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Thursday 27 September 2018

How your body responds to pathogens


The body's immune system is composed of two types of cells; T-cells and B-cells, which proliferate the site of infection, producing antibodies, which binds the infecting antigens, destroying them.

So the next time you run temperature, don't worry, its a defensive mechanism of the immune system to roast (destroy the infecting pathogen), by denaturing the protein coat, hence, inhibiting their activity or killing them.
It may also interest you to know that sneezing, allergy, mucus production, tear secreted by tear gland(not necessarily during emotional situation), stomach acid production, wax in the ear, are all immune response to infecting pathogens.
Do not panic when your body run temperature, always endeavour to sneeze out, it comes with a full force that holding it back may lead to rupture of a blood vessel, and do close your mouth or sneeze away from people, and the next time you clean wax from your ear, be less assertive about it.
el'tahir...

Sunday 11 February 2018

what happen when coke/soda is mixed with milk


Milk contains casein.  Casein is a protein that, in milk, assembles to form microscopic spheres that are evenly distributed throughout milk.  Milk has a pH of 6.6, which is just below neutral making it slightly acidic. At a pH of 6.6, the casein protein molecules are negatively charged. The negative charge is important for keeping the casein molecules compacted into little soluble spheres. If the negative charge is neutralized, then the casein proteins will no longer for little soluble spheres and they will unfold, become tangled, and precipitate out.  The charge on casein changes with pH.  As the pH decreases, the charge will switch from negative to neutral and then to positive.  Thus, as the pH decreases, the casein proteins will no longer form little soluble spheres, and they will precipitate out.
Coke is primarily a solution of phosphoric acid with a pH of 2.8, which is very acidic.  Adding milk to coke results in the casein proteins precipitating out as discussed above. 
When I saw this question, I expected that the proteins would curdle.  I was surprised that most of the caramel color also precipitated out. The reason the caramel color precipitates is because the precipitated protein matrix has favorable interactions with the caramel coloring.  This means there is a competition between water and the protein matrix to bind the caramel color.  The protein matrix wins, and the caramel color falls out of solution with the precipitated casein molecules instead of staying dissolved in water.
With respect to the implications, it's a good lesson on milk curdling as a function of pH. Be mindful of the pH of a solution your adding milk to.  Don't mix milk and vinegar, lemon juice, tomato juice, etc. unless your planning on making cheese curds.


The temptation to combine your drinks and create strange concoctions is strong in anyone with a bit of natural curiosity, but there are some drinks you just shouldn't mix.
Namely, milk and coke.
Both harmless and enjoyable beverages on their own, they combine to make a strange, unappealing substance that we wouldn't recommend consuming.
The acidity levels in coke causes the milk to curdle on contact, and after the initial contact things start to get weird.
After 15 minutes brown foamy clumps begin to form at the bottom of the bottle. This is due to the phosphoric acid in the coke reacting with the milk; the phosphoric acid molecules attach to the milk molecules making them more dense.
Leave it for an hour and the molecules that haven't reacted with the phosphoric acid will float to the top creating the clear like fluid, leaving a solid, clumpy matter settled at the bottom.
So, what does it taste like?
Whilst we're not brave enough to attempt to weird mix, Youtuber Kill'em FTW was and apparently it isn't that bad. In a video where he drinks the mix he said: "it tastes just like coke, it just looks absolutely disgusting."
Now that we know it doesn't taste completely awful, would you give it a go?


Tuesday 2 January 2018

Care to know why too much shower could be harmful to your body?


If your routine is getting up and jumping in the shower before work, then hitting the gym in the evening and taking another shower, you're going to want to read this. If you've ever wondered if it's bad to take two or more showers a day, science suggests that too much time in the shower could be doing your body more harm than good. While not showering on the regular might sound super gross, showering too much can actually strip your body of healthy bacteria. "There's compelling indirect evidence to suggest that showering damages your microbiome on your skin, which in turn damages your skin health," Rafi Letzter reported for Business Insider.

There were definitely times in my life when I showered a lot more than I do now. I was a lifeguard in college, so I showered before work, and again after I left the pool before heading to my second job as a bartender. And, all of this showering did a number on my hair and skin. Now, I work from home, and I don't shower every day. I also only wash my hair with shampoo once a week, and I have to admit that my hair and skin have never looked better. Not convinced? Atlantic reporter James Hamblin stopped showering altogether.

What started as an experiment for Hamblin turned into a way of life. He wrote that while at first he was super smelly from forgoing regular showers, his body eventually regulated itself and any foul odors disappeared. "Applying detergents (soaps) to our skin and hair every day disrupts a sort of balance between skin oils and the bacteria that live on our skin," Hamblin explained. "When you shower aggressively, you obliterate the ecosystems. They repopulate quickly, but the species are out of balance and tend to favor the kinds of microbes that produce odor. But after a while, the idea goes, your ecosystem reaches a steady state, and you stop smelling bad."

Now, Hamblin doesn't shower at all. Instead he noted that he still washes his hands, because that's important to halt the spread of disease. And, he also explained, "I still rinse off elsewhere when I’m visibly dirty, like after a run when I have to wash gnats off my face, because there is still the matter of society. If I have bed head, I lean into the shower and wet it down. But I don’t use shampoo or body soap, and I almost never get into a shower."

What's more, Letzer reported that, "A study of the people of Yanomami village in the Amazon, who had 'no documented previous contact with Western people' found their skin, mouths, and feces hosted the richest complement of bacteria in any human population examined until that point — a complement that included antibiotic-resistant species, despite no known contact with antibiotics."

While not showering to achieve optimum health sounds counterintuitive, daily showering is actually a pretty recent phenomenon, according to Dr. Joseph Mercola's blog. He noted that people in developed societies take between 5-12 showers a week, which was virtually unheard of 100 years ago. And, it's no surprise that the obsession with showering began to increase when products to keep people clean started to be marketed regularly.

It seems, the more products you use, the more products you need. Too much soap dries out your skin, which makes you reach for lotion and oils. Too much showering can also cause acne, and you need additional products to fight that. "Advertising and toilet soap grew up together," Gizmodo reporter Sarah Zhang quoted Katherine Ashenburg, author of The Dirt on Clean, as saying. "As advertising exploded in the early 20th century, so did our obsession with personal hygiene."

Stopping showering altogether is not something most people are willing to do, and I'm right there with you. However, the body's return to its natural state explains how all of the characters on LOST were hooking up with each other despite not showering on the regular after their plane crash. So, the good news is that if you do get stranded on a desert island, you'll probably be just fine if you go the rest of your life without a shower. #TheMoreYouKnow

If your skin and hair are feeling dry and itchy, it could be from too much showering. And, if you are taking two or more showers a day, it might be time to consider cutting down. You're probably going to want to take a shower after going to the gym, and I totally get it. Perhaps take that shower, and forgo the morning shower. At first, it's going to feel super weird, and probably a little uncomfortable, to not shower in the morning if this is part of your regular routine. However, over time, you and your body will get used to it.

Plus, think of all of the extra time you'll have. Hamblin reported that if you live to be 100 years old, and you spend just 20 minutes a day washing your body, that adds up to 12,167 hours — more than a year — spent in the shower. And, that's just the average. Many of us spend a lot more time than that washing up. The bottom line? Getting an hour of your day back to sleep, or just chill out, is going to do you a whole lot more good than taking an extra shower.

I know in Africa, most especially in the west, where the climate is tropical, it can be hot for most part of the year. And a little work out can produce a lot of sweat, which can in turn make you stuffy. But you cannot take away the fact that too much shower can cause more harm than good.