A somatic reflex is a reflex that involves the activation of sensory receptors and muscles in the body. It is a type of reflex that allows the body to automatically respond to stimuli in the environment without the need for conscious thought or control. There are many examples of somatic reflexes, but one common example is the patellar reflex, also known as the knee-jerk reflex.
The patellar reflex is triggered when the patellar tendon, located just below the kneecap, is tapped or stretched. This activates sensory receptors in the tendon, which send a signal to the spinal cord. The spinal cord then sends an automatic response back to the muscles in the lower leg, causing the leg to kick out.
The patellar reflex is a simple reflex that helps to protect the body from harm. For example, if an object were to fall on the leg, the reflex would cause the leg to kick out, helping to avoid injury.
Another example of a somatic reflex is the gag reflex. This reflex is triggered when something touches the back of the throat, such as food that is too large to swallow or vomit. The reflex causes the muscles in the throat to contract, helping to prevent the foreign object from entering the airway and causing choking.
In conclusion, somatic reflexes are automatic responses that are triggered by sensory receptors in the body. They allow the body to quickly respond to stimuli in the environment without the need for conscious thought or control. The patellar reflex and the gag reflex are two common examples of somatic reflexes that help to protect the body from harm.
The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin
The ship does not carry enough fuel to reach its destination as soon as the weight of the ship goes beyond mission parameters. The pilot, Barton, discovers he has a stowaway on board, an eighteen-year-old girl named Marilyn, who snuck on board in hopes of visiting her brother at the colony. First Julie, mother, thinks "Tears and fears are futile weapons; they can never bring us any tomorrows. Retrieved 29 April 2021. The enduring and in my opinion undying theme is that nature is indifferent to humans. I beg to differ. Maybe just turn the engines off, and save some fuel for the landing.
The Cold Equations
Finally, this is a world where the shuttle craft sent on an emergency mission, too small for a nuclear reactor so powered by chemical rockets is provided with artificial gravity. A young woman stows away aboard a ship heading across the galaxy so she can see her brother. Because if there is one subject in this world that includes every single shade of gray there could possibly be, it's ethics. And this story affected me more than anything else I read that year. A pilot is on an emergency mission to a planet whose colony is doomed if he doesn't reach them. How little they knew in 1954! First Julie, mother, thinks "Tears and fears are futile weapons; they can never bring us any tomorrows.
Second, since Godwin or rather Campbell was trying to close off all solutions, what if the ship was not going to a planet, but to a space station? As for the morality: yes, sometimes some lives are more important than others. You have limited resources and either pursue the greater good or everyone dies. Retrieved 28 April 2021. The story was a deliberate subversion of the more standard stories that were common at the time where the hero pulls off some clever trick to save the girl. The equations were wrong.
Also the initial premise is pretty flawed. This is a world where these craft are provided with exactly enough fuel margin for the pilot to notice he is burning too fast, discover stowaways and dispose of them, but not enough to complete the mission with a stowaway. And it broke my heart!! Enemies overlook "the law that no species alone is entitled to survival" p 336. Back in February, I read None of the answers to these questions was very clear in my old fart mind. In Godwin's story, we follow a pilot on board a small vessel called EDS as he is en route to a planet that some humans are surveying.
A ridiculously contrived and improbable set of circumstances lead to a shuttle pilot having to choose between saving a stowaway and completing his mission. My teachers gave us different scenarios that we will most likely encounter in practice, and we had to figure out how we would proceed. So, there may be cost-cutting or negligence involved standard aspects of big bureaucratic systems but the blame game changes nothing. If the pilot jettisons her through the airlock, the ship will barely make it to a landing on the planet. Retrieved September 23, 2015. A pilot is on an emergency mission to a planet whose colony is doomed if he doesn't reach them.
