Science Zone

WHY ARE GRASSHOPPERS GREEN DURING RAINY SEASON BUT BROWN DURING DRY SEASON

WHY ARE GRASSHOPPERS GREEN DURING RAINY SEASON BUT BROWN DURING DRY SEASON

Ever wondered why grasshoppers are green during the rainy season but brown during the winter. Well it's an adaptive coloration to escape...

SKIN AS BODY TEMPERATURE REGULATOR

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>The skin as we all know is the largest organ in the body. Also with exception of the bones and cartilages, it's the toughest tissue in the body. It does live up to its status by carrying out numerous functions such as protection, excretion, storage of food, sensitivity, regulation of the body temperature, production of vitamin D through the early sunshine and so on. 
 
Today we are going to see how the skin regulates the body temperature especially in we homoiothermic animals; animals with constant body temperature. 
 
This is truly amazing as how the skin keeps the body temperature constant regardless of changes in external environment though the liquid tissue cell (blood) also plays a role at body temperature regulation. 
 
On a hot day or weather, there's usually an increase in the temperature of the environment and the skin carry out the following processes to get rid of excess heat and thus to keep the body temperature constant. 
 
VASODILATION: 
There is a dilation of the capillaries near the skin surface and a constriction of those in the deeper layer. The impact of this is a large volume of blood flow close to the surface of the skin such that there's a loss of heat via the three mood of heat transfer namely; conduction, convection and radiation. 
 
DECREASE IN METABOLIC RATE: There is a reduction in metabolic activity by the skin or body and this reduces the heat released by metabolic activity and thus heat production is reduced. 
 
LOWERING OF HAIRS: We usually notice that the hairs especially those on the hands and legs rise and fall. Yes they rise and fall. 
During hot days, the hair erector muscles relax causing the hairs to lie flat on the skin surface. This expose most of the air trapped by the hairs and also heat from the body is lost as the air evaporates. 
 
SWEATING: 
The sweat gland is usually active during hot periods and there's large sweat production. As the sweat evaporate from the skin, latent heat of evaporation is also extracted from the body hence the heat of the body is reduced. 
 
On a cold day or weather, the following processes are done by the skin to regulate the body temperature. 
 
RAISING OF THE HAIRS: 
The hair erector muscle contract to raise the hair and trap more air during a cold weather. Since air is a bad conductor of heat, the layer of air next to the skin acts as an insulator and prevent heat loss from the body and conserves the normal body temperature. 
 
VOSOCONSTRICTION: There's constriction of capillaries close to the skin surface and also a dilation of capillaries in deeper layer of the skin. This brings about small volume of blood flow near the skin surface and hence prevents loss of heat and conserves body heat or temperature. 
 
INCREASE IN METABOLIC ACTIVITY: The skin increases the metabolic activity of the body especially the respiratory activity of the liver that release large amount of energy and heat. This help to generate the heat necessary to keep the body's temperature from dropping during cold weather. 
 
SWEATING: 
THE sweat gland become inactive on a cold day and hence there is very little production of sweat that gets evaporated thereby conserving the latent heat of vaporization and rather use it to keep the body temperature constant by ensuring no drop 'in temperature rate throughout the body.</div>

SKIN AS BODY TEMPERATURE REGULATOR

The skin as we all know is the largest organ in the body. Also with exception of the bones and cartilages, it's the toughest tissue in t...

WHY WE URINATE MUCH AND OFTEN ON A COLD WEATHER OR DAY

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No one can claim that he's oblivious of the fact that we tend to urinate more and often during cold weather. Yes you heard me right! 
 
But why is it so? 
Well let me address the question once and for all. 
 
First! How does the body react during cold and hot weather with regard to even temperature distribution through out the body. 
 
But then when does one feel warm and cold? 
I mean how does the body cope with hemostasis, to sound less complex the regulation of the body's temperature in order to attain and maintain a fairly constant temperature rate. 
 
The blood and the skin see to that. 
The blood cell does its by even distribution of blood around the body to ensure an even body temperature. 
To be precise, the blood disperse the temperature of a particular part of the body to all other parts of the body. <a href="http://sciencezone12.blogspot.in/2015/02/skin-as-body-temperature-regulator.html/">The skin does its as body temperature regulator</a> 
 
The body is usually warm on a hot day as a result of heat from the sun and high metabolic activity in the body. When the body is warm, there's a stimulation for sweat production and this is due to the high metabolic activity of the liver which heats up the body. 
 
