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Authors: David Feldman
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because the brain is very active as if awake but the individual is deeply asleep. By one year of age, the brains of babies are sufficiently developed to begin cycling of four distinct NREM (non-rapid eye movement) sleep stages with REM sleep.
Although sleep researchers still do not understand precisely how this works, REM sleep seems crucial to the development of the central nervous system of infants. The NREM “quiet sleep” is far from a waste of time, though, for the pituitary hormones, crucial for growth, are released during this phase of sleep.
Parents will be glad to inform anyone willing to listen that their babies don’t always sleep soundly, yet the cliché persiststhat anyone who can withstand interference from sound or light while snoozing is sleeping “like a baby.” The solution to this paradox lies in the unique sleep cycle of newborns. The reason why babies sleep like a log much of the time, as we learned above, is because they are in REM sleep 50 to 60 percent of the time. It can be difficult to rouse an infant during REM sleep; yet the same baby might awaken quite easily when in any stage of NREM sleep.
The proportion of REM to NREM sleep gradually decreases during the first year of life, and babies sleep for longer periods at a stretch. Still, they may be fussier and wake up more easily, especially if they are being weaned from breast milk, which studies show truly does help babies “sleep like a baby.”
Submitted by Father Gregory A. Battafarano of Niagara Falls, New York .
What causes the film that forms on the top of the chocolate pudding I cook? Does this film appear on any kind of pudding?
We went straight to the makers of Jell-O brand pudding. The General Foods Response Center replied:
When pudding has been heated and then allowed to cool while directly exposed to air, the starch on the surface releases water. This evaporation hardens the texture of the top and causes a film to form on any pudding that requires cooking. Incidentally, if plastic wrap is placed directly on the surface of the pudding, while cooling, it prevents the water vapor from escaping and the film from forming.
General food researcher Noel Anderson told Imponderables that pudding film is actually a “starch gel,” a combination of sugar and starch that forms a moisture barrier that will not break down unless subjected to intense heat.
Submitted by Linda Wiley of Berlin, New Jersey .
Why does milk obtain a skin when heated, while thicker liquids, like gravy, lose their skin when heated?
Proteins and starch react differently to heat. When heated, the protein in milk coagulates; the fat globules no longer can be suspended in water and, being lighter than water, float to the top. Bruce V. Snow, a dairy consultant, told us that the fat globules “adhere and form a surface skin when the liquid ceases to boil or simmer heavily.”
But when gravy is heated, the starch, which has formed the skin in the first place, breaks down. Since starch is more soluble than protein, the result is that the ex-skin is reabsorbed into the rest of the gravy. The same process can be seen when soup is reheated after a skin has “grown” in the refrigerator.
Submitted by Beth Oakley of Ishpeming, Michigan .
Why do the tags on the left side of the right back pocket of Levi’s jeans come in different colors? What is the code?
If you haven’t noticed the different colors on the tags on the back pockets of Levi’s jeans, you just haven’t been looking at enough rear ends lately, or else it’s time for that eye check-up you’ve been avoiding for the last five years or so. Actually, the folks at Levi Strauss & Co. call them “tabs,” not tags.
Lynn Downey, the company historian, says that tabs were originally created to make Levi’s stand out from the competition. Tabs were the brainchild of an in-house advertising manager in 1936, and have been on all Levi brand
Although sleep researchers still do not understand precisely how this works, REM sleep seems crucial to the development of the central nervous system of infants. The NREM “quiet sleep” is far from a waste of time, though, for the pituitary hormones, crucial for growth, are released during this phase of sleep.
Parents will be glad to inform anyone willing to listen that their babies don’t always sleep soundly, yet the cliché persiststhat anyone who can withstand interference from sound or light while snoozing is sleeping “like a baby.” The solution to this paradox lies in the unique sleep cycle of newborns. The reason why babies sleep like a log much of the time, as we learned above, is because they are in REM sleep 50 to 60 percent of the time. It can be difficult to rouse an infant during REM sleep; yet the same baby might awaken quite easily when in any stage of NREM sleep.
The proportion of REM to NREM sleep gradually decreases during the first year of life, and babies sleep for longer periods at a stretch. Still, they may be fussier and wake up more easily, especially if they are being weaned from breast milk, which studies show truly does help babies “sleep like a baby.”
Submitted by Father Gregory A. Battafarano of Niagara Falls, New York .
What causes the film that forms on the top of the chocolate pudding I cook? Does this film appear on any kind of pudding?
We went straight to the makers of Jell-O brand pudding. The General Foods Response Center replied:
When pudding has been heated and then allowed to cool while directly exposed to air, the starch on the surface releases water. This evaporation hardens the texture of the top and causes a film to form on any pudding that requires cooking. Incidentally, if plastic wrap is placed directly on the surface of the pudding, while cooling, it prevents the water vapor from escaping and the film from forming.
General food researcher Noel Anderson told Imponderables that pudding film is actually a “starch gel,” a combination of sugar and starch that forms a moisture barrier that will not break down unless subjected to intense heat.
Submitted by Linda Wiley of Berlin, New Jersey .
Why does milk obtain a skin when heated, while thicker liquids, like gravy, lose their skin when heated?
Proteins and starch react differently to heat. When heated, the protein in milk coagulates; the fat globules no longer can be suspended in water and, being lighter than water, float to the top. Bruce V. Snow, a dairy consultant, told us that the fat globules “adhere and form a surface skin when the liquid ceases to boil or simmer heavily.”
But when gravy is heated, the starch, which has formed the skin in the first place, breaks down. Since starch is more soluble than protein, the result is that the ex-skin is reabsorbed into the rest of the gravy. The same process can be seen when soup is reheated after a skin has “grown” in the refrigerator.
Submitted by Beth Oakley of Ishpeming, Michigan .
Why do the tags on the left side of the right back pocket of Levi’s jeans come in different colors? What is the code?
If you haven’t noticed the different colors on the tags on the back pockets of Levi’s jeans, you just haven’t been looking at enough rear ends lately, or else it’s time for that eye check-up you’ve been avoiding for the last five years or so. Actually, the folks at Levi Strauss & Co. call them “tabs,” not tags.
Lynn Downey, the company historian, says that tabs were originally created to make Levi’s stand out from the competition. Tabs were the brainchild of an in-house advertising manager in 1936, and have been on all Levi brand
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