Author Archives: kiw5212

Stranger Than Fiction

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One of my favorite things to do during a long break is read a good book. Recently I read the novel, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (if you have also read it we can cry together) in one day. The best part about reading is getting lost in the world created by the author. With a good book you can see the world of the novel in front of you and feel the emotions that your favorite characters felt. Scientists have looked into the brain activity behind reading, and what they found is quite interesting. 

According to the article Your Brain on Fiction in The New York Times, your brain reacts to what you read on the page by processing that information as if you were doing it. A study by NeuroImage found that when reading words associated with smell such as “cinnamon” and “lavender” people’s primary olfactory cortex lit up. The olfactory cortex is the part of the brain that receives sensory inputs. However, when words like “chair” and “key” the olfactory cortex didn’t respond. 
Your brain also responds to metaphors! When reading a phrase such as, “velvety voice” or “leathery hands” the sensory cortex responded. However when the phrase, “the singer had a pleasing voice” were used, the cortex didn’t respond. A study by V�ronique Boulenger found that the motor cortex showed activity when someone reads phrases like, “Pablo kicked the ball” or “John grasped the object”. 
There is little differentiation between reading the action/sensation and experiencing it to the brain. Keith Oatley has said that reading creates a vivid reality that, “runs on minds of readers just as computer simulations run on computers.” Which is one the best parts of reading if you ask me. You enter a world different than the one you are living in. 
Dr. Raymond Mar found that there is an overlap in your brain functions used to socially interact with people and understand stories. Reading fiction has been linked to many different social theories such as the “theory of mind”. The theory of mind is how your brain connects reading to trying to figure out the feelings and thoughts of other people. My thought on the theory of mind is when you are reading, you see the characters’ innermost thoughts and feelings right on the page. With being able to see your favorite characters emotions and thoughts in front of you, you wish this were the case in real life. 
Books aren’t the only place where theory of mind is prevalent. Another mode of theory of mind is with movies. Usually movies are seen with friends or family, especially with young children. However, it is not prevalent in watching television. Dr. Mar believes that the theory doesn’t work with television because television is mostly watched alone (especially if you’re like me and watch Netlfix on the computer). 
According to Dr. Oatley fiction “”is a particularly useful simulation because negotiating the social world effectively is extremely tricky, requiring us to weigh up myriad interacting instances of cause and effect. Just as computer simulations can help us get to grips with complex problems such as flying a plane or forecasting the weather, so novels, stories and dramas can help us understand the complexities of social life.” which I couldn’t agree with more. 
So next time you find yourself lost within the pages of a novel, holding back tears, or even laughing out loud, you can thank your brain’s cortexes for feeling the true impact of a great novel. 

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Distractions are in the Palm of our Hands

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As I began writing this blog I got distracted. Then I got distracted some more. Finally, after a half hour of watching blooper reels on YouTube, I decided to get down to business. Distractions happen all the time. We’re doing homework  and we think, “maybe I’ll check Facebook quick” and next thing you know, you’re looking at a friend of a friend’s girlfriend’s page. Why do we get distracted so easily? 

There is one thing that pops into my mind when I think about being distracted. ADHD. ADHD, formally known as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. There are three subtypes: Predominantly hyperactive-impulsive, predominantly  inattentive, and combined hyperactive-impulsive and inattentive. The predominantly hyperactive-impulisve subtype have about six or more hyperactive category and less than six symptoms of inattention. Predominantly inattentive, is where six or more of the symptoms are in the inattentive category. They will have six or less symptoms in the hyperactive category. The final category, hyperactive-impulsive and inattentive, will have six or more in both inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity. ADHD can be caused by genes, your personal environment, brain injuries, sugar, or food additives. According to the National Institute of Mental Healthy, about 4.1% of adults 18 and older are affected with ADHD. 
My question is, can modern technology like phones or computers give us ADHD. When we are being distracted from our homework 9 out of 10 times we are either going on our phone or on our computer. Is there a correlation between ADHD and modern technology? According to this article on CBS News, Dr. Russell Barkley said that this was a common thought among people in our society. However, unlike this popular belief, “there’s not a real shred of evidence that this is true and the relationship is the opposite.” Another anecdote in the article is from Perri Klass who did an experiment with children diagnosed with ADHD and a group without. They tested to see how they watched TV, and found that they environmental factors were the cause of the differences, like whether their TVs were in their rooms or their family. The ADHD had nothing to do with their attention. 
However, the article does state that people with ADHD as an adult you will lean towards the internet and other visual distractions. Barkley says that if you find yourself addicted to your phone or the internet more and more, or you can’t seem to get away from visual media when more important things arise, this could be a warning sign that you have ADHD. Ninety percent of adults who have ADHD are untreated. With that, only about four or five percent of adults have ADHD. 
I’m not saying that you if you are on your computer all day or if you check your phone a lot during the day that you have ADHD. I know that this worried me, but rationally thinking not many adults are infected, plus your symptoms have to of started in childhood. If you feel like you do have ADHD, it wouldn’t hurt to get checked by your doctor! 
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If you’re like me, you’ll be thinking of something, and you’ll say, “did that really happen or did I dream that?” constantly. It’s either I have a terrible memory or I really did dream that stuff. Some things from my childhood seem romanticized, or dressed up. Was my childhood as wonderful as I remember or did I dream up some false memories? I decided to research deeper into the science of memories. 

