Books worthy of reference

I have nothing against the novel. I have read many in my lifetime.  However, as reference guides, these books are worth checking back with when questions arise.

• Science Matters - when you're not sure how the basic science works, check this book.
  
• How to Win Friends and Influence People - there's a reason why this book is still in print after almost a century!
• Aging Well - 5 simple things to ensure a positive old age

Blind mountain climbers

Blindsight, a movie about Tibetan blind kids who climb 21,000+ feet up a Himalayan mountain.

The story of Erik Weihenmayer, first blind mountain climber to reach the summit of Everest (and a lot of other peaks, too).

Answering the age old question...

Do you lose more heat from your head than other parts of your body?

No. At rest, your head loses the same amount of heat as a comparably exposed portion of your body -- in this case about 7%.

But wait...

Yes. When you start to exercise and before you sweat, your head vents up to 55% of your body heat. At some point, your head gets too hot, so your body sends blood to your skin to cool down your head -- sending your heat loss back down to 7%.

Shivering hypothermia victims don't get the benefit of vasodilation (cooling through the widening of blood vessels, in this case, in the skin) and thus lose 55% of their body heat constantly through their head (put a hat on 'em!). Wet heads also lose more heat, so keep your head out of the water if you're cold.

In the end, 7% is still a lot of heat loss considering that the rest of our body (besides our hands) are covered up when the weather is cold. So if you wear a hat, you'll still feel warmer than without one!

Source: Wilderness Medicine

Really, what does anyone know about grizzly bears?

After watching a PBS special on grizzlies, I thought I would share in 5 scintillating points!

• In the past, grizzly bears roamed all of western North America. Now, not so much.
  
• Why? Because humans killed them until there were only maybe a 100 left in the Yellowstone area.
• But since people really like looking at bears, Yellowstone developed bear feeding areas. To get the bears there, they dumped all the garbage from the campers into the feeding zones.
  
• After generations of this domesticating action, Yellowstone figured out that it wasn't doing the bears any good. In the early 1970's, they removed all dumping/feeding grounds.
• Naturally, the bears were perplexed and began scavenging in camps (they'd forgotten how to hunt). Unfortunately, many bears were destroyed, i.e., killed for trespassing. What happens when a bear attacks you?
  
  
• Thankfully, resilient bears soon remembered how to survive in the wild. They have grown to over 350 breeding females in Yellowstone and the question now is: are there too many bears?

That's the recap. Now the interesting thing for me is that bears disappear in the high summer. Where do they go and what are they doing? Check this video out to learn more.

Update: Results of landmark montana grizzly bear study (USGS)

Romantic and Educational: What more does the heart want?

El Corazon
From WIRED Science | PBS
Airdate: October 17, 2007
More info: http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/video/144-el_corazon.html



Romantic melodies and rhythm combined with anatomical lyrics and a dollop of humor!

Recent studies are finding that every mammalian species has the same number of heartbeats per lifetime after which death occurs. That's why elephants and whales with slower heartbeats live longer while shrews live much shorter. The kicker is humans and our use of medical science to keep us going longer than the rest of mammals. (This includes our domesticated pets for which we also use medicine to keep 'em tickin').