I remember this song

Our brain can retrive thousands of songs so easily, but not that one answer in that exam!

According to Daniel Levitin, a psychologist who studies the neuroscience of music at McGill University in Montreal, humans developed a structure in the brain that responds to music before we developed one that responds to language. This is why humans are able to respond so strongly to music. Its potent effect on the pleasure center holds a very significant place in our brains. When listening to music dopamine is excreted and this is has a large effect on the rewards section of our brain. Music is a pleasure to hear and the response we receive from it is strong enough to force our memory to give it significance and retain its lyrics and melody. This is the reason that children have an easier time remembering things taught to them in song format then just spoken to them.

Normal conversation does not induce as much dopamine therefore is doesn’t induce as many synaptic connections to cause people to keep the memory of the conversation. We also attach music to our emotions and senses; this is why some songs can spark memory and feelings such as sadness or happiness. The song brings us back to when we were listening to it often enough to allow us to memorize its lyrics, and we recall what emotional state we were in.

The reason we remember certain song lyrics has been theorized to be due to “ear worms”. Often people only remember certain segment of songs, typically the chorus or opening. The reason for this is the neural circuits in our brain are forced into a loop and wind up repeating the song, causing a song to get stuck in our heads. This repetition causes us to commit the lyrics to memory for very long amounts of time. Often our memory can be jogged by just hearing the first words of the song or opening beat. These annoying segments burrow deep into our memory hence the name earworms. So overall it seems that music is able to hold such significance in our memories due to its ability to induce dopamine and its relation to our early evolution. Unfortunately for us college students our textbooks don’t stimulate us nearly enough to allow us to memorize as much as we need to.

The Big Bang Theory

The Big Bang Theory was first proposed by a catholic priest!

His name was Georges Lemaître 

Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître (17 July 1894 – 20 June 1966) was a Belgian priest, astronomer and professor of physics at the Catholic University of Leuven. He proposed the theory of the expansion of the universe, widely misattributed to Edwin Hubble. He was the first to derive what is now known as Hubble's law and made the first estimation of what is now called the Hubble constant, which he published in 1927, two years before Hubble's article. Lemaître also proposed what became known as the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe, which he called his "hypothesis of the primeval atom" or the "Cosmic Egg".

Fat Mcdonald

Caesar Salad at Mcdonald's will make you fat more than their Hamburger

You may think you are eating to be kind to your waistline - but think again.
The McDonald's Caesar salad, to be launched this month amid concern over spiralling obesity levels, is more fattening than the burger.
In its biggest menu revolution in 30 years, the restaurant chain will introduce the grilled chicken salad at 1,235 of its branches with a choice of Caesar dressing, or the lighter option of a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.
However, anyone hoping the salad option will help battle the bulge should read the nutritional information on the McDonald's website.

It shows that ditching the burger for a salad is no good for slimmers.
For with dressing and croutons it contains 425 calories and 21.4g of fat, compared with the 253 calories and 7.7g of fat in the standard burger.
Adding a portion of fries to your burger brings the calorie count to 459 - still less fatty than the salad at 16.7g.
Last month McDonald's announced it will ditch its super-size portion of fries and soft drinks at British outlets by the end of the year amid a backlash against firms blamed for an "obesity epidemic".
Medical experts have drawn a direct link between increasing obesity and giant portions of everything from fast food to chocolate bars and crisps.
A super-size portion of fries at McDonald's contains 486 calories, more than double the 206 calories in a regular serving.
The corporation said that without the creamy dressing and croutons on the salad, the fat falls away and the less calorific balsamic vinegar dressing contains only 2g of fat.

A spokeswoman added: "Free of dressing, a chicken salad has only 222 calories. It's the Italian cheese that makes the difference."

