We all know that we normally wear dark colors to funerals and bright colors to weddings, but why? What is it about colors that communicate a message to others? Colors are such an important part of our world and society, from marketing campaigns to clothes to cars, it seems like colors are a major selling point wherever you go.

Red signifies power, passion, love, war, energy, and intensity. It is a very emotionally intense color which rises heart rate and metabolism. It has a high visibility and it found in many national flags. It is widely used to promote warning signs, energy drinks, and passionate love.

Orange combines the energy of red with the happiness of yellow, creating joy, happiness, and creativity. It gives the impression of heat without being as intense as red. It stimulates appetite and is associated with healthy foods. It is often used for promoting toys and food products. You will find it on many restaurant logos.

Yellow is also associated with energy, as well as intellect and happiness. It generates muscle activity and brain stimulation. You should avoid using yellow if you want to communicate stability and safety. Yellow is used most often on leisure items and children’s products.

Green says freshness, fertility, and natural. Lighter greens make you feel safe, and dark green is often associated with money and wealth. It is the most restful color to the human eye. You should use green for medicine packaging since it is a “safe” color.

Blue is the color of depth and stability, like the sky and ocean. It slows the metabolism and calms you down. It is a masculine color, deeply accepted among males. Avoid using blue to promote food, because it suppresses appetite. However, you should use blue for travel, cleanliness, or a high tech product.

Purple is the recognized color of royalty, power, and luxury. Purple is better for women’s designs.

Black symbolizes power, mystery, and evil. It denotes strength and authority, and also the unknown. It gives the feeling of perspective and depth, and can make you look thinner. Combined with more powerful colors, it mixes to be a great color scheme.

White is the symbol for light, pure, innocence, and virginity. These are all reasons that a traditional wedding dress is white. It is considered to be the color of perfection. It should be used to promote clean or pure products. It would be appropriate to use with medical products, salons, dairy products, and low-fat foods.

So, you can tell a lot about someone depending on the colors they choose to wear, and you can also use colors to your advantage to communicate subtle messages or make other people feel a certain way toward you. It’s all in the eyes!

http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html

Although it seems like a rather elementary concept, the science behind popcorn popping is actually quite interesting. What makes this delicious treat come out of small, hard kernels?

Each popcorn kernel is special, and contains oil, water, and starch. It is surrounded by a hard outer coating that keeps it all together. When heated, the water inside wants to expand into steam, but the coating prevents it. The hot oil and steam make the starch like a gel, making it softer and more moldable.

When the popcorn reaches a temperature of 180 degrees Celsius, the pressure inside is enough to burst through the popcorn hull. It actually turns the kernel inside-out. The pressure expands the proteins and starch inside the kernel into a foam like texture.

Of all the types of corn grown all around the world, popcorn is the only one that can pop. This is because it’s hull is the thinnest out of all types of corn.

Americans consume more than 16 billion quarts of popped popcorn per year. Get popping and enjoy this scientifically delicious treat!

http://chemistry.about.com/od/foodcookingchemistry/f/how-popcorn-pops.htm

http://www.popcorn.org/ForTeachers/TeachingGuide/WhatMakesPopcornPop/tabid/88/Default.aspx

http://www.popcorn.org/ForTeachers/TeachingGuide/FromSeedtoSnack/tabid/87/Default.aspx

It seems like everywhere I go, the tap water tastes different than at my house. I always wondered what sorts of things are in tap water. It seems a little dirty to me and when I travel I would sooner bring my own water or soda than drink the tap water there. About 300 million Americans get their tap water from public water systems that are government regulated. I have always wondered what gave tap water it’s distinctive taste bottled water doesn’t have.

There are over 2,000 contaminants that could be in public drinking water in any given region, so I am just going to stick with informing everyone on the major ones.

Microorganisms:

There are several different microscopic organisms that could be present in tap water. Too much exposure to these could lead to several different health problems in humans, including vomiting, diarrhea, and cramps.

Disinfectants/Disinfection Byproducts:

This is the most shocking contaminant in tap water in my opinion, with the health repercussions trailing on and on. Drinking too much of the disinfectant-contaminated tap water can result in anemia, increased risk of cancer, eye and nose irritation, stomach upset, liver, kidney, and central nervous system problems.

Inorganic/Organic Chemicals:

There are many, many different health problems associated with ingesting chemicals. Just to name a few, you could experience reproductive difficulties, blood problems, liver and kidney problems, skin changes, and stomach problems.

My verdict is that we shouldn’t exactly be afraid to drink tap water, however we should all start to try and filter most of our tap water. They have water bottles with filters, to make it easier for us college students on the go, and ones you can attach to your kitchen sink for at home. Happy Drinking 🙂

http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-your-drinking-water

 http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/

Everyone’s seen one, most teens have had one; the notorious, risqu� hickey. As Urban Dictionary puts it, a hickey or “love bite” is when you suck on someone’s neck to the point of leaving a huge red mark, which is  fun to get until your parents find out. What causes these bruise like displays on necks after sex or a good make out, and what are some tricks to fading them?

Although hickeys are said to be affectionate and romantic, the way they are given is actually rather strange when you think about it. To get a proper love bite, one must suck on your skin hard enough to leave a red (sometimes purple or blue depending on the severity) bruise. This bruise is the result of thousands of tiny blood vessels that have just been broken. Teeth can also be used if both partners are okay with channeling their inner ‘Twilight’.

Some teens desperate for attention even use a vacuum cleaner in order to suck their blood vessels and break them to give themselves hickeys. Weird.

So, you wake up in the morning and realize you have a terribly noticeable hickey. What to do? Well hickeys on their own can last days, even a week if they’re bad. I have found three ways to fade or remove your hickey in a pinch.

