Why Do We Itch?

My skin gets mighty itchy thanks to eczema and dryness that never seems to go away no matter how much lotion I put on my skin, and during the winter the itching gets so bad I often scratch my skin raw.

But the itches that bother me the most are the ones that seem to come out of nowhere when I'm starting to fall asleep, or the ones that attack from all sides when I'm in the middle of playing a game or working on an art project.

These phantom itches seem to have no relation to dryness or eczema, so where the hell do they come from and what is their purpose?

(YouTube Link)

This TED talk by Emma Bryce, with animation by Sashko Danylenko, reveals that itching is a result of our bodies evolving to become acutely aware of touch, and the itch signals "are transmitted via a subclass of the nerves associated with pain". So basically itching is a real pain!


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Hundreds of books get destroyed and shredded for recycling on a daily basis. When a locally owned bookstore goes out of business, what do you suppose happens to the inventory of books that don't get sold?

Yes, some might get donated to worth causes, but a large number of them go to facilities where they are sorted and shredded so that the paper can be recycled.

Perhaps some of those books that were destined to be destroyed made there way into this sculpture instead.

I do wonder, as others have, however, what happens when the books get wet.
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I saw something similar in Mexico last year,

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150253603399618&set=a.211168469617.124260.613474617&type=3&theater

in the rain
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It does look very cool but I wonder about practical things like what happens to this when it rains? Do all those books get soaking wet? Has the extra weight been calculated into the structural design? Who cleans it up when the books are all sodden?
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The good thing about conceptual art is that the "artist" need not master any artistic skill. Just scale up everyday objects or move them to novel environments.
Yawn!
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