Brain Research To Help Your Athletic Performance
Posted by in Biology on July 7, 2011
How Your Brain Can Help You Achieve More
Although the notion of using personal development tools to enhance athletic performance is not new, having been started in the early 1920′s, modern brain research has added further insights.
Your brain is constantly changing
Whenever you learn something new, and send it your memory, the structure of your brain changes in minute ways. After all, how could you possibly retrieve that information if it hadn’t caused some kind of physical change to the actual structure of your brain? Modern neuroscience has uncovered the finer details of how this happens.
The technical term for this phenomenon is neuroplasticity, and as the name implies, it suggests that the brain is plastic in nature, as it changes shape according to what it encounters. Although this knowledge and the application of specific principles related to it, has meant that people with many physical disabilities, from accidents or strokes can be helped immensely, researchers didn’t understand all the implications involved.
Piano playing, or not, revealed important insights
One of the ways that researchers discovered more about this wonderful phenomenon, by looking at people who hadn’t ever played the piano. They divided them into two groups, and taught them a sequence of notes, showing them how to move their fingers, and letting them hear the notes that they played.
One group sat in front of the piano keyboard, for two hours a day, for five days, and imagined playing the sequence, as well as hearing the result. The other group actually played the piano, for two hours a day, for five days.
Both groups had their brains mapped before the experiment, on every one of the five days and then after the experiment. Both groups were asked to play the sequence, with a computer measuring the accuracy of the performances.
Amazingly, the group that had only done mental practice, experienced the same brain structural changes as the group that did the actual, physical playing. The imaginary players were just as accurate in their sequence playing as the actual players. Read the rest of this entry »
What Is the Function of Stomata?
Posted by in Biology on July 7, 2011
As a biology student, the most common concept that you will be introduced to initially is the study of cells. The stomata in a cell play a vital role in the process of respiration and photosynthesis. Each and every creation of God is unique and important in its own way. They are also connected to each other. Plants and trees are important for our existence as they provide us food to eat, air to breathe, and many more things. Stoma is one of the most important parts of a plant. It means ‘mouth’. In this article, we will learn about the various functions of stomata in detail.
Stomata are present on the leaves of plants. They may be found on either sides or just one side of a leaf. When they are found in both sides, then they are known as amphistomatic. However, if it’s present on the upper side then it’s called epistomatic; and if found on the lower sides, then they are called hypostomatic. They are positioned in the epidermis of the leaf surface. However, it is interesting to note that the positioning of stomata is different from plant to plant. Besides the difference in the location, the dicot leaves are known to have more number of stomata on the upper surface than the lower side. However, monocot leaves have just the same number of stomata on both the upper and lower side of the leaves.
The structure of stomata is also very interesting to study. It comprises of a kidney shaped epidermal cell having an opening at the center known as a pore. The inner walls of the guard cells countenance the hole and are much thicker than outer layers. The guard cells also have quite big vacuoles. The cells that surround the guard cells are called the subsidiary or accessory cells. Read the rest of this entry »