CatzZzZzZz

Cats sleep for about 70% of their lives

Why do cats sleep so much? Several issues are involved. Predators that have few natural enemies can afford to sleep for longer periods of time. Also, the need for sleep increases in direct proportion to the amount of energy required. Being a predator, the cat has extraordinary energy needs for hunting, but usually uses enormous bursts of energy to stalk, pounce, and wrestle that toy mouse into submission.
The sleep activity of cats, like that of people and many other mammals, is characterized by two patterns of brain activity. This activity has been measured experimentally with an electroencephalograph (EEG) that records waves or pulses of activity on a graph.
When awake the cat's brain broadcasts little bunched-together irregular peaks.
But when dozing, the cat's brain produces long, irregular waves called slow-wave sleep which usually lasts fifteen to thirty minutes total. As he dozes a cat generally lies with his head raised and paws tucked beneath him. Sometimes he actually sleeps sitting up, in which case his muscles stiffen to hold him upright. This way he's ready to spring into action at a moment's notice.
When kitty moves from light into deep sleep, his body relaxes; he stretches out, and rolls to one side. His brain patterns change and become smaller and closer together, and are very similar to his waking patterns. However, cats are fully relaxed and hard to awaken during deep sleep (referred to as "rapid sleep" because of the quick brain wave movement). This phase usually lasts only about five minutes, and the cat then returns to slow-wave sleep-and thereafter alternates between the two until he finally wakes up. Interestingly, kittens fall directly into deep rapid sleep without this alternating pattern until they're about a month old.
Cat dreams are born during rapid sleep. Yes, cats DO dream, but we can only guess the subject matter. When those paws twitch or cat-calls spill from the sleeping kitty, perhaps he's chasing dream mice!
The cat's senses continue to record sounds and scents during up to 70 percent of sleep, so the kitty can awaken quickly at the squeak of a mouse or smell of a rat. Slower wakeup times are characterized by a predictable pattern of blinking, yawning and stretching. First the forelegs, then back, and finally rear legs each in turn are flexed. Most cats also groom themselves briefly upon first awakening.
While humans may sleep in marathon eight-hour (or longer) sessions, cat sleep more commonly consists of short and long naps throughout the day. Habits vary between cats but very old and very young kittens sleep more than robust adults. Sleep time increases on cold, rainy or cloudy days.

In 1958 William Dement discovered REM sleep in cats. Around the same time, French physiologist Michael Jouvet, ushered in what has been called the Golden age of sleep reseach. According to this article, Jouvet called it (REM sleep) paradoxical sleep. Jouvet chose the term "paradoxical" (which means strange or contradictory) because during this phase of sleep animals showed biological signs very similar to those of an awake animal. It was theorized that perhaps they were acting out their dreams in their sleep.
Cats are most active at daybreak and sundown. That's why kitties seem to love playing at these times and can pester tired owners with wake-up calls. But they typically adapt to the humans they love, sleeping on the owner's schedule. That way, they sleep when you are gone and spend more awake time when you are home.

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

is the fear of long words!

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia tend to experience a great deal of anxiety when faced with long words. It is indeed ironical that the scientific name given to this phobia is such a long one. Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia can actually be broken down into several parts: Hippo- is ‘horse’ in Greek and potam-os is river. Thus the first part of the word refers to a water horse also otherwise known as Hippopotamus. The Oxford Dictionary uses the word: Hippopotamine to refer to “something very large”. The word “monstr” is the Greek origin of a ‘monstrous being’ or something that is huge or terrifying and sesquippedalio is derived from Greek sesquippedali meaning ‘measuring a foot and a half long’. Phobos stands for morbid fear.

Causes of Fear of Long Words Phobia
Most specific phobias, including the fear of long words phobia, are caused by an event that is recorded by parts of the brain (namely the amygdala and hippocampus) as dangerous or deadly. The body then reacts as if the same event is bound to happen repeatedly. A person with severe Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is literally held a prisoner by his feelings of anxiety and panic he experiences at the thought or sight of long words.
No one is born with this phobia. Most people have simply learned it from an unpleasant episode. In fact; many individuals do not even remember how the fear started.
School going children (or in some cases, working adults) might have experienced being laughed at or having been embarrassed (or found themselves shaking, trembling etc) when reading/pronouncing long words. The mind then continues to create the same response without any basis. For a person suffering from Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia, the mind develops negative images, bad movie-like stills at the thought or sight of long words.

Symptoms of Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia
Each individual is different and so are his/her symptoms of Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia.
Typically, the symptoms of long words phobia can be characterized as mental, emotional or physical. Many individuals feel extremely anxious or have a full blown panic attack at the sight or thought of long words.
Physical symptoms include shaking, crying, running away, trembling, feeling nauseated, experiencing headaches, rapid or accelerated heartbeat and shallow breathing etc.
The person is likely to feel dread and terror; his mind creates very bad pictures such as embarrassing oneself, passing out etc when faced with long words.
Often the patient understands that his fear is irrational and unsupported; however, he is unable to control himself and is powerless to rationalize.

Treating and overcoming the fear of long words phobia
The good news is that Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia can be overcome. Drugs and medicines must be the last resort as these simply mask the symptoms of anxiety experienced due to the phobia. The solution to overcoming the fear of long words is to mainly recall and evaluate the factors that have led to the phobia in the first place.
Therapists can also help evaluate these factors to come up with a treatment plan. The individual is then encouraged to expose self to long words gradually: beginning with just seeing the word, then progressing to thinking about long words and finally saying them. Such gradual exposure helps lessen the panic until the individual is completely comfortable and can face long words confidently.

