Biology 202 Web Paper 1

Everyday we come in contact with other people and most of us are able to see and recognize who we are looking at. For example, when I walk across campus to class, I could recognize by face people from my classes. I could distinguish one classmate from another. But just imagine being in class and not being able to recognize the face of your teacher, whom you meet at least twice a week; or imagine not being able to recognize your own roommate in your dorm. Worse, can you imagine looking in the mirror and not being able to recognize your own face?

       People have always been intrigued by the topic of memory, and much research has been conducted in order to better understand the brain’s role in storing and recalling information.  In fact, one of my very first science fair projects involved testing the short-term memories of my classmates.  Our ability to remember certainly plays an extremely important role in our lives, affecting the decisions we make, and how we function in the world around us.  However, I think that an equally important process, and one that is often overlooked, is that of forgetting. 
      

A quote from Emily Dickinson’s poem reads that “the Brain is wider than the sky”, “deeper than the sea”, and “is just the weight of God” (3). She infers in the poem that what all humans feel, see, smell, taste, hear and think are fabrications of the organ, most familiarly known as the brain. The distinguishing between what really exists and what does not exist are difficult to differentiate since all processes of thought are regulated by the brain. In order to answer those questions, research needs to be done so that there is access to a higher level of thought regulation than

Hell Week at Bryn Mawr means different things to different people, but one key activity is intricately linked to the week: drinking. While participating in Hell Week, one sees a number of students experience alcohol related “injuries,” particularly the phenomenon known as black-outs. Indeed, after-party breakfasts (or should I say lunches?) are often filled with conversations centering around events that the previously drunk person cannot recall and remember. However, black-outs are not isolated to the Bryn Mawr campus. They occur in colleges worldwide and to individuals of all ages who

Superman would be jealous of Ashlyn Blocker. Why? Blocker, a five year old girl, cannot feel pain. She is the victim of a rare genetic disorder, a condition known as congenital

This past summer, I was fortunate enough to get a scholarship, which funded an NGO internship in Oaxaca, Mexico for four weeks. I worked at a school that taught children of all ages (infants to teenagers) who have been diagnosed with Down syndrome. Because my Spanish was not exactly comprehensible at first, I had a hard time communicating with the students. However, one of the students sensed my timidity with the language and would occasionally strike up a conversation with me, speaking with a tone of support and patience. Every other day, we had an hour designated to a “dance party,” which was sometimes their only form of exercise. I, again, was shy at