Science tackles many issues behind factors involved in material reactions, but what about human reactions? Psychology is the study behind human choices and behavior, so psychological science is simply the connection between our reactions with our surroundings. I’ve seen multiple commercials for energy supplements, such as 5 Hour Energy , that mention the afternoon blues, but what about the afternoon impulses that, according to this article, exist as well?

Harvard and University of Utah paired together to create the means to test this hypothesis. In their results, it seemed that participants lost integrity and honest feedback by the end of the day. I personally think that a lot of people like to start their day off on a good note and after being subjected to bad luck, or being a witness to unmoral actions, they are either frustrated and lose willpower, or they seek other means to reinstate their dominance in a different way. 

While reading, I couldn’t help but think of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde . In this well-known story, a righteous, do-good doctor lives during the day, but at night, his reckless, manipulate counterpart, Mr. Hyde comes out at night. In today’s world, one could relate this to bipolar disorder , or more commonly a split personalitysituation. It’s interesting to look into why people act as they do. Are we really who we think we are, what we’d like to be, or what the day happens to make us?

Nevertheless, it’s research like this that aims to answer these questions. With further understanding, we could start to find remedies to decisions that lack morality. From teaching a child right from wrong, to making an adult remember that right is better than wrong, society may not be so inclined to hide from Mr. Hyde, and to accept help from Dr. Jekyll. My only concern is those that are evil from the start of the day to the end. Hopefully more research will come out to tackle that, but for now, we can understand what hits the masses.

Picture Source: (http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/moral-control-0330.html)

Every so often, a solar cycle reaches a so-called solar maximum. This is when numerous forms of energy are emitted from solar sunspots. They blast away miraculously explosions in every direction. Just recently, as this article states, we were experiencing the peak of the solar cycle, yet nothing happened. I’m afraid people may take this to mean that our activities are having an effect on the sun, as well as the Earth. Hopefully the solar system is too large for Earth to have that strong of an effect on the center of the galaxy.

This is yet another unanswered question in space, but surely a welcome one. Less sporadic activity on the sun means less danger for us. Some sunspots came up here and there in the last 5 years, but nothing substantial. I feel that the sun slacking off is just another player in a world where slacking off is the new thing to do.

As a student leader, it becomes increasingly difficult over the years to find students willing to do anything past the bare minimum. This trend of halfhearted effort is certainly welcome on the sun, but shouldn’t be welcome here as well. Comparing what we don’t know to finding out more about what we do know may be an important area of growth scientifically and socially.

The sun can give warmth, guidance, solace and even the time of day, but really does have the power to do more. In deep thought, I can say with confidence that people are the same. We greet special friends with a warm friend, give guidance to our younger siblings, solace to our grieving classmates that may have failed an exam and then whip out our smart phones to let inquiring minds know of the time. But why stop there? People have great power that should be unleashed. As the sun holds back, it may be a good thing, but as we hold back in society, it doesn’t do anyone any favors.

Weakening potential is a dangerous trend and I’m interested in seeing what it means as the years come along, as the sun hasn’t been this dormant in a long time. Maybe this happens once in a century, but people can use this opportunity to consider their own level of activity in the cycle of a month, year or even a decade.

Picture Source: ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona)

Every Halloween, people go through a sugar craze of candy, but when that holiday passes are we still experience a less prevalent sugar craze? Chances are, yes. In a day and age where fat gets most of the blame for weight gain, people tend to overlook the true amount of sugar in foods. From glucose, to sucrose, to fructose, to syrup, there’s just too many names to keep up with and sum together.

So, how much sugar is really hiding in our food? BBC looks into it in this article . I’m surprised and interested to know how much sugar I actually consume in a given day. On a college campus, salt and sugar are added to food to preserve and add favorable taste. Manufacturers use the same technique. Not only are many dishes high in sodium, but those low in fat have to be compensated with sugar to offset the bland taste. This sugar, if not burned, is eventually converted to fat by the body’s processes.

Instant gratification in food and in decisions seems to be a downfall in society. Bad consequences add up overtime and seem to bring truth to “No pain, no gain.” I argue that there is gain, just nothing desirable. No pain adds to a buildup of pain. Eating sugar all day leads to a number of diseases. Also, sugar rushes followed by energy crashes tend to leave people less likely to do anything more than falling back to sweet treats. This negative feedback loop gets more and more difficult to fight, and even when one musters interest in limiting sugar intake, that alone is increasingly difficult.

The biggest trick in analyzing food labels for sugar is just by paying attention to the amount of carbohydrates. This is just a fancy term for sugar molecules. So what does this all mean for scientific discovery? If enough people get outraged by this unhealthy food production, maybe we can see a rise in demand for healthy food. Though typically more expensive, science could be used to discover new methods of delivering what we need rather than being manipulated to hide what we don’t.

Picture Source: (https://blogs.ksre.ksu.edu/nutrition-education/added-sugars-add-up-in-our-diets/)

There have been hundreds of films on the prospect of extraterrestrial life. There have been billions of dollars put into space exploration. But in this study of space, people have found out of this world results, literally.

