I’m a Scientist is like school science lessons meet the X Factor! School students choose which scientist gets a prize of $1000 to communicate their work.
Scientists and students talk on this website. They both break down barriers, have fun and learn. But only the students get to vote.
This zone is the Organs Zone. It has scientists studying health and disease in various parts of our bodies. Who gets the prize? YOU decide!
Think of it like a computer.
You need to control it to do things, need to look after it so it doesn’t over-heat and you need to shut it down so it sleeps, you also need to power it to keep going!
Now every computer has so many different parts like chips, boards and fans that are required to do all these things. It has a cpu which functions like a brain, running everything. It has a motherboard which allows the cpu to talk with other parts of the computer for stuff to happen, like nerves etc.
At each level, it just gets more and more complicated.
Right now it 5am, and mine needs sleep. Hope this made some sense 🙂
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Your body works fundamentally by using a little molecule called ATP in the mitochondria (the batteries) of cells. This amazing little molecule undergoes a chemical change that releases energy for your body to use for EVERYTHING. ATP runs off of sugars and fats that you eat (which come from all food…not just the sugary and fatty ones!). Without the sugars, there would be no ATP conversion. Without ATP, there would be no work in your body at all!
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These guys have done a great job of answering the question already, and I agree with both of them.
It’s kinda like a very complex machine that requires a whole bunch of different areas to work together and the master control is the brain. The brain sends messages to all the other parts of the machine (body) to tell it what it needs or needs to do! It controls everything… Breathing, swallowing, muscles moving, even pooping 🙂
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My body?
Well sometimes it doesn’t work the way I want it too. Like when I wake up in the middle of the night and need to go to the toilet (wish I could control it), or when I have to give a presentation and I become really nervous and worried I’ll forget what I have to say (mouth gets all dry and I feel like I’m going to be sick, or when I’m really clumsy and trip (totally unco!). That’s not what you needed to know!
I think the other awesome scientists answered this question nicely. It’s a complex coordination of – like a performance. Everyone involved has a special part to play and need to do the best job possible. The heart has to pump blood, oxygen and nutrients around your body; your digestive system has to break down food, absorb nutrients and remove wastes and your brain is the supervisor which controls the way our body behaves!
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This is a big question. I’m glad that the others have tackled it before me!
My favourite bit of how the body works is the fact that we often don’t have to think about it at all. You might be sitting there in class, staring out the window with a completely blank mind but your body is working overtime without you knowing it.
The vestibular apparatus in your inner ear is sending messages to your brain about which way up you are sitting. The brain then tells your back, neck and abdominal muscles to tighten or relax to keep you sitting upright. If the vestibular apparatus wasn’t working you’d feel like you were falling and may even be on the floor.
Your pace maker cells in your heart will be keeping your blood pumping.
Your midbrain will be telling your lungs to expand and relax.
Your digestive system can gurgle by itself, but does listen to the brain when you’re stressed.
Your eyes send an upside-down image from outside of the window to your visual cortex in the back of the brain and then this brain area turns it up the right way for it to make sense.
Sound is travelling in though your ears and to your auditory cortex and perhaps if you are half paying attention to your teacher to your language areas for further processing.
Your touch receptors in your skin are telling your sensory brain areas where your body is touching the chair and that there is a pen in your hand.
This is not to mention the body systems that keep you warm enough and help deliver energy to all your cells that are constantly working. WOA!
Imagine if you were thinking about something really difficult on top of all this working too. Phew.
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