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Updated 53 Days ago
SciFest08: The Brain on Beer
Once you're done laughing at the picture of me trying to walk with beer goggles on, I'd like to share with you what I learned at the "Drinking and Brain Changes" presentation at St. Louis' SciFest 08.
Archibald J. Fobbes Jr., who works for Neuroanatomical Collections in Washington D.C. (See how technical that sounds? He must really know what he's talking about.), had a lot to say about alcohol's affect on the brain. To see firsthand what I'm talking about, click the Video tab to see two teenagers do a demonstration with "beer goggles."
These weren't the type of beer goggles that enable you to hit on potential significant others while feeling (ahem) slightly less inhibited. These were the kind of beer goggles that showed you what you'd feel right before the cop cuffed and ticketed you for trying to drive.
To prove just how much alcohol affects your balance and your body, he first demonstrated via hula hoops that the body needs to be unaffected by alcohol in order to be able to respond to normal activities, without having to think about it.
According to Fobbs' knowledge about the world's oldest known drug, alcohol kills brain cells - plain and simple. When people start to abuse their intake of alcohol, it actually physically alters the receptors in the brain, causing irreversible brain damage. Who, like, wants to be more stupider, like, right?
All kidding aside, it was a learning experience for all of the teens and adults who attended. Things like liver failure, vomiting, breathing difficulties and going into a coma generally don't sound very appealing. It's one thing to have a drink or two at happy hour or while out at night with friends. But you should know your limits to avoid causing harm to yourself and others. To see how alcohol will specifically affect your blood alcohol content after a certain number of drinks, click here.
As Fobbs' presentation wrapped up, he invited everyone there to try on the beer goggles and walk through a very simple maze. And although watching several people fall on their faces was incredibly funny, it was nice to know that this little experiment might be the reason someone calls for a taxi instead of sliding in behind the wheel of their car this weekend.
About The Author:
I just moved back to The Lou from CoMo and I'd love to hear from you. Shoot me an idea/comment/bored rambling at audrey@toastedrav.com.I am also an expert at the Chicken Dance, and I am willing to give lessons for a small fee.
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Absolutely dangerous while operating 1-2 tons of steel, metal, and moving parts at high speeds. I don't drink, but point well taken :)
Love the shot of you in those goggles Audrey!
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reCAPTCHA is a free CAPTCHA service that helps to digitize books.A CAPTCHA is a program that can tell whether its user is a human or a computer. You've probably seen them Ñ colorful images with distorted text at the bottom of Web registration forms. CAPTCHAs are used by many websites to prevent abuse from "bots," or automated programs usually written to generate spam. No computer program can read distorted text as well as humans can, so bots cannot navigate sites protected by CAPTCHAs.
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Currently, we are helping to digitize books from the Internet Archive and old editions of the New York Times.