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Why coffee keeps you awake?

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Why coffee keeps you awake? It is well-known that the effect of coffee on mood is related to its content in caffeine (you can see its pic on the right) But why caffeine has such a strong effect on us? Caffeine operates using the same mechanisms of amphetamines, cocaine, and heroin to stimulate the brain, though with milder effects. It manipulates the same channels as the other drugs, and that is one of the things that gives caffeine its addictive qualities. There is a chemical in our brain called adenosine , that binds to certain receptors and slows down nerve cell activity when we are sleeping. To a nerve cell, caffeine looks like adenosine and it binds to the adenosine receptors. However, as it's not really adenosine, it doesn't slow down the cell's activity like adenosine would. So the cell cannot "see" adenosine anymore because caffeine has taken up all the receptors adenosine binds to. Then, instead of slowing down because of the adenos...
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Why do onions make you cry?

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Why do onions make you cry? Who has never cried while cutting an onion? (well, apart from those who have never cut one hehehe). This is a little explanation in easy terms. Inside the onion cells there are some chemical compounds that contain sulfur. When you cut an onion its cells are broken and those chemical compounds then undergo a reaction that transforms them into a more volatile sulfured products, which are released into the air. These sulfured compounds react with the moisture in your eyes forming sulfuric acid, which produces a burning sensation. The nerve endings in your eyes are very sensitive and so they pick up on this irritation. The brain reacts by telling your tear ducts to produce more water, to dilute the irritating acid. So you cry to keep your eyes protected from the acid. There are some tricks to make onion-dicing less problematic: - Chop the onion under cold water . The volatile sulfured compounds will be released but then they react with the w...
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