I aim to continue working and continue running until the day I die. Why? Because of sea squirts.

Have you ever seen sea squirts? Some look like sponges — some look like sea grapes. They briefly have a tiny brain that helps them as larvae to find a good spot on the bottom of the ocean to call home — til the end of their time. They attach themselves to the bottom and start filtering nutrients out of ocean water. They earn their name by squirting water when annoyed. I have never annoyed one, so I cannot vouch for this trait myself. As the squirt is establishing itself on the bottom, it absorbs its brain because it no longer needs a brain to search for a home. It uses the resources devoted to the brain for more important purposes — squirting?

We humans, as we get older and stop working, may lose not our entire brains, but some functions, because of low use. We can lose balance and muscle strength also because of low use, e.g., no running or exercising. I think of the low exercise level of humans when I see many individuals standing on a people-mover (a conveyor) when they could walk on it. They are saving their energy — for what?

Body parts the human body does not seem to need, it ceases maintaining, to the extent possible. So as long as I am able, I will work. And I will run. I am no sea squirt.

For more on sea squirts, see http://goodheartextremescience.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/meet-the-creature-that-eats-its-own-brain/.

John Malouff, PhD, JD, Assoc Prof of Psychology