Physiologists are constantly trying to answer key questions in areas ranging from the functions of single cells to the interactions between human populations and our environment here on earth, the moon, and beyond.
Physiologists ask questions like . . .
- Why does blood clot in a wound but not while flowing through blood vessels?
- Can we prevent loss of bone mineral during space flights or confinement to bed?
- How does the nervous system convert stimuli into memories? How do we access those memories?
- What factors limit human athletic performance?
- What causes new genes to be activated and expressed in failing hearts, and how does this contribute to poor performance of these hearts as circulatory pumps?
- How does a person’s genetic inheritance predispose him or her to certain diseases later in life?
- How does a person’s gender affect his or her body’s response to physiological or environmental stress?
- How do organs repair themselves after damage due to stroke, heart attack, or other insult?
If you think these questions are interesting, maybe you’d like to become a physiologist, too!