Memory is its basic definition is the way we store and recall the things we have sensed. In the USA article How Does Human Memory Work? by April Holladay, she explains that recall calling memories in a sense is recreating them. Recreating these memories make us step back in our minds are kind of sense the things that happened at the event. This makes sense, when we go back in our minds to the Michigan football game, we think about the rush of excitement, the nervous feeling in our stomachs when the third overtime ended. The adrenaline, relief, satisfaction, and triumph we felt when we finally won. 
Storing memories go to three locations. When something first happens, in the first couple of seconds is stored in the cortex. The sensory cortex, includes the thalamus which takes in all senses. This is the first storage unit for your memories. 
The second storage unit for memories called the short-term memory. This is where the senses go from the cortex. The memories in the short-term memory are very small. Such as a telephone number or something we would only remember for a minute or so. Interestingly enough, the short-term memory can only hold about 7 memories at a time. 
The final storage unit for memory is long-term memory. Long term memory is where the information you may retain for the rest of your life is stored (hopefully nothing from 6th grade). Long-term memory has three processes: encoding, storage, and retrieval.
To get from short-term to long-term memory the sense has to go through the hippocampus (no not a hippopotamus) this is an area of the brain where where the memories are linked to a cortex. 
There are two kinds of long-term memory that branch off into other subcategories of long term memory. The part of long-term memory I am focused on is a type of Explicit or conscious memory. Episodic memory is where you remember certain aspects of your life and their content. According to UCSF, episodic memory can be major things, such as traumatizing news or where you parked your car.  Another type of  explicit long-term memory is semantic memory. this is the part of your memory where general knowledge is held. 
So when you’re recalling memories from the past, it’s from your long-term memory. Whether these memories are pleasant or not, it’s pretty incredible that your brain can remember things from years and years ago. So next time I think about the embarrassing things that happened to me in sixth grade, I’ll have my long-term memory to thank.tumblr_lq8exmwta31qh0w1po1_500.jpg

The Dangers of the Microwave

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It’s a monday night, you’re tired, and you don’t want to cook any food. You peruse the fridge and find a tupperware present. You peel off the lid and decide that it’s better than nothing. You throw it in the microwave and hope it won’t taste too rubbery. This is a normal occurrence of mine, tupperware and the microwave meals, but is this “healthy” or “good” for you? I’ve heard some rumors in the past of plastic leaking into food so I decided to investigate. 

According to Harvard Health (prestigious I know) microwaving your plastic is bad for you. Apparently, the heat from the microwave transfers chemicals from the plastic into your food (yum?) and then you ingest these chemicals. They are called plasticizers. Meaty, fatty, and cheesy foods release diethylhexyl adipate which leaks out of plastic. This sounds a lot more serious than I thought it would be. 
There are more dangerous chemicals according to Popular Science. Plastic #7 releases Bisphenol which can harm your reproductive system. However, this is after repeated use. Plastic soda bottles, which use plastic #1, also have harmful chemicals in them. It’s recommended that they are only used once. If used more than once they can release phthalates that again are hormone disrupting when used numerous times. 
In general there are dangerous chemicals leaching out into our food when microwaved in plastic containers. I’ve also learned that there are many different kinds of plastic that have different harmful chemicals in them. If you are thinking hey, what about styrofoam? Styrofoam also has chemicals that can harm you. Styrofoam is made out of polystyrene which can cause many problems such as eye, respiratory, and skin irritation. On the extreme side, it can also kidney failure. So, when you get a to go box from a restaurant you should immediately switch it into something different. Obviously these symptoms aren’t instantaneous, but it’s a good idea to switch them out as soon as possible. Do not microwave styrofoam! 
This might seem a little scary,  I know I’m freaking out a little. These chemicals take multiple uses to get into our food, so I wouldn’t throw out every tupperware container I own if I were you. Some alternatives are using glassware to store things. Glass is probably more expensive, and if you drop then you have a whole other problem on you hands. However it is safer when heating. Another option is to take your food out of the tupperware container and microwave it on a glass plate or bowl. I think this is a safer and easier way to stay protected from the dangers of the microwave. So don’t be afraid to eat the tupperware present, just unwrap it. 