Mihara's Suicide

The Japanese authorities constructed a fence around a volcano at Mount Mihara to stop a trend of over 2000 people committing suicide by jumping in, in a form of suicide

Volcano suicide involves jumping into molten lava in an active volcanic crater, fissure vent, lava flow or lava lake. The actual cause of death may be as a result of the fall (see jumping from height), contact burns, radiant heat or asphyxiation from volcanic gases. According to some ancient sources, philosopher Empedocles jumped into the Aetna trying to make everybody believe that he had disappeared from the Earth to become a god; this was frustrated when the volcano spat out one of his bronze sandals. Modern suicides have taken place in numerous volcanoes but the most famous is Mount Mihara in Japan. In 1933, Kiyoko Matsumoto committed suicide by jumping into the Mihara crater. A trend of copycat suicides followed, as 944 people jumped into the same crater over the following year. Over 1200 people attempted suicide in two years before a barrier was erected. The original barrier was replaced with a higher fence topped with barbed wire after another 619 people jumped in 1936.

Mount Mihara is an active volcano on the Japanese isle of Izu Ōshima. Although the volcano is predominantly basaltic, major eruptions have occurred at intervals of 100–150 years.
Mount Mihara's major eruption in 1986 saw lava fountains up to 1.6 kilometres (1.0 mi) high. The eruption had a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 3, and involved a central vent eruption, radial fissure eruption, explosive eruption, lava flows, and a lava lake eruption. There was also a 16 km high subplinian plume. All of the island's 12,000 inhabitants were evacuated by dozens of vessels consisting of both the military and civilian volunteers.
The most recent eruption was in 1990.

Holywood vs India

G R A V I T Y movie's budget was more than the Indian Mars mission's

($100M-$74M)

The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), is a space probe orbiting Mars since 24 September 2014. It was launched on 5 November 2013 by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It is India's first interplanetary mission and ISRO has become the fourth space agency to reach Mars, after the Soviet space program, NASA, and the European Space Agency. It is the first Asian nation to reach Mars orbit, and the first nation in the world to do so in its first attempt.
The Mars Orbiter Mission probe lifted-off from the First Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (Sriharikota Range SHAR), Andhra Pradesh, using a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket C25 at 09:08 UTC on 5 November 2013. The launch window was approximately 20 days long and started on 28 October 2013. The MOM probe spent about a month in Earth orbit, where it made a series of seven apogee-raising orbital manoeuvres before trans-Mars injection on 30 November 2013 (UTC). After a 298-day transit to Mars, it was successfully inserted into Mars orbit on 24 September 2014.

The mission is a "technology demonstrator" project to develop the technologies for designing, planning, management, and operations of an interplanetary mission. It carries five instruments that will help advance knowledge about Mars to achieve its secondary, scientific objective. The spacecraft is currently being monitored from the Spacecraft Control Centre at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bangalore with support from Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) antennae at Byalalu.


Gravity is a 2013 British-American science fiction action film co-written, co-edited, produced and directed by Alfonso Cuarón. It stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as astronauts who are stranded in space after the mid-orbit destruction of their space shuttle, and their subsequent attempt to return to Earth.
Cuarón wrote the screenplay with his son Jonás and attempted to develop the film at Universal Pictures. The rights were sold to Warner Bros. Pictures, where the project eventually found traction. David Heyman, who previously worked with Cuarón on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), produced the film with him. Gravity was produced entirely in the United Kingdom, where the British visual effects company Framestore spent more than three years creating most of the film's visual effects, which make up over 80 of its 91 minutes.
Gravity opened the 70th Venice International Film Festival on August 28, 2013 and had its North American premiere three days later at the Telluride Film Festival. Upon its release in both the Telluride Film Festival in August, and its October 4, 2013 release in the United States and Canada, Gravity was met with near-universal critical acclaim, and has been regarded as one of the best films of 2013. Emmanuel Lubezki's cinematography, Steven Price's musical score, Cuarón's direction, Bullock's performance, Framestore's visual effects, and its use of 3D were all particularly praised by numerous critics. The film became the eighth-highest-grossing film of 2013 with a worldwide gross of over US$723 million.
At the 86th Academy Awards, Gravity received a leading ten Academy Award nominations (tied with American Hustle) and won seven (the most for the ceremony), including the following: Best Director (for Cuarón), Best Cinematography (for Lubezki), Best Visual Effects, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, and Best Original Score (for Price). The film was also awarded six BAFTA Awards, including Outstanding British Film and Best Director, the Golden Globe Award for Best Director, seven Critics' Choice Movie Awards and a Bradbury Award.