The Ice Pack–Apply ice packs or ice cubes wrapped in a towel to the hickey for up to twenty minutes. This normally works best on fresh hickeys, but can still help a little on older ones.

 The Frozen Spoon–Aaaah, the frozen spoon. Does it bring back memories for anyone else? Anyway, throw a spoon in the freezer for an hour, take it out and apply to the hickey. You’ll have to use quite a bit of pressure for this one, but you should see results within minutes.

Scraping–Use a coin or toothbrush for this painful trick. Hold your skin taut and pretend your hickey is butter on toast, scraping your skin from mid-hickey out to the sides to push excess blood away. Even though you’ll have scrapes, they’ll go away much faster than a hickey and are less conspicuous.

Overall, hickeys are fun, but not worth all the worry and pain to get them to go away once you’re…uhm….settled down. Make sure you communicate your hickey opinions and preferences with your partner BEFORE your make-out commences.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hickey

http://teenadvice.about.com/od/datinglove/tp/info_about_hickeys.htm

http://www.wikihow.com/Remove-a-Hickey

The viral phenomenon is simple; take a tablespoon of cinnamon and try to swallow it all in under 60 seconds without any water. There are over 40,000 Cinnamon Challenge videos on www.youtube.com. However, this prank is turning out to be very dangerous, causing hospitilizations, choking, throat irritation, difficulty breathing, and even collapsed lungs. In 2012, at least 30 teens nationwide needed medical attention, and 222 Poison Control Center calls were made by teens after attempting the challenge.

So, why is cinnamon so bad for us? Well, anything can kill you in large amounts. Cinnamon has several health benefits in small doses, but any powder or spice inhaled into the lungs can be very dangerous for your health.

The chemical that gives cinnamon it’s potency and strength is known as cinnamaldehyde. A part of this chemical acts as formaldehyde that binds and fixes tissue. A sort of preservative for your body. In high concentrations, this is what cinnamaldehyde has the possibility of doing.

Cinnamon is actually a spice made out of tree bark. Inhaling powdered bark doesn’t sound like the safest thing to do in my mind. That’s why it is difficult to get out of your lungs or spit out. If even a little remains in your lungs, it could potentially cause lung cancer just as a coal worker would get it.

Rats have been tested with cinnamon powder, and they have been shown to develop severe lung damage a month later. In humans, inhaling the cinnamon even once can cause an asthma attach, or spasms and narrowing of the bronchioles.

All in all, the Cinnamon Challenge is not the smartest idea, and just because it’s a YouTube phenomenon doesn’t mean you should join in.

http://www.cinnamonchallenge.com/

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cinnamon-challenge-dangerous-to-lungs-new-report-warns/

Any dog owner has heard that chocolate can kill dogs, but why? If we can eat chocolate, why can’t our dogs? Approximately 97% of cases involving chocolate toxicity are associated with dogs, and 1 in 3,000 die from chocolate ingestion. Why is it that dogs cannot eat this delicious treat?

Foods with cocoa contain amino acids, good fats, vitamins, and minerals, which are all fantastic for human bodies. But why is cocoa toxic for dog’s digestive systems?

Well, it turns out that cocoa beans have a compound called thebromine in their makeup Theobromine can hinder adenosine receptors in pet’s central nervous system, which leads to stimulation. Also, It increases calcium levels inside the cells, which may cause tachycardia (a heart rate that exceeds the normal range). It may also affect processes such as heart contraction. Humans are able to normally and safely digest theobromine.

On a scale from white to dark chocolate, the darker the more dangerous for pets. The darker the chocolate, the more cocoa it is used, and therefore the more theobromine is in it. Dark chocolate is about 10 times more toxic as milk chocolate. Even more poisonous than a regular chocolate bar is plain cocoa powder or baker’s chocolate. It would take 20 ounces of milk chocolate to kill a 20 pound dog, but only 2 ounces of baker’s chocolate or 6 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

It is recommended that if your dog should ingest chocolate, the owner should immediately contact a Pet Poison Helpline or a veterinarian. Depending on the severity, owners could be instructed to induce vomiting, get to the vet for a charcoal treatment to absorb toxins, or in non-life threatening cases, keep an eye on the pet while sickness passes.

http://somethingaboutscience.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/why-cant-dogs-eat-chocolates-foods-toxic-to-pets/

http://animal.discovery.com/pets/question348.htm

Let’s all reflect to the period of time when we were all in middle school. Everyone was awkward, weird looking, and somewhere in between a kid and a teenager. We were figuring out everything about…well, everything it seems. Did we ever think about dating and having sex? Well, I guess it depends on who you are and where you grew up.

We’re all young adults now, and the thought of kids this young having sex makes us shudder. But why? Is it because of our experiences or lack thereof? Or the fact that we think that kids in middle school aren’t “emotionally ready” for the commitment of sex and it’s effects? Well, I did some research and found the alarming number of kids as young as 12 that are sexually active.

A study in 2009 found that 12% of students surveyed had already engaged in vaginal intercourse by age 12. 4% had engaged in vaginal, oral, and anal sex. These numbers are really concerning for me, because in my opinion kids this young shouldn’t even date, let alone feel pressured to have a physical relationship with someone.

So, the question remains; what can we do? How do we stop these kids from having sex so early? Well, we can’t. They will find ways, as they have before. The answer is to give them education, and preventative supplies, if you will. As of now, sex education is pretty limited in schools. The fact is, parents need to become more involved with sex ed for their children. It is really awkward, and that’s not a secret. But with this change in society, it is needed in order for children to protect themselves as best they can. Of course parents ideal idea of their children’s sex life is for it to be non-existent, but unfortunately, that’s not realistic.