Ok so this is a brief summary of the reading I've been doing this past week on body systems and sweat excretion etc etc. I have looked at sweat abit but more about the body systems that create and deliver sweat in terms of what they do and how it might be adapted to produce the growth that we are talking about.
Sweat, as an excretion, is predominantly made up of water (more than 99%) but contains many other minerals, mainly Sodium, Potassium, Calcium, and Magnesium.
All of these minerals are considering essential "quantity elements" for bodily function, meaning we must ingest a certain amount of these to survive.
The body systems that create sweat are split into two main systems, The Eccrine system of sweat glands, and the Apocrine glands which form part of the Exocrine system.
The Eccrine glands are found all over the body, for the purpose of thermo-regulation or cooling the body. These glands are tiny coils of cells in the Dermis layer of the skin that turn into a straight duct of cells leading to the skin surface.
The Apocrine glands are found around the armpits, genitalia, anus and the areola of the nipples.
Their secretion is slightly different to normal sweat, and decomposition of the cells in this excretion is the main cause of body odour.
These glands form part of the Exocrine system, glands which deliver hormonal secretion directly to the external body or the skin.
The counter to this system is the Endocrine system which delivers hormonal secretion directly to the blood stream.
The human body is sweating all the time whether we notice it or not. If the body is in a positive mental state, free of stress or physical exertion, the rate of sweat is almost unnoticeable, this is because while the sweat travels up the straight part of the duct in an eccrine sweat gland the essential minerals (sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium) can be reabsorbed back into the body, leaving only water which can in turn be reabsorbed.
When the body is stressed, whether mentally physically or from heat, the rate of sweating increases. Because of the large increase in flow rate, sweat molecules are not in the straight duct of the eccrine gland long enough to be reabsorbed, resulting in mineral and water loss, which explains the increased need for hydration after large amounts of sweating.
Because we are talking about illustrating mental state through growth and taste, it seems viable to suggest that whilst in a positive mental state, our growth will be healthier, as the body has more nutrient content to work with, and as such we could have more growth to share with someone in more of a negative mental state where normally heavier sweating would be caused their growth would be less healthy and less desirable to eat. The odor caused by decomposition of these cells could also add another level of sensory development to the growth, not only taste but through smell it can tell us when someone is in a bad mental position and therefore less desirable to eat from, or more in need of help from people in positive mental states.
Scientific discussion of body odor is not all negative however.
Androstadienone is a chemical compound found in male sweat, which can influence the endocrine systems secretion of hormones into the blood of the opposite sex. Its odor has also been found to induce pheromonal activity in humans, and can 'significantly affect' the mood of the heterosexual woman and homosexual male. A pheromone is defined as a chemical excretion that triggers a social response in members of the same species, they are very often talked about in the breeding patterns of animals, less so in humans, supposedly because of the development of the human brain and our ability to consider other external factors? This branch of science could be much more relevant to our project however because we are talking more about reproduction and evolution, as well as the rather animalistic nature of cannibalism that loosely ties into the project.
Also important to point out that the female ovaries and the male testes are part of the Endocrine system, which could relate to Meredith's research on food, specifically fruit as the ovary of a plant.
Research applied to different social situations we are considering:
Male - Female sexual partnership
based more around the apocrine glands and compounds like androstadienone, this is where we could really push the erotic side of the project.
Male or Female - Peers or group
the Eccrine glands and growth based on mental state, healthy or not healthy, working in a similar method to the change in flow of sweat.
Male or Female - Child
less based on mental state more on development, as a child, there need for sourcing compounds such as calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium are much greater to aid there development, as such the interaction between these people could be more about healthy growth from the elder being passed down to the younger.
I think it could be really interesting to look at colour and texture for differentiating healthy from unhealthy growth based on mental state, or we could look at how the gelatin breaks down on the skin similar to the decomposition of cells in sweat and odor.
In terms of the upcoming handin I'll work on some visuals of body systems to accompany the physical models and images were doing this week. Would also potentially like to start a basis for the workbook to cover the research and development of the project that we'll have to write in full for the final handin.