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Twinning?

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Over the past weekend I got to go home and see my family. I was eating lunch with my nan when she was telling stories about her childhood. She began to tell a story about the shenanigans that she, her twin sister, and 8 other siblings would get into. If you do the math that’s ten children. TEN. I thought to myself, ten children is crazy. Then I had a scarier thought, what are the chances of me having twins? I always heard that having twins skips a generation and I have twins on both sides of my family. I’m basically screwed. However, before         I jumped to the conclusion that I will be Kate plus 8, I figured I should do some research.

The chances of anyone having twins has greatly increased. The chances used to be 1 in 52 pregnancies were twins 30 years ago. Nowadays there is a 1 in 32 chance of a woman having twins (yikes). Triplets are 1 in 10,000 but we aren’t going to go there. According to NHS Choices no one knows what causes identical twins. Identical twins or monozygotic happens when one egg is fertilized and then splits in two, creating identical genes in both. Identical twins are always the same gender. Both sets of twins on both sides of my family are identical, so scientists have no idea how this happens! 
Non-identical twins or dizygotic happen when two eggs are fertilized. This type of twins is more common, about two thirds of twins are non-identical while one third is identical. Non-identical twins can be different genders or the same gender. However, they will look alike as much as regular siblings would. 
According to the Scientific American, the strongest evidence to having fraternal (another word for non-identical) is that women release two or more eggs instead of one during her cycle. This is called multiple ovulation. There are currently doing studies on sheep. Scientists are seeing how well sheep respond to FSH or Follicle Stimulating Hormone. Another experiment being done is with pairs of sisters who have each had sets of fraternal twins. The scientists believe that once they collect data from this study they can determine which sets of women are more likely to have twins. 
My question has been solved. There is no evidence saying that having twins skips a generation. However, if a women has had twins in her family, it is more likely for her to have twins than if the father of the child has had twins in his family! Another interesting fact is, is that the older a woman is the more likely she is to have twins. When a woman is 37 or older she is four times more likely to have twins. Crazy! Although it will be harder for her to conceive at this age. 
The myth of twins running in families has been solved! 
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Chicken Nuggets: Stomach’s Best Friend

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There are few things in this world I love more than TV, and one of them is chicken nuggets. My freezer is usually full of chicken nuggets from dinosaur to Monsters Inc. shaped and Tyson to Perdue brands. Since we have so many brands that claim to be 100% real meat I decided to research what is really in the beloved chicken nugget. 

