What is the point of the 'tickle' reflex?

The human body is a remarkable design full of thousands of years of evolution until we have what currently walks the earth. Senses, reflexes and intelligence guide our every day lives to help us survive.

The Puzzlement: Newton says that every action as an equal or opposite reaction. We walk, we get input from our feet saying we've taken a step. Why? Well so we can see where we're going instead of focusing on our feet. Touch a hot stove and a signal goes from our skin to our brain and comes back as pain. Why? So we know to get our hand off the stove (and in some southern States, to teach us a lesson...) But what purpose does the tickle reflex hold?

I believe there to be two types of tickle reflexes:

1) Goosebumps. This is where the skin goes tight and the hair follicles protrude. This can happen in cold situations and perhaps in time of fear. You can also bring this out in yourself by gently waving something like a feather over a surface of skin. What purpose does this hold? Near as I can tell this one makes sense. I, without any scientific proof or study, believe this to be a method for our bodies to conserve heat and energy. Body is cold? OK, we'll close up every sweat pore you have. No need to get rid of needed internal water as well as any heat which may escape. Makes a little sense anyway...

2) Spasm reaction. Your aunt's and uncle's love to do this to you for some reason. They place a hand on each side of your abdomen just below the rib cage and apply pressure quickly, much like squeezing a tennis ball rapidly. However any reaction I've ever seen is confusing to say the least.

• We, when we're younger, laugh uncontrollably. This could be because of the voice that aunt's and uncle's use when we're young. What is with that voice? When we're older we don't tend to laugh to hard at this form of tickling.
• While we're laughing we're asking you to stop. When we're older we're still asking you to stop.
• We wiggle and squirm in a feeble attempt to get out of what you no longer refer to your family but your parents sibblings grasp. Later in life we threaten physical harm to those doing this to us.

These reactions seem contradictory. Laughter implies we like what is happening but we ask you to stop AND we're trying to get away. What evolutionary purpose does this form of tickling have? Why are our reactions so mixed? And why do we do it to young kids later in life when we all, I assume, hate it?

Easy Answer: Near as I can tell, we are only ticklish around areas close to either internal organs or glands. Perhaps this is a reaction much like the hand on the stove: Something is close to hurting something you need in life so back away - quickly. However this stimulus isn't hurting our skin so the body doesn't know where to send pain signals so that we react accordingly. Instead it tells your muscles to spasm and contract which is perhaps funny to a child just learning to control these. They're moving on their own which may be quite funny to a child.

As a 'mini-study' try this: with a single finger poke someone gently in the 'tickle section'. They're first reaction is to recoil and move away quick. Do it again and their next reaction is to slap you before you get the chance.

Lesson learned? :)

Do Grocery Stores Clean Shopping Cart Handles?

Most people in the western world go to a grocery store to get their daily bread. They use carts and baskets usually to contain this food until checkout time. Has anyone ever seen these cleaned?

The Puzzlement: With the recent E. Coli scare in the US, mad cow in Canada and the US, Bird Flu, etc. there are many illnesses in the world that can be associated with food. It is widely known that humans are amazing at carrying these bugs and transferring them to one another. Is it possible for us to handle this food, toss it in our carts and move on to the next aisle?

We check out and put the carts in the collection points in the parking lot. Then the well paid cart boy comes out, pushes them inside and Mommy Martha puts her two year old Tanya in the cart. Tanya likes to stick her hands in her mouth. Could salmonella from the meat section get into her mouth as well, thereby making her sick?

Proving that we are amazing carriers of such bugs and dirt, The Myth Busters did a segment to see if fecal materials from a toilet can get onto a toothbrush just by flushing said toilet. Indeed it could. In fact, fecal materials spread through the house though this wide spread transference could have been done by our own hands and clothing! Imagine what can happen with raw meat, fresh vegatables, hundreds of shoppers and shopping carts and these aren't being wiped down!

Easy Answer: Perhaps shopping carts are not good at carrying bacteria and a grocery store doesn't have a hospitable environment for them to simply float and carry like above. However although this seems like a simple question I do believe that it should be carefully examined!

Do Martial Arts actually work?