In an article by the New York Times based on a journal from the Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences , we learn about the existence of hundreds of thousands to even billions of Earth sized planets in the universe. With the universe seemingly expanding each and every day, even more could be in the process of forming. Matter is mysterious, yet representative of new opportunities.

As humans, we aim to make the most of our resources and in a world that seems to be running low on resources of value, it makes sense to look elsewhere for possibilities. In movies like Avatar , the interest in exploiting other planets is making way into the general public as well. The idea isn’t too farfetched, it’s just a matter of making it economical. Another area of concern involves the existence of aliens. What if these possible entities are intelligent, or what if they’re unbelievably simple? Also, could these planets be possible homes for our growing population if need be?

Questions like these are generally raised in excitement. I know I personally would prefer something life-changing enough to redefine what we call home. I’d want intelligent life that was cooperative. I only hope we wouldn’t take as much advantage of that opportunity as we have with past opportunities given by various species on Earth already.

While reading this, I was thinking about how we have segmented Earth’s human population into different countries. What if we had actually segmented ourselves onto different planets. With numerous Earth sized planets, and some maybe even favorable to our preferred living conditions, we could split up and avoid international wars. Though, an interesting thought, it would be difficult to promote that interconnected growth and each planet may revert into re-segmenting anyhow.

Overall, of the many different areas to study within fields of science, I feel that space exploration and discovery is one that is ever-growing as substantially more creativity and dreams have been left in the stars. When I wish upon a star, I know that it can grow and shine with a power that cannot be handled by any technology on Earth. It’s amazing how intricate nature really is. We should not only continue to see this intricacy in the galaxies, but also in the undiscovered regions on Earth.

Picture Source: (http://www.esa.int/ESA/Competition/Explore_After_Earth_with_us)

We’ve been discussing breast cancer in class recently and THIS ARTICLE caught my eye. Typically, younger generations seem to be more resilient than their elder counterparts. It’s interesting that in the case of cancer, a disease full of questions, the younger victims seem to face the higher fatalities.

As a young person myself, I feel that it’s common to disregard a lot of symptoms because death or serious illnesses aren’t much of a reality. Most exposure is either to those born with them, or those too old to fight anything off. Many people don’t take action to investigate matters unless they have both time and money to do so, alongside increasingly serious symptoms.

For poorer, minority women, it should be obvious that breast cancer would be more deadly. The amount of single moms across the nation goes up, especially in more populated cities. They really don’t have the means to investigate any irregularities in their breasts. It’s a shame because this population already has the shorter end of the stick in many situations.

I think the purpose of this study is not only to point this fact out but it could add to science in less of a technical way as more of a social awareness factor. Instead of focusing on helping those who are able to help themselves in a health care system, we need to start focusing on those who have been helping others at the expense of themselves.

I give kudos to ScienceDaily and Wiley for sharing an article about a group of people that is too often ignored. Despite ending legal oppression of minorities and poorer groups of people, oppression still exists in the forms of means toward social and economic growth within these populations. With a boost in awareness in regards to disasters that not only strike once, but in disasters that are ongoing in our societal structure, we can give help to others in becoming more resilient to their own troubles. In this sense, sustainability is not only about conserving resources, but conserving the means for others to get resources. Ultimately, directing the power of science to the hope of disestablishing unfavorable social forces would help to push our country from not only the land of the free, but to the land of the happy as well.

Picture Source: ( http://atlantablackstar.com/2013/10/15/things-may-cause-breast-cancer/)

One Day I was in BA 411 class and I started thinking about the world and the people that lives in the planet we call Earth. I’m a person that is fascinated by individuals’ behaviors; I love knowing what makes them tick both in a good or bad way. I hear people say this at-least twice a day  “your crazy” or ” you’re not normal”. My cousin is a doctor in infectious diseases and I decided to text her. 

Experts at the University of La Laguna have conducted studies on the ability for people to identify a fake smile when they see one. At some point, we’ve all had to fake a smile, whether it was for a job interview, or a shameful approach to parents. How convincing was that smile in reality?

The University of La Laguna is an institute in the Canary Islands . I’m not really fond of there being a huge educational movement in such a touristy location, but I guess these islands have hidden treasures amongst them. It makes sense to study smiles, because the honeymoons and vacations that take place in this tropical wonderland are likely full of happy faces, and shining eyes. Though not a prevalent American research school, Science Daily chose to include their relevant study in THIS ARTICLE .

When creating friendships or telling jokes, and sharing moments, a true smile is the most desirable display to receive. It’s interesting that people use the smile in so many other emotions. When hiding embarrassment, nervousness, pain, anger, sadness and more, happiness is the true power to keep moving forward.

Ambiguously fake smiles convince people of happiness because the smile itself is distracting enough to take attention away from the shine in the eyes. People with social anxiety seemed to find expressions on a computer with unhappy eyes more often than people who were socially comfortable. I guess if one is more conscientious and worried about emotions, they would be more perceptive in reading them.

At Penn State, there are so many clubs and so much interaction amongst students, faculty and recruiters. A smile is necessary to move forward. Whether fake or not, people may not be too concerned, because the activity in the brain that’s associated with smiles shoots neurons out before it starts to process anything else. That gut feeling we get may be biased by a smile, but should we become socially anxious about that fact or wait for something more substantial to judge a moment on?