For the sweat to be evaporated from the body, latent heat of vaporization is derived from the body and thus the body's temperature is continually reduced as the sweat evaporate. 
This and cold weather bring about the sensation of cold stimuli while hot weather and high metabolic activity within the body lead to warm sensation we feel. 
 
Acknowledging this, it's also important to understand how the body dispose sweat in each atmospheric condition and thus why we urinate much and often during cold weather or atmospheric condition than the warm one. 
 
During hot weather, the skin helps the liver dispose excess salt or sweat produced by the sweat gland through body sweating because the sweat gland is highly active and produces high amount of sweat. 
 
Unlike hot atmospheric condition, the sweat gland is inactive during a cold day and produces very little sweat. The effect of this is a drastic reduction of heat or sweat loss through evaporation. Not only does this result to body heat conservation but also result to the skin not excreting excess salts or sweat and then the sweat become excreted by the liver as urine. 
That's why we urinate much and often on a cold weather or day.</div>

WHY WE URINATE MUCH AND OFTEN ON A COLD WEATHER OR DAY

No one can claim that he's oblivious of the fact that we tend to urinate more and often during cold weather. Yes you heard me right! ...

Functions Of White Blood Cells And Immunization

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People can protect themselves from serious diseases by carrying out immunization i.e artificial immunization. 
 
But then, what's immunization?  
Immunization is the process of ingesting substances that is primed to make ones immune system  resistant to a specific pathogenic organisms or disease. Immunity created in the body is called natural immunization while the ones created by humans are called artificial immunity. 
 
Let's now know how artificial immunization is possible. 
 
We all know that the solid component of the blood known as the white blood cell carries out the important function of defending the body from pathogens or diseases. To make this more efficient,  the white blood cell is further categorized in two which include the phagocytes (that carry out phagocytosis, i.e ingestion of pathogens ) and the lymphocytes that secret substances called antibodies that function as follows in relation with the phagocytes. 
 
-Neutralization: the lymphocytes  neutralize the toxic produced by those pathogens or render them inactive. 
-Flocculation: The lymphocytes secret the disease causing organisms with antibodies that would cause them to clump together and then ingested by the phagocytes. 
 Clotting: during the process of clotting, the lymphocytes got attached to the mesh of fibrin that block the cut and thus prevent the entry of pathogenic organisms. 
 
Let's break down the lymphocytes a bit further. 
 
The lymphocytes are further classified into two principal groups and the null-group. 
B-lymphocytes: produce antibodies in the humoral immune response. 
 
T-lymphocytes: participate in the cell mediated immune response. 
 
The null-group contains the cytotoxic cells (natural killer cells) and  participates in the cell innate immune response. 
 
It's now important to note that a particular type of pathogen stimulates the production of a particular antibody. 
 
How immunization works: 
The artificial immunization is simply aimed at making or creating an awareness of a possible presence a disease and causing the lymphocytes to recognize them. 
This is done by ingesting a small dose of dead or weakened causal micro-organism of such disease into the body. 
This will quickly draw the attention of the lymphocytes and thus effect the production of a specific antibody that would kill the disease. 
 
So when these white blood cells are destroyed,  the body is left defenseless and thus exposed to any possible disease or pathogen. This exactly what AIDS does. 
 
It attacks and destroys the white blood cells. The diseased is left defenseless and different diseases invade the body. This will lead to the actual death of the person. What Aids does is only destroying the body immune,then the different diseases that invade the body lead to the death of such. 
 
Got any suggestion? 
Use the comment space. 
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Functions Of White Blood Cells And Immunization

People can protect themselves from serious diseases by carrying out immunization i.e artificial immunization. But then, what's immuni...

Why Well and Water Table Are Warm at Night or Morning During Winters

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It is widely noticed in our various life activities that well water and underground water are warm at night/morning but cold at the day during winters. 
In fact! Am a witness to that strange occurrence. Back in my childhood days, we usually ran to the well to draw water for our bath in the morning after comparisons has been made on the temperature of well, tank and underground water to normal ones. 
 
This sounds so ridiculous because the reverse is obvious with regards to the temperature differences at night and day and factors that effect temperature at whole. 
How comes this strange phenomenon? 
Why the reverse change in temperature? 
 
Let's see what answer nature has to offer us and the mystery behind this strange and odd... 
 
Let's study first the temperature of the atmosphere (which affects the water on the earth's surface) and the one beneath the earth or underground (which affect the water-table or underground water). 
 
