Pheromoans.. i mean mones.

A pheromone is a secreted substance that triggers a response, specifically a social response. In Greek the word is translated into 'transfer' and 'excite'.. transferring excitement? The word sounds an awful lot like the word hormone because hormones do the same thing but on a cellular level. A hormone is released into the blood stream or cytosol (goo outside the cell) so the other neighboring cells are aware of the environmental presence/threat. So basically one cell is like.. 'Yo, other cell.. shit is going downnnnn!' Then cells 2 passes it along like a game of telephone and the organism is then more able to cope with what is coming. So, a pheromone is an kind of like hormone but it is between two different organisms, like say two people.

So there are many kinds of pheromones, but let's talk about sex (baby.. let's talk about you and me). Humans secret an airborne chemical (found in all humans, insects and animals) and a signal is sent from one person to another of the opposite sex. If two members of the opposite sex are secreting pheromones at the same time.. oh, it's on. Many perfumes and colognes are designed to enhance this affect, but interestingly most pheromones are secreted through the skin as sweat and other bodily fluids (ew). These chemicals come into our nose and signals of sexual desire, attraction and control of impulse are sent to the brain. These are the basic instincts of sexual attraction. Of course, as humans, we have other things like body language and verbal cues, but this is the bare bones of what makes us want to get busy.

Sexual pheromones not only affect sexual desire, but people with higher secretions of pheromones seem to get more attention in general and give off better impressions. Research is ongoing, but here is some food for thought: As we get older, our sense of smell decreases.. could this cause the decrease in sex drive people talk about as we get into our old age?

Sources:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/69762/pheromones_and_sexual_chemistry.html

www.askdeb.com/beauty/pheromones

Why Do You Sneeze When You Look into the Sun?

Nothing is worse then when you are on the brink of a sneeze, but you can't get it out! My solution has always been to look up into the sun to force a sneeze.. but why does that work?! This has been wondered about for centuries, but modern neurobiology might have the answer.

Aristotle was one of the first to try and answer this question. He surmised that it must be the heat of the sun responsible for the phenomena in "Book of Problems." About 2,000 years later, Francis Bacon tested this theory with the observation that when you look at the sun with your eyes closed.. the heat remains but there is no sneeze. This led him to conclude that the sun in your eyes made them water.. causing moisture to seep into your nasal cavity.

These theories were educated and rational for the understanding of science during those time periods, but as we learned more about neurobiology/ human physiology it was deemed that Bacon's theory was disregarded due to the speed of the sneeze following the sun exposure and a new theory was born. This new theory was deemed as a result of 'crossed wires' in the facial neural networks (cranial nerves).

The cranial nerves are a complicated part of the nervous system that comes out of the brain stem (connects spinal chord to the brain and contains the medulla oblongata, pons and midbrain). There are twelve cranial nerves and they control a variety of functions from blinking to hearing to smelling (etc). These nerve tracts run very close to each other and it is theorized that when the signal of excessive light enters your pupils the sudden increase in electrical current traveling from the optic nerve (signaling to constrict the eyes pupil) accidently triggers the trigeminal nerve confusing the brain into thinking there is a irritant in the nose- causing a sneeze.

This has come to be called the photic sneeze reflex, but does not seem to be linked with any further medical problems. It also seems that this doesn't happen to every person. Further research into a genetic element of this reaction has began due to it's potential to shed light into other neurological conditions. (Shining light into the eyes of someone with epilepsy can trigger a seisure, and it could be related to the cross wiring of the cranial nerves) So when you can't seem to sneeze, look into the sun and see if you are part of the population that undergoes the photic sneeze reflex.