Total Pageviews

Monday, December 6, 2010

What causes deja vu?

One explanation for déjà vu is that there is a slight malfunctioning between the long and short-term memory circuits of the brain. Somehow, specific information shortcuts its way from short to long-term memory storage, bypassing the usual mechanisms used for storage transfer. The details concerning this shortcut are not yet well understood. When this new, recent piece of information is drawn upon, the person thinks that the piece is coming from long-term storage and so must have come from the distant past. A similar theory says that the error is in the timing of the perceptive and cognitive processes. Sensory information is rerouted on its way to memory storage and, so, is not immediately perceived. This short delay causes the sensation of experiencing and remembering something at the same time, a very unsettling feeling. One other explanation is that déjà vu is actually the process of remembering memory connections, of following the impulses and synapses. All of these neurobiologically based explanations for déjà vu seem plausible and intriguing and perhaps there is some overlap or combination that accounts for the different experiences we call déjà vu.

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1682

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Are babies and small children who are more succeptible to ear infections more succeptible to meningitis?

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Does Drinking Pop Ease Sore Muscles?

Is there any evidence that drinking soda pop after a workout speeds relief from sore muscles by speeding the breakdown of lactic acid?

Friday, September 24, 2010

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

What is carpal tunnel syndrome, and what exactly is done during carpal tunnel surgery to correct it?

Monday, September 20, 2010

seizures

What exactly is it about drugs, medical and recreation, that causes the seizure? Why would they release something so risky to the people no matter how helpful it would be?

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Causes & Cures for the Hiccups

What causes hiccups, and why do folk-remedies like drinking water (or drinking water upside down), holding your breath, or having someone scare you seem to cause them to go away? (the 4th-Period Honors Chemistry class wants to know, since one of their classmates get hiccups easily)

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Fibrous Dysplasia

What are the causes and symptoms of the very rare bone disorder Fibrous Dysplasia?

Efficacy of Natural vs. Man-Made Vitamin and Mineral Supplements and Fortifications

Do dietary supplements like daily multivitamins and man-made fortifications like the Vitamin D added to milk work as effectively as vitamins and minerals found in natural foods?