Cabinet of Curiosities

Dear Students,

This comes to us from classmate Chef who gives permission to distribute this widely.

Sincerely,

Professor Mandrake

Orgasm is all about rhythmic timing, according to new research paper

“Synchronization is important for signal propagation in the brain, because neurons are more likely to fire if they are stimulated multiple times within a narrow window of time,” Safron said. “Otherwise, the signals decay as part of a general resetting mechanism, rather than sum together. This then caused me to hypothesize that rhythmic entrainment is the primary mechanism by which orgasmic thresholds are surpassed.”

Safron said this research could be relevant for improving sexual functioning, encouraging people to focus more on the rhythmic aspects of sexuality.

“The idea that sexual experiences can be like trance states is in some ways ancient. Turns out this idea is supported by modern understandings of neuroscience,” Safron said. “In theory, this could change the way people view their sexuality. Sex is a source of pleasurable sensations and emotional connection, but beyond that, it’s actually an altered state of consciousness.”

Safron found parallels between sexual climax and seizures as well as with music and dance—something he wasn’t expecting.

In both orgasm and reflex seizures, rhythmic inputs into high-bandwidth sensory channels resulted in an explosive process after certain stimulation thresholds were surpassed.

“And although obvious in retrospect, I wasn’t expecting to find that sexual activity was so similar to music and dance, not just in the nature of the experiences, but also in that evolutionarily, rhythm-keeping ability may serve as a test of fitness for potential mates.”

He said this is consistent with the fact that rhythmic song and dances are nearly universal parts of mating, going back hundreds of millions of years to our common ancestors with pre-vertebrate animals such as insects.

Animal Doodles

India-based designer and illustrator Rohan Sharad Dahotre takes photographs of wild animals and applies a variety of fun illustrations to them. 

sliding the metal cover on floppy disks

the slight resistance of inserting cassette and video tapes

ripping off the strips of holed paper off of dot matrix printer paper 

Normally not into promoted content but these clear value propositions expressed in relatable third-person terms are really igniting my passions.

For a moment, that black and white photo should seem like a full color image. (You have to keep both the image and your head very still).

This illusion was used in the new BBC Four series Colour: The Spectrum of Science.

It demonstrates a phenomenon called “cone fatigue.” When we stare at the purple hillside in picture above, photoreceptors in our eyes called cones are stimulated. They send a signal to our brains that says “You’re looking at something purple.” But the sensing ability of those cones decreases the longer we stare at the image - those receptors are, in a way, temporarily used up.

Eulogy