With Valentine’s Day coming up, I thought this month’s Procrastination Destination should explore the physical side of things: your actual beating heart. Take a break! Let’s have some fun with physiology, where everything is a metaphor…
Recent Heart Research: Some people have sensitive hearts, but that doesn’t mean they have to fail. Enter robots! Robotic heart “sleeves” can support hearts that need help. A recent study shows that scar tissue from damaged hearts can still be a bridge with electrical impulses. “The study suggests that we may be able to mend the broken heart by helping it to generate ‘better scars.'” If that’s not a metaphor for love, what is?
It doesn’t take a medical degree to know that our body’s organs work as a whole, and this is true for the heart. Stress can negatively impact how our body functions, including the heart. New research looked at the brain and showed that the amygdala region, which is associated with stress response, has a big link to the heart. Which reminds me, if you haven’t been introduced to the Awkward Yeti’s Heart and Brain comics, do so now!
Are your kids around? Here is a quick video explaining what the heart does. Then get you and your kids active for a minute and measure your heart rate in this experiment:
Let’s buy stuff! Here are some heart-themed cool thingies:
An anatomically correct metal heart keychain.
I will leave you this. My favorite version of “My Heart Will Go On.” Seriously.
Rebecca Angel
Rebecca Angel was one of those kids that put the dragon book on top of her pile in the hopes that someone would say, "Hey, I'm into that stuff too!" Alas, she had to wait until she was an adult to find fellow geeks. Luckily, she married one and their kids are too. A music teacher by day, Rebecca is also a lover of tea, science literacy, funky tights, RPGs, anime, manga, comics, fantasy books and movies.