I know little to none about martial arts except for what I learn from Joe Rogan and UFC.

The Puzzlement: People who take martial arts, especially those from a very young age are told by their 'masters' to not use what they learn except in self defence. As most sensai's are very strict to the point of being a dictator (wear this, do that, etc.) and this is an art then it stands to reason that most if not all students would listen to this pearl of wisdom, no?

Do you remember that kid in school who was always getting picked on and his parents forced him into Karate because he was to small to defend himself? Guess what. Even after a few classes he is still to small to defend himself. It is my opinion that karate and the arts similar to it are just a theory. That's right. Something that someone thought up that may work in a defensive situation. However that kid was never able to actually win a fight. Why? Because he has to wait until he has been threatened before he can defend himself (thank your nazi sensai for conditioning you) and because school yard threats were always physical that kid was always on the ground after the first blow (remember how small he looked in that puddle now?).

Yes, a theory that works when everyone around you is wearing a white house coat and pretty belt. Where you all stand on nice blue mats and there is always someone there to say "begin" or "stop". Where in life does this happen? Yes, in theory what you learn can be used in the real world but other than in MMA (mixed martial arts) or Hollywood does this rarely work!

Think about it. How could Japan have possibly lost WWII to the Americans of all people? After all, every Asian's know some form of martial art, right? OK, maybe you're not thinking of it in sterotypical terms then. Think back to the late 80's when great movies involved ninja's scaling buildings, tearing through paper walls, and breathing hard because of that stupid mask over their mouth and nose. In fact, it wasn't even until 1992 that I knew Asian's HAD a mouth and nose. Thanks Hollywood. OK, back on track. In theory, Japan should have kicked the USA's ass in WWII. Boxing vs. Karate... Hmmm... American's didn't even know they were allowed to kick! So yes, in theory they should have won but didn't. Know why? that's right. They were the aggressor! Because they weren't in defense mode they could only throw rocks and call people names! Ahh, the age of the Empire draws to a close thankfully.

Easy answer: Martial Arts are for the sole purpose of conditioning the body. It isn't meant for combat or defense at all. In fact, I think it is a way for people to show off what they can do. In fact a great many people get together in groups to show how good they are as in Tai Chi. However I think I could kick the hell (As a Canadian I know I am allowed to kick) out of a whole orgy of Tai Chi'ers. They're so slow! Peacock dragon kick this!

Does God Exist?

I consider myself an atheist - I have no beliefs in any sort of 'higher being'. I thoroughly believe in evolution and the science in which Charles Darwin brought to the world. However I am often asking myself about one riddle which continues to puzzle me.

The Puzzlement: Various plant species have ways in which to defend themselves against their natural predators. IE, roses have thorns, berries can poison animals, some emit a certain scent that makes everyone run for the hills. I imagine back in time that roses didn't have thorns - that they evolved this way. How did this, and other species of plants, know how to evolve to deter predators? I mean, how did a rose know that thorns would work? This is an arguement for God. Some would say that a rose went through many transformations throughout time until it finally found something that would work best. But doesn't this work against evolution? Think about it. If Darwin is right and natural selection is fact, wouldn't a rose have gone extinct because all of its previous transformations didn't work? Another check in the God column!

Easy answer: Varying species of roses. Like humans, there were many similar species of mammalian bipeds. Homosepiens came out on top. Perhaps the same can be said for plants as well. Different species of roses all went through their own evolutionary mutations until the roses that we know today came out on top.

How do colour blind people know they are colour blind?

Now, from the get go I will not pretend to know a single thing about how colour blindness impacts a person in their daily life. Nor do I know the anatomy of the human eye so what you will read will have no actual facts unless I make them up.

The puzzlement: We learn the names of colours (colors for you US folk...) from an early age. Basially our parents and early childhood educators create a label for a block, crayon, etc. IE, the block is red. Now, what if a child (usually males) sees the block as purple but now labels it red from here on in because practice makes perfect. Now everything he sees purple is what the non-colour blind see as red. So in our eyes he knows his colours, correct?

Easy answer: Perhaps a lot of the issues are not one colour replacing another but shades of the same colour?