Got Reflexes?

This reflexes lab tested reaction times, and also how our body reacts to certain stimuli such as a knee-jerk reflex that many of us experience with our physicians. For reflexes, unlike our normal reaction, our brain does not actually process these, instead the reflex arc is a shorter faster process. Reflexes are rapid, and involuntary responses to stimuli.

The first test was a photopupillary Reflex.

Claim: the pupil that was covered during the "dark" period, expands and shifts to adjust to the new light. 

E: My partner did this one twice and both times we did not note any difference besides twitching. 

R: This could be due to the amount of time put in the "dark" period covering one eye, next time we would cover it longer. 

Knee Jerk Reflex(Patellar Reflex)

C: after doing squats the reflex does not work. 

E: The muscles are fatigued and do not slide across each other as easily. 

R: Although it did work, my leg still kicked out pretty far meaning that I was not as fatigued because my muscles slides past each other

Blink Reflex 

C: Our eyes blink even if we know that an object won't hit us. 

E: Blinking protects our eyes which are very sensitive. Humans blink on average 14,400 times each day. 

R: I blinked without question haha, I may have even flinched 

Babe what's your sign? 

C: When dragging a pen across the bottom on ones foot, he or she should flex her toes and move closer together. 

E: Our feet move in response to the nerves, If one did not experience the flexing, then they may have nerve damage. 

R: My partner's feet moved and responded fine proving that she still has the nerves in her feet. Her toes went straight up and flexed. 

How Fast are You?

C: texting will make our reaction times slower and therefore more dangerous to text and drive. 

E: Our brains cannot physically multi-task, but rather switch between task quickly. The more tasks we take, the longer the brain takes to switch.

R: From collected class data both guys and girls had slower reaction times to the ruler drop which proves that texting and driving is infact very dangerous. My time dropped from a .35 reaction to .58 almost a fourth of a second.

Ruler reaction time without texting

20 time reflection

Throughout 20 time this year, I challenged myself to be more persistent than I ever had been before. I casually start many things, but won't finish them due to a lack of ambition and drive. I wanted a success story. Coming off a small setback before track, I urgently needed to jump back in shape, and after a little research I thought jumping rope would do the job. Jumproping burn fat fast, and increases stamina. While getting in shape, I wanted to add a little fun and mix it up but doing tricks and different routines. I hoped to build jumproping skills that I can use in my training for not just this period of time. I started by mapping out a basic agenda requiring me to learn and repeat basic movements over and over so I could quickly build a decent foundation and move onto harder skills. After every other week, I would test my increase in stamina by running a timed mile and then calculating my v02 max through a online calculator. Although I didn't really "fail" my challenge, I was not able to reach my end goal due to another pull in my hamstring forcing me to step back and recover. I actually went all the way to therapy and still am seeing a physical therapist. I view this as more of a life-long goal because, as I learned, jumproping is not as easy as it looks, and moves can take more than a week to be able to be consistently performed. I feel half remorse and half grief about my own project, because I did perform enough, and I got hurt in the process. Looking back, if I was given a second chance to start over, I would not start until I have 99% of my details sorted out and had a solid idea of what it would look like. I do see myself rumping rope in the future for exercise and to increase my speed; it can take my training to a new level.


For my TED talk outline I want to start with maybe a quick video of either running(which was my end goal: to run faster) or buddy lee jump roping. In the middle I'll fill in with muscle movement, V02max, therapy, pillars of health, and basic points we learned this school year; however, I'm still a little shaky on how I want to end it.

Brains (dissection)

In our brain dissection we used a sheep brain to look deeper into the anatomy and physiology. In the first birds-eye-view picture, you can see the red pin on the brain-stem, and all the other pins in their respective areas. The brain stem we learned was very fragile. After Kian grabbed it, it became half severed, which made it hard to distinguish some parts later on.

name	function
B-stem	Connecting neurons
cerebrum	Voluntary movements
Cerebellum	Regulates muscle activity

In the brain itself, it is shown clearly where the myelin is present and where it is not. Myelin wraps around axons and help the impulse travel smoothing through. In the picture right above or below, myelinated areas are whitter, compared to the darker grey that represents grey matter. After slicing the brain into two halves, we were able to identify many more structures.

Name	Function
Pons	Relays info from cortex and cerebrum
Medulla Oblongata	Helps with homeostasis and regulates respiration
Thalamus	Sensory, motor signal relay, and sleep
hypothalamus	Maintains homeostasis, creates essential hormones
Corpus collum	Relays information back and forth from both hemispheres
Optic nerve	Relays all the impulse to the b
midbrain	Motor control and hearing senses

.The brain in pictures are very "neat" and all the parts are clearly shown, but during the sheep brian dissection we found ourselves second guessing a lot besides what was grey and white matter.

sheep eye dissection

The sheep eye was extremely interesting when compared to the human eye. Surprisingly, my sheep eye had lots of fat surrounding it which cushions the eye and keeps it in place. There amount of fat was almost as big as the eye itself. The first thing I noticed was the cornea, which is the big black round circle; it's the transparent layer on top of the eye. It stood out to me because the cornea was like the size of a whole human eye. If you look on the side what looks like water is actually the vitreous humor which a jello-like substance that stabilizes the shape and makes sure it doesn't become deformed. Here in the 2nd picture on the bottom left, right in the middle is the lens. Although the lens is normally clear, because the sheep eye is dead, the lens becomes cloudy. Surrounding the lens is the backside of the iris and the ciliary body. The very last picture on the middle, you can see the shinny blue with black which is the choroid. It's a thin layer between the retina and sclera. The retina takes lights from the lens, and the sclera is like the armor plating for the eye. In the center lies the curled optic disc where all the neurons sensors lie and connect to the optic nerve!

 

Nolonger in the loop

Sadly, I have fallen out of the loop. I've had a history of hamstring pulls, tears, strain, you name it, and a little more than a week ago I suffered yet another hamstring tear running in my 300 hurdles event at track. Its devastating because it honestly ruined any hopes of getting running or getting faster. That might sound silly or obvious, but for me I've been battling these injuries for a few years now on and off. I'm not sure if I will or can even continue jumproping; it's a pretty big setback not only physically, but also mentally because I love running. I am seeing a physical therapist (PT), who I hope can be my key to recovery.

I'm a really active person and love moving around; to be unable to use my lower body is like sitting around in jail rotting. Rehab is truely a patience test, but just know, if your life ever hits a bumpy patch, every setback is a set up for a comeback

No Brain No Gain?

Article here

A woman lived her life until the age of 24 no knowing that she didn't have a cerebellum. Growing up, she was unable to talk until the age of 6, and unable to walk until the age of 7. This is because the cerebellum controls voluntary movements and also balance is After doctors used a CAT scan to see, the doctors noticed that the area where a cerebrum should be was filled with cerebrospinal fluid, something the brain uses to fight against diseases. Although she doesn't have a cerebellum, the rest of her brain took over the cerebellum's functions through brain plasticity. Because of this she was able to eventually walk, talk and be like anyone else.

In my own research, I looked deeper into another part of the brain, the pons. The pons are used in controlling breathing, and using our senses, such as hearing, touch, and balance. It also deals with one of the five pillars of health, sleep. Pons are crucial in REM sleep. If damage were to be done to our pons, chances of survival are low because they are linked to key functions such as respiration that all humans need to perform in order to survive. That being said, it's unlikely for other parts of the brain to takeover its function because without pons we would have a low chance of survival.

Brain review

In anatomy today, our table groups created clay models of the brain. we color coded each section to represent the different parts along with their functions. Mapping the brain out gives us a better understanding of how the brain works with the nervous system.