Temperature on the earth's surface or atmosphere is easily influenced by external factors e.g weather conditions while the temperature beneath the earth crust is fairly constant ( fairly affected by changes). 
 
So if for example the normal temperature of the two kind of water in question is 1degree Celsius, after the heating of earth's surface by the sun and the cooling <a href="http://sciencezone12.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-higher-you-go-cooler-it-becomes.html"> read also-the higher you go, the cooler it becomes</a> the temperature of the water would drop below 1 degree Celsius but that of the underground water remain fairly constant e.g 1 degree Celsius. 
 
When we then touch the two water, we realize the underground is warmer than the other. 
 
Another reason is that heat of molten magma of any occurring intrusive volcanic eruption may affect the temperature of the underground water.</div>
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Why Well and Water Table Are Warm at Night or Morning During Winters

It is widely noticed in our various life activities that well water and underground water are warm at night/morning but cold at the day du...

IMPORTANCE OF FLIES TO LIFE

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That moment you are eating in an exposed place and the next thing is viam... a fly just perched on your food. 
 
Flies; one of the living organisms I hate most. Their presence alone irritate me. I always know them for their disadvantages and never saw anything good in them. I often classify them as the worst enemy to man's health because of their frequent visit to wastes. 
 
With that said, they're therefore vector of different diseases such as typhoid fever and cholera (housefly), trypanosomiasis; caused by a protozoan called trypanosome carried by tsetse fly and the list continues... 
 
Of what importance are houseflies? Are they created to deplete life or for inconvenience sake? 
I asked myself for I know that nature has made everything to be in harmony; beneficial to life it consist either in terms of feeding relationship or otherwise. 
 
To which organism is housefly a prey to? 
What role has it to play to life? 
 
"This housefly is actually gutted" I said to myself bewildered after making several gestures to scare off one that was just staring at me if not reckoning me. 
 
On closer observation, I noticed that my poor enemy looking fresh with eyes opened has no life in it. 
Whaaaaat!!! I exclaimed. 
"Which fluid feeder must have done this" I asked myself when the poor thing just turned to powder from my touch. 
 
Spider- a predator to housefly I figured out after some days. 
Housefly contributes to food chain, that's now obvious. Is that all? 
I found this study interesting now. 
 
Waste visitor, apart from taking toxic substances from waste, what else do they (houseflies) do to wastes. 
Funny enough each waste product they visit decays there after. 
Damn it!!! Houseflies are also decomposers through the larvae they bear. 
 
Here they play the greatest role one can ever think of. 
 
- Recycling of nutrients which brings about life indefinite. 
 
-Getting ride of dead organisms which would've made the environment disgustful, think about it if all dead things remain on earth surface. 
 
-Enrichment of soil nutrients which brings about adequate growth of plants we eat. 
 
- Release of carbon to the atmosphere which plants use during photosynthesis through decay of dead organism. 
 
...So, whenever you see them busy on waste or dead things, know they're carrying out their divine assignment. 
 
NOTE: Houseflies are not the only decomposers.</div>
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IMPORTANCE OF FLIES TO LIFE

That moment you are eating in an exposed place and the next thing is viam... a fly just perched on your food. Flies; one of the living ...

WHY DO TREES SHED THEIR LEAVES DURING WINTER?

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Being at a lower class back then in college is an experience one has to live up with. Fascinating, thrilling and also terrifying in sense that you always have to be 
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pushed around by those in higher form. 
 
One of the most challenging period then and will continue to be is returning back to school from the Xmas holiday. 
 
The school compound is messed-up by heaps of dry-shed leaves laying here and there. 
Of course you know whose responsibility to clear them - 'the junior students '. 
To get that done quickly, the senior students' services is employed. 
 
With sweat all over my body while working under the sun and dirt stocked-in in my fingers... for we were provided with crude or no tools at all; I would yell at the trees, " for goodness sake, why can't you hold on to your leaves". 
 
"WHY DO TREES SHED THEIR LEAFS" I wondered. This I keep on wondering till am advanced in class. Damn it! The trees respond to stimuli. 
 
During the winter, they try to save the little water that they can find. And to minimize loss of water to the atmosphere, they shed their leaves. Trees loose water through their leaves(stomata) 
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by a process known as transpiration.</div>
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WHY DO TREES SHED THEIR LEAVES DURING WINTER?

Being at a lower class back then in college is an experience one has to live up with. Fascinating, thrilling and also terrifying in sense...