>_< Goosebumps!

No, not the children's horror book, but the odd phenomena that happens to your skin and hairs when you feel cold or get a little scared. It's a weird thing, and I want to explain it to myself, and I guess the benefit will be that it will be explained to you. If you so choose to read. Actually, I have goosebumps now because my office is freezing. Also my nipples are hard. But TMI. I'll go over what I think I know, and we'll confirm by other sources. It's going to be a fun trip.
So from what I know, goosebumps are a reflex/reaction that we took from our ancestors, who were supposedly super hairy because we hadn't invented jackets and sweaters and socks... and underwear yet. When cavemen and cavewomen got cold, their body hair automatically stood up, creating a fluffy layer of warmth. Likewise when we’re cold, the muscles around the hair follicles contract. But since we don’t have much body hair, all we see are the goose bumps on our skin. That's pretty much what I know, and I think that's really all we need to know. But let's get down to the nitty gritty.

Goose bumps are messages from the brain to the skin to react to the animal oriented phenomena of fight or flight. Porcupine raising its quills on seeing a threat is a good example to understand goose bumps and their nature. Since human bodies cannot differentiate between real and imaginary conditions, goose bumps can be a reflex to a physical condition or a reaction to a psychological condition. Goosebumps are directly related to the adrenaline rush that flows through the body. Adrenaline rush can be triggered by fear or emotional reactions. Emotional reactions can be positive or negative, powered by intense ‘stress’ to induce the emotional welling up to trigger goose bumps.

Why do we call it goose bumps? Skins of  geese or chickens have bumps at the place where feather is attached to the skin. Each spot on the human skin has a bump similar to the goose bump, and this connection must have given this phenomenon its name.

Scientifically, goose bumps are called Piloerections. Piloerections are emotion based autonomic reflex reactions routed through the limbic system. Piloerections are similar to blushing or feeling butterflies in the stomach. Limbic system controls primitive drives of hunger, sex, fear, anger and aggression. Limbic system anatomically has thalamus, a major structure in control of the sensory inputs. Medial forebrain bundle and the hypothalamus play a major role in the invocation and mediation of the autonomic reflexes.
Goose bumps have been observed on head or scalp on scary occasions but goose bumps on a face requires well formed arrector pili muscles. Every arrector pili muscle does not have hair attached to them. Arrector pili with hair are found in areas with thick hair. Human facial hairs are extremely tiny and thin, so goose bumps on the face are rare.

That's all for now.

ta ta kids

PS
My PC at work has been acting up when it comes to blogspot as of late, but it seems it's been working well now.