Random Thought of the Day

Quote: kenarman

A parent never recovers from the death of a child.

I wonder if that was so in ancient times, when child mortality was common. As recently as the mid-XIX century, it wasn't rare to lose a child or two even in wealthy countries (of course, even some wealthy countries had atrocious sanitation practices).

At the height of the Roman empire, the tragedy was if the child died after he'd grown up into an adult. And it was far worse if he was the heir apparent, especially within the Imperial family.

But today it is true.

Quote: Nareed

I wonder if that was so in ancient times, when child mortality was common.

Elephants will sacrifice infants and toddlers if food and water is scarce in hopes that teenagers will survive since there is more invested in them already.

During the early 1900s milk cows were an asset but as the dust bowl came along calf-killing became a necessity if children were to have any milk. Values change with situations. Holding onto property became an obsession even as it was all blowing away because packing up and driving/walking was utter hopelessness.

How many parts of the body can be removed without killing the human? Assume for the sake of the exercise, trauma of the removed part is properly stitched up or whatever. This is not a rip and bleed to death exercise?

Some people do pretty well with a good portion of the brain missing, as long as it's the right parts.

Quote:

A man with an unusually tiny brain manages to live an entirely normal life despite his condition, which was caused by a fluid build-up in his skull.

Scans of the 44-year-old man's brain showed that a huge fluid-filled chamber called a ventricle took up most of the room in his skull, leaving little more than a thin sheet of actual brain tissue (see image, right).

"It is hard for me [to say] exactly the percentage of reduction of the brain, since we did not use software to measure its volume. But visually, it is more than a 50% to 75% reduction," says Lionel Feuillet, a neurologist at the Mediterranean University in Marseille, France.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12301-man-with-tiny-brain-shocks-doctors.html#.VX9NGSzbKYk

So, starting at the top you can already get rid of a rather conservative 50% of the brain. You can also live without part of your skull. Who needs exterior ear tissue. You can function without sight. There go the eyes. Michael Jackson practically lived without a nose.

This is excellent for weight loss but not ideal for other reasons.

Often doctors recommend that half the infant's brain be removed. Life goes on. Not much dreaming though.

Parts of a brain can step in perform supportive roles.

Quote: rxwine

How many parts of the body can be removed without killing the human?

The ancient Egyptians regarded the brain as superfluous. The heart was always mummified with the corpse. The entrails (stomach, liver, intestines and lungs) were at first desiccated and placed in jars which were buried, or kept, with the mummy. Later on they were desiccated and returned to the body.

The brain? The brain they liquefied with a hook inserted through the nose, then poured it out by the same route and discarded it.

This is odd, because medical papyri do identify disorders such as paralysis due to head injuries. they knew the brain was useful for something. Maybe it was just the embalmers who had no idea how to preserve it.

All kangaroos are left handed until further notice.

http://news.discovery.com/animals/all-kangaroos-are-left-handed-15068.htm

What is "Blood Pressure"? Why are there two numbers to describe it? Should it properly be referred to as 'Blood Pressures'?

Lub-lub. Lub-lub. Lub-lub

Heart squeezes twice.

Lub - atrial contacts.
lub - ventricle contacts.

Different pressures for each

The heart draws in blood and then pumps it out. One measure is for the first part and the other for the second.

Quote: Nareed

The heart draws in blood and then pumps it out. One measure is for the first part and the other for the second.

Usually, the most important measure is the Pulse Pressure, that is the absolute value of different systolic and diastolic values, rather than the actual numbers recorded. sort of the pressure within the fire hose rather than its peaks and minemas.