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Visiting
a Lecture in Physiology
This
page is all about my experiences in the physiology lecture
that I attended with Meagan, who is 2nd year university student
who studies Science and Communication.
What is Physiology?
Physiology is the part of science where they deal with the
functioning of living organisms or their parts; so to be precise,
on the day of our attendance, the lecturer talked mainly on
the functioning of the heart with scientific jargon.
Did you know that human’s heart beats 100 000 times
every day?
Overall, it is the heart that squeezes your blood through
a network of tubes that take it on a journey around your body.
As we know, humans have a “closed” circulation, which means
that our blood travels in special vessels all the way round.
When blood is pumped out of the heart, it surges forwards
under high pressure, which you can feel as a pulse.
Did you know that a single blood cell only takes one
minute to travel from your heart to your knee and back to
your heart?
Your heart is like a two pumps working side by side. Each
one is made of two muscular parts: an atrium at the top, and
a ventricle at the bottom. During the heartbeat, the atrium
contracts, and forces blood into the ventricle. The ventricle
contracts a split-second later, forcing blood out of the heart
and into the arteries. The right side of the heart pumps blood
from the body to the lings. The left side takes oxygen-rich
blood from the lungs and pumps it to the rest of the body.
Did you know that Arab doctor Ibn An-Nafis (c.1205-88)
was the first person to describe how blood circulates through
lungs?
It was Ibn An-Nafis who described the circulation of the blood
through lungs but his work did not became known in Europe
and it was not until 1628 that the English doctor William
Harvey (1578-1657) published a full account of how the blood
circulates around the body. Though he could not see capillaries,
but he deduced that they must exist.
Did you know that you can remove the heart from the
body and still maintain the heartbeat?
In theory, if heart was to be taken out of the human body
and are kept in the condition that are same or similar to
your body then the heart will continue to beat outside of
your body for few seconds and it is our hope that one day
scientists will be able to prove this theory to many people
who are fascinated in this area of science.
In conclusion, the physiology lecture that I’ve attended was
amusing and interesting due to new styles of teaching in a
new environment and my personal interest in science. After
attending the lecture, I believe that the World Wide Day in
Science presented me with new knowledge to science and the
experiences that I would be achieving in three years time.
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