As you probably already know, chicken nuggets are not very good for you. Packed with sodium and fat these nuggets aren’t nutritious. Surprisingly enough, some of the most popular brands were graded only a “good” or “fair” in nutrition. One of the surprising brands was Tyson, which advertises as “100% All Natural” and although that sounds perfect, the nutritional facts deem it otherwise. There are 17 grams of fat per serving and 470 milligrams of sodium. That’s crazy and just about half of the recommended milligrams per day according to Consumer Reports. Surprisingly enough Perdue or Tyson didn’t score very high being some of the most popular brands. Perdue chicken claims to be breaded with “whole grain breading” but they only have 1 gram of fiber. 1 gram! 
So after being extremely disappointed in my home nuggets, I thought I should check out fast food chicken nuggets. On Babble they ranked the best and worst fast food chicken nuggets. They brought me to The Autopsy of Chicken Nuggets Reads “Chicken Little” study done by Richard D. DeShazo. The study took two random chicken nuggets from different popular chains and found horrifying results. The first nugget tested was about 50% meat with a combination of blood vessels, nerves and fat (yikes) and the second chicken nugget was about 40% meat and the rest was a combination of fat, tissues, and bone spicules. BONES. 
The source of the nuggets was left unknown but I can’t help but wander who is selling us chicken bones in our beloved nuggets! 
“Available information suggests that the average composition of chicken nuggets from restaurant chain 1 is 56% fat, 25% carbohydrates, and 19% protein, and from restaurant chain 2 is 58% fat, 24% carbohydrates, and 18% protein” states the study. We are willingly putting this into our bodies! I’m disappointed that I don’t know where these chicken nuggets are from so I can avoid them like the black plague. 
The main thing I take back from this study is how children of all ages feel like it’s a treat to get McDonalds or any fast food. I know I did when growing up. So seeing how unhealthy it is now, I can tell why our nation has an obesity epidemic. Children want chicken nuggets and parents make it for them since they are easy to make. Or after a busy day at the office, they take their children to get some fast and delicious chicken nuggets from a fast food chain. It’s the simple, fast, and affordable option. 
Babble did research on the best and the worst places to go for chicken nuggets. The worst was Jack in the Box with 238 calories per serving. Luckily I have never been to one of those restaurants! KFC Original Recipe Bites were named the best chicken nuggets with 130 calories per serving. Runner up was my personal favorite Chic Fil A with 130 calories as well. 
The best option for chicken nuggets is to make your own. Get healthy recipes with fresh chicken. However for kids and college students this is a hard thing to do. My suggestion, go ahead and eat some nuggets. Just do it in moderation. It’s gonna be hard for me to follow my own advice! Personally I will keep eating nuggets. We all know the dangers of eating fast food or frozen food. The key is moderation. What are your thoughts on chicken nuggets? Did this study scare you away? Or will you be like me and keep eating them?
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Sponges, Soaking up the Germs

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If you’re like me and live in an apartment you have to clean. A lot. One of the best cleaning tools is the sponge. I use the trusted sponge to clean the counter, dishes, plates, pots, pans, and everything else. Although we use the sponge to clean up the messes and germs in our kitchen, it’s home to most of the germs in your house!

When using the sponge to wipe up different messes, we actually transfer the germs to each new item that you are “cleaning”. According to Web MD the sponge is the perfect place for germs to live. “The moist, micro-crevices that make a sponge such an effective cleaning device also make it a cozy home for germs and more difficult to disinfect.” The go to dish cleaner is actually making things worse, not better!
Mail Online claims that sponges have 10 million germs per square inch of sponge! That’s actually insane. Dr. Charles Gerba says that the common kitchen items such as a cutting board, sponges, dishcloths, and reusable shopping bags. These are all littered with germs! Professor Pennington said that the household sponge is the dirtiest thing in the home. He said that sponges are okay to clean up and wipe food off a plate with, but never to wipe off a clean plate to use. 
One of the most dangerous bacteria to inhabit the sponge is called campylobacter. It’s a bacteria that if infects you can cause Guillian-Barre syndrome. This cause paralysis! It’s a bacteria that’s found in poultry and is transferred by the sponge. This sounds scary, but this disease can be cured.
Another study done by John Oxford states that 21 percent of households in 9 countries have dishcloths with high levels of contamination. 21 percent is a little higher than I feel comfortable with. 
To stop the spread of germs throughout the kitchen, food, and family is quite simple. Thoroughly wash your hands. Instead of reusing a dirty sponge or dishcloth use disposable antibacterial wipes. Another option if you don’t want to get rid of your sponge is to put it in the microwave for two minutes. Especially with cold season coming up, we should all try to keep things clean. Everyone remember to clean your sponges!

What are your thoughts on sponges? Should we keep using sponges and keep using new ones every few days/weeks? Or should we toss out sponges all together and use antibacterial wipes and spray with paper towels? This is definitely a more expensive option but is it worth it for health reasons? What do you think?

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You’re Legs are Toast!

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This past Sunday I was sitting on the couch with my laptop on my legs 4 episodes deep binge watching Breaking Bad. In that moment when the clock timer on Netflix was counting down the seconds until the next episode I thought, is my laptop on my legs harmful to me? This wasn’t the first time I have been marathoning a show on my laptop in this position so I figured I should do some research. 

