Of snakes, snails, spiders, and sushi

今天讀到一篇挺好玩的小故事!
What do snakes, marine snails and spiders have to do with neurophysiology? They all provide neuroscientists with compounds for study synpatic transmission, extracted from the neurotoxic venoms that they use to kill their prey. The Asian snake Bungarus multicinctus provides us with α-bungarotoxin, a long lasting poison that binds tightly to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. The fish-hunting cone snail, Conus geograpgus, and the funnel web spider, Agelenopsis aperta, use toxins that block different types of voltaged-gated Ca 2+ channels. But one of the most potent poisons known comes from the Japanese puffer fish, a highly prized delicacy whose flesh is consumed as sushi. The puffer fish has tetrodotoxin, ot TTX, in its gonads. This neurotoxin blocks Na+ channels on axons and prevents the transmission of action potentials, so ingestion of only a tiny amount can be fatal. The chefs who prepare the puffer fish, known as fugu, for consumption are carefully trained to avoid contaminating the fish's flesh as they remove the toxic gonads. But there's always some risks involved in eating fugu, one reason that the youngest person at the table is the first to sample the fish. ----From Hunam Physiology: An Integrated Approach
因為現在有一科是"腦神經學"，所以讀了一些神經學的內容；說到吃"河豚"這件事，我倒想起有一集的小丸子，家裡煮河豚火鍋，結果因為她查了一些資料，說有劇毒，所以最後她和爺爺只吃到湯泡飯XD
其實，"腦"真的很有趣!因為這還是一科不成熟的學科，所以能被挖的也很多!
其中一堂課，教授說她到美國參加"神經學會"時，在外面被一個人問到職業，她說是neuroscientist，那人便開始說"mind"是控制人的中心；不過卻說不出"mind"的確切位置!
這種感覺在科學裡還挺常出現的!
就像說到"演化"時，從科學的角度看，就會和宗教起衝突；當然，我覺得當時的教授說的很對:Scinece is fact, religion is belief!這樣說，科學和宗教就不衝突了吧!
有時，會不理解，當自己受到的科學訓練越多，就會將許多事理所當然的想；因為會已學過的事實，來限制一些"形而上學"的想法!(雖然，我目前還沒有出現很嚴重的"科學病"，不過的確會將自己的思考方式，漸漸僵化)
所以說"imagination"是很重要的!
將art和science做適當的調和，這樣就不會受限制!幸好我喜歡讀小說，加上我本來就不是"理科班"出生!
不知道，你們現在所學的東西，是否有將你的思考模式定住呢?
很多時候，跳脫既有思考模式，也許會得到意想不到的結果!