Picture Source: (http://www.nicolasfradet.com/smile-body-language/)

Turns out, according to THIS ARTICLE , that domesticated cats share 95.6% of their DNA with wild tigers. I’ve heard humans share at least that much with monkeys too. It’s amazing how similar, yet how different some forms of life can be. TIME magazine looks back in time and connects it once again to the current time and place we find ourselves in today.

That small difference in DNA can account for dietary preferences, size difference, of course, physical representation of traits, and environmental adaptations. It’s amazing that just a few bits of DNA control that much.

One important piece of information to walk away with, is just how universal DNA is. The world is full of many types of plants and animals, but all of them probably share some aspect of DNA. If evolution has been occurring for millions and millions of years, you’d think a wider gap would’ve formed by now.

The Christian Science Monitor , a science news source interestingly owned by a church, reports that tigers and small cats diverged on the evolutionary tree 10.8 million years ago, but still share an A-rated amount of DNA. This makes me wonder how much DNA I must share with a sibling or cousin.

In all this understanding of DNA make-up and comparative factors, maybe science can help to unlock more opportunities for DNA change in humans. I’ve heard of genetically modified foods, but not many genetically modified humans. I guess if you want to count organ donations as genetic modification, but I’m thinking more along the lines of taking the best traits together and creating something significant without traditional mating.

There’s so many possibilities hidden in science that people don’t realize or seek out. A study provides an answer to a couple of questions, but the more important thing is what further questioning comes from it. At the end of the day, I would say that the opportunities are far more valuable than the discoveries.

 Picture Source: (http://www.jhunewsletter.com/2013/02/28/scientists-find-novel-way-to-store-data-in-dna-16160/)

Sport culture in America is a key player in the media economy. Commercials during sporting events on TV cost far more than one in a late-night sitcom hidden away on ABC Family. Furthermore, some people only tune into the annual Superbowl in anticipation of the new Budweiser or Doritos commercial. Fact of the matter is, people take sports seriously.

THIS ARTICLE , from TIME Magazine, turns attention toward one of the most prominent features of a sports team that is rarely talked about in the context of a game’s outcome. The uniform may change everything about a season, or absolutely nothing. It’s an unpredictable variable that somewhat dictates the feelings each player has for what they represent.

Sometimes there’s a throwback uniform game in sports that puts players in a traditional and historical position to fight for their team. Other times, there’s a complete redox on what their logo looks like. Arizona Cardinals used to just be the letter C , and Green Bay Packers used to be an orange football with Packers written across the front , just to name a couple. Some changes, such as that of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers , in 1997, resulted in a 3-13 season turning to a 10-6. Is brain chemistry and attitude a greater influence than talent?

I’ve always heard my parents and teachers say Attitude is 90% of the outcome, but is that really true? I mean, I sure feel more confident when I put on that new pair of kicks and that fresh T-shirt, but I find it hard to believe that a shift in my thought process will change how I embrace my exam at night.

Of course there are other factors involved with a sports season. New leadership and trades, but it’s interesting to think that the brain chemistry brought on by a new slate is really all it takes. TIME likely wrote about this because it has a strong connection to time in the past, present and future. Jeffrey Kluger is the long-standing editor and writer for the science and technology section of TIME magazine, and is a strong source for the analysis of psychological effects of uniforms on a team.

Picture Source: (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1089868-5-nfl-teams-that-should-use-their-throwback-jerseys-as-regulars)

Many people have either seen or heard of the movie, Day After Tomorrow. I guess, in a way, it raised somewhat of a short-lived concern among the general public regarding climate change. I say somewhat short-lived because it was drastically exaggerated. I mean, how realistic is the formation of three ice age-like super-storms in a matter of a couple of days across the globe?

Scientists have been studying super-storms lately, and after the horrors of Hurricane Katrina and Tropical Storm Sandy, I don’t see why they shouldn’t. Concerns about climate change have been growing, and not necessarily because of Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth, or Hollywood’s Day After Tomorrow. Schools and news stations have talked extensively about global heat rises. I don’t even take that many science classes, but anytime it’s a hot day, I’ll inevitably hear a student talk about how the weather of today is related to the long-term climate of the future.

What I’m more concerned about is the long-term effect. What does this mean for various structures? We know full well that the levees didn’t hold up against Hurricane Katrina down on the Gulf Coast. I’m pretty sure New Orleans still doesn’t know how to rebuild completely. Now THIS ARTICLE doesn’t particularly mention any correlation with past disasters to climate change, or any future connection either. It just states that severe weather is coming and hot air promotes air movement and rainy days.

All in all, I’m growing worried about current infrastructures life-span, as well as coastal dependence on commerce worldwide. After seeing Sandy desecrate parts of New Jersey and New York, I’m a little worried about the economical impact alongside the environmental. I mean, I guess we have until 2040 to see the real effects, according to Dr. Diffenbaugh, at least.

 Picture Source: (http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/the-curious-wavefunction/2013/05/08/climate-change-deniers-and-skeptics-whats-the-difference/)