be true. Since you do not want to have the same level of immunity (lower chances of your offspring living) you mate with someone who is of a different type and that can be decided by smell. My boyfriend and I discussed this immunity and he was confused why I liked the way he smelled since he always gets sick (no lie he is horrible when it comes to most sicknesses like the cold, stomach aches, etc) and I thought for a moment. The only thing I have would be allergies (horrible allergies) other than that I'm healthy and he has none, so maybe thats why I didn't get turned down by his scent. We agreed our children (if we ever have any) will have superpowers. 

The video below is a clip from the actual documentary it is dealing with the scent part of mate selection the whole thing is on netflix if you're interested. 

Memory and conditioning

Memory is the brain's kodak moment. There are millions or billions of moments in our lives that we remember, like going through photo albums or VHS videos. Memory plays a big part in learning, both in the academic world and through out our lives. We learn to make connections with certain situations or stimuli that either brought us joy or pain. You slowly learn how the world works and you then learn by experience.
It is fascinating that also animals posses the ability to remember and learn from things that have happened to them. This process of learning is called instrumental conditioning (operant conditioning) because it deals with rewards (reinforcers) and punishments. In an experiment there is a rat who is in a maze and has a choice of going either right or left. Lets say it chose right and a bit further down it found rat pellets. If presented with the same situation twice the rat will go right because it remembers right = food (reward). Now if it went right but got shocked instead, the rat will remember that right = pain so it will avoid the right and head left instead.
Conditioning is a simple concept but its hard to carry out because you need to be attentive to when someone/thing does something you want them to do and it has to been right when they do that thing. If you're off then the chain is broken. However if done right it can be the most amazing thing ever.

Language and Animals

Im not sure if anyone else has ever owned a bird; if you have, you would understand that they are the most cunning little things ever. I've owned both a parrot and a cockatiel. The parrot was just learning how to speak words when it escaped from its cage. Bummer, I know. Cockatiels don't really speak but they can mimic sounds. Mine could mimic chickens, laughter, and doves. 

My uncle however has a beautiful parrot who know words and phrases. It can repeat all of there names, say "Hello" when it hears the phone ring. Its so good at speaking that they neighbors once called the cops on it because they thought my uncle and aunt were fighting. 

I find it truly fascinating that animals (well some) are capable of speaking human language. Parrots are the perfect example. Pepperberg and his african gray parrot Alex prove that parrots are capable of not only repeating human language but to also understand it as well as use it freely. In an experiment Pepperberg used language trained and non-language trained parrots and attached an almond at the end of a toy chain. The non-language trained parrots used their claws to reach the almond while the other parrots simply asked for it "want nut". 

Now that is mind blowing. It totally caught me by surprise that a parrot was able to just ask for what it wanted. I knew they could mimic but never ask for something that they wanted. The processes that are going on inside their minds must be top notch for them to be able to do this.