As it turns out, many other people were asking this same question. I guess I’m not alone with the thought of this issue. As it turns out, there have been extreme causes where people have actually been burned by their laptops. There have been a few cases, but just enough for this burning reaction to get a name. The name is, “Toasted Leg Syndrome” and personally I think that is a hilarious name. 
There have been two prominent cases where this “Toasted Leg Syndrome” has happened. One of the cases was with a boy who played his video games on his laptop on his legs for months. The other case was with a young woman who would sit for hours a day with her overheating laptop on her chest. Both of these people experienced discoloration on the legs. This article on ABC News talks about the two people that were effected by this syndrome. 
Another article on Toasted Leg Syndrome in Examiner.com says that this isn’t a new syndrome. It actually started back when heating pads were invented. Not only avid laptop and heating pad users could get this. According to the article, people who work around a heat like an oven can get this. Yes, even your neighborhood Papa John’s pizza chef could get Toasted Leg Syndrome. So sad. 
So, this heat on our legs is basically giving the same exposure that the sun gives us. This means that in extremes, your laptop could give you skin cancer just like the sun can. I know it’s a stretch, but with more and more time being spent on the laptop and not outside, our body isn’t used to the heat and it could be dangerous. 
Personally, I don’t think you have to worry. Instead of watching 7 episodes of your favorite show or 7 hours of reblogging on Tumblr on your lap, put your computer on a table. I know that this might mean getting off the couch, but I think it’s worth it to not get Toasted Leg Syndrome.
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TV: the Hottest Drug on the Market

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We all know drugs are bad for us. They kill our brain cells and are highly addictive. But the newest addictive drug isn’t some pill it’s our television. This is the golden time for television. With great shows and new viewing opportunities such as Netflix and Hulu, this new drug is easy to come across and virtually costs nothing.

I’m a huge fan of watching 7 episodes of a show a day, but some say this isn’t healthy. The Washington Post says that TV just like drugs is addictive. When comparing the effects of TV and drugs to the brain, it’s surprisingly similar. Both send out dopamine to the brain (just like any other fun activity) which is the neurotransmitter that makes you feel good.
According to the Daily Nebraskan, “binge-watching” TV can lead to heart disease and obesity (yikes) because it’s linked to unhealthy eating. 
Watching too much TV can also lead to depression. When someone is watching hours and hours of television they are missing out on socialization time and study time. 
I believe that these are all very extreme outlooks about TV watching. I believe that if you manage your time well, you can reward yourself with TV. The Daily Nebraska agrees with this statement as well. TV not only is a stress reliever but it is also a gateway to socialization. TV is a great conversation starter and a great way to spend some free time. When watching TV don’t snack, and invite some friends. TV should be an enjoyable experience so go ahead, click next episode. 
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Multiple Personality Disorder…is it real or crazy?

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In my junior year of high school I read the book Sybil. Sybil is a book about a young woman named Sybil Isabel Dorsett who claims to be suffering from Multiple personality disorder which is now known as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). I grabbed the book while browsing the shelves, trying to find something to read to make study hall go faster. Once I started reading the book, I couldn’t put it down. Sybil is a book about a real life woman who claims to have dozens of different personalities, some of them include: two men, a baby, a french woman, and many others. Now you can see why I couldn’t stop reading. 

So, after I read the book, I wanted to do some research. I wanted to see if there was actual medical proof to what was going inside Sybil’s mind or if it was all made up. “Dissociative disorders usually occur when something traumatic happens to someone, they use this disconnect from a stressful or raumatic situation or to separate traumatic memories from normal awareness. It is a way for a person to break the connection between the self and the outside world, as well as to distance oneself from the awareness of what is occurring. Dissociation can serve as a defense mechanism against the physical and emotional pain of a traumatic or stressful experience.” says  the Cleveland Clinic. 
Something traumatic happened to Sybil, she was abused by her parents. This is what triggered the multiple personalities, she would disconnect herself from the events occurring and  she came up with a new identity to escape. Each personality that someone creates can have background stories, personal histories, traits, and even physical changes 

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like they way a person talks or walks.
There was a show on TV called “United States of Tara” which followed a woman dealing with Dissociative Identity Disorder and how it affected her family. 
The question I am posing is this: Is DID a real problem or is it something people make up to seem crazy. I personally believe it’s real. If something so traumatic happens that you create a whole new world and reality for yourself, you could go there whenever you want. It’s a very extreme version of finding your happy place. 
There are no labs, tests, or anything of that sort to diagnose DID. So how is it real? People with DID are usually sent to a psychiatrist or a psychologist. DID is mostly for coping with traumatic events in someone’s life. Therapy can help with this. Is this a real disease or is it someone overreacting? Is this a real medical issue? What are your thoughts?