K
KeilCoppes
Guest
We are indeed fearfully and wonderfully made. I have at times, including this weekend, experienced positional vertigo - having the room spin when you sit up too fast. So I did some research into what physicians think may cause it and how the inner ear works to see what could be done.
Turns out that each of us have sets of accelerometers in each of our inner ears, basically set up for roll-pitch-yaw. As far as I can understand, we sense motion due to little calcium-carbonate crystals (rocks) on the end of sensing hairs. When we move, the fluid in the appropriate plane moves past the mass on the end of the hair, moves it one way or the other, and sensor cells translate that into signals for our brains.
As someone who was once in aerospace and working on a vehicle that used a laser gyroscope, seeing the details of some of our own position equipment and seeing that it made sense is a fascinating example of God's design. By chance? Random mutation and you get a working accelerometer?
ps - as for balance, if some of the crystals get loose, they can tend to bang against the sensing hairs and cause false signals. Turns out you can do some movements to get them away from the sensors until they're reabsorbed by the body. Just need to get the rocks in the right place... So yes, I have rocks in my head - and so do you. :^)
Turns out that each of us have sets of accelerometers in each of our inner ears, basically set up for roll-pitch-yaw. As far as I can understand, we sense motion due to little calcium-carbonate crystals (rocks) on the end of sensing hairs. When we move, the fluid in the appropriate plane moves past the mass on the end of the hair, moves it one way or the other, and sensor cells translate that into signals for our brains.
As someone who was once in aerospace and working on a vehicle that used a laser gyroscope, seeing the details of some of our own position equipment and seeing that it made sense is a fascinating example of God's design. By chance? Random mutation and you get a working accelerometer?
ps - as for balance, if some of the crystals get loose, they can tend to bang against the sensing hairs and cause false signals. Turns out you can do some movements to get them away from the sensors until they're reabsorbed by the body. Just need to get the rocks in the right place... So yes, I have rocks in my head - and so do you. :^)
INNER EAR
(the loops on the left are for balance, the conch-shell part on the right is for hearing)
http://www-surgery.ucsd.edu/ent/PatientInfo/info_bppv.html
(the loops on the left are for balance, the conch-shell part on the right is for hearing)
http://www-surgery.ucsd.edu/ent/PatientInfo/info_bppv.html
