Let’s be real, the title made you happy. If it didn’t, I’m sorry you don’t find puppies to be as cute as I do. I love animals, but especially dogs. I’ve had a dog since I was born and now that I don’t have one I find myself wanting one more than ever. It could be because they say you always want what you can’t have. But I think it’s more than that. I believe dogs and pets in general, are great benefits to our lives.

Studies have found that pet owners are less likely to suffer from depression. I think pets can be really helpful for people who are going through a hard time because they are ‘there’ for them. My friend always tells me her dog knows when she’s upset and as a result, her dog will lay with her in bed.

Pets are also helpful because they can alleviate stress. A study showed that when patients spent a short amount of time with a dog before an upcoming operation, they experienced a 37% reduction in anxiety levels. The dog distracted the patients from the reality they were going to face.

When it comes right down to it, they always say ‘a dog is a man’s best friend’ and it’s true. Dogs create a sense of closeness. Families were survey and said they felt happier after adding their pet to their family.  Pets can make people feel safer and allow pet owners to relax. They are always there to brighten your day and make you feel less lonely.

Dogs communicate really well and have great instincts. It goes back to my friend’s dog. Dogs obviously don’t know what tears are or what anger feels like but they can sense those emotions. They also can sense danger and recognize intruders, which is why they bark. Even though it’s really annoying, barking may save your life one day.

Here are 11 real-life stories about pets who have saved people’s lives. Like I said, I think animals have a better instinct of danger than humans do. My favorite story is the one about the Chihuahua saving an elderly woman simply by yipping and yapping. I know someone with a Chihuahua and I think they’re super annoying with their so called bark, but now I know it’s a bark that shouldn’t be ignored all the time.

How many times have you heard “my day doesn’t start without my cup of coffee?” Growing up with two coffee addict parents, I know that phrase well. They drink a pot (or more) a day between the two of them. I think it’s gross because they grind the coffee beans in my house so it always smells like coffee! I can’t drink coffee because it doesn’t sit well with my stomach. The closest thing I drink to coffee is espresso in my Mocha Frappuccinos from Starbucks. However, what many of you don’t know is that espresso doesn’t contain that much caffeine.

Espresso is made by forcing nearly boiling water under pressure through ground coffee beans. It was discovered in 1884 in Italy. Espresso was made to be served quickly and in small amounts that’s why they are called ‘shots.’

For those of you who aren’t coffee experts like me, you probably didn’t know the darker the roast, the less caffeine. As coffee beans are being roasted, the caffeine is lost the longer they are. Espresso is considered a dark roast; therefore, there is not a lot of caffeine in one shot. According to this caffeine level indicator, there is 77 mg of caffeine per 1.5 fl. oz shot. There is 107.5 mg of caffeine per 8 fl. oz cup of regular brewed coffee.

You’re better off getting a cup of coffee versus a latte if you’re looking for a caffeine boost in the morning. It’s significantly cheaper and you get more coffee. Don’t waste your money on an extra shot of espresso.

Do you usually get extra shots of espresso? Do you think it actually helps or is it a mental thing? According to all of that data, you’re not getting that much caffeine to make a difference.

As some of you may know, there are fewer than 1,600 pandas in the wild. Well, that’s according to WWF. You’re probably thinking, ‘why do pandas matter’? Like almost every other animal, pandas play a vital role in the world, especially in forests. They need to eat anywhere from 26 to 84 pounds of bamboo daily. They help spread seeds and aid the growth of vegetation.

Pandas are endangered partly because of their lack of reproduction. They have 2-3 days in the spring when they are actually able become pregnant. It’s not that easy to find a partner in only a couple of days. The main reason they are endangered is due to habitat destruction. Their homes in China are getting destroyed because China is a fast-growing population. Forests are the first thing to go, which eliminates a lot of panda’s food sources.

Mei Xiang and Tian Tian are two giant pandas who are members of the National Zoo. They are under a Giant Panda Cooperative Research and Breeding Agreement that was signed between the China Wildlife and the zoo. Mei Xiang gave birth to a panda cub this year. You can check out the panda came here. The panda cub is adorable!

There is good news for giant pandas– they are growing in numbers.  Over the past 10 years, captive breeding success rates have increased dramatically. There are a lot of contributing factors such as swapping success. When female pandas give birth to twins, they only care for one of them. Through human help, twins are now both being saved because one will be swapped out of the nursery regularly.

A lot of science and human contribution is what is saving these pandas right now. Do you think it’s okay for humans/scientific research to be involved with animals and nature? They are doing a good thing and I’m really happy about it, so I definitely think what they’re doing is more than okay. But I know there are some people out there who think human involvement is completely wrong. Should humans step in when animals are becoming extinct?

Now a million questions are probably running through your mind because that’s everyone’s reaction. The first question I always get is, “really?” My answer is yes…why would I make that up? That question is always followed by, “do you know your real parents?” I’m telling you now, do not ask that question that way. I don’t take this personally because I know people don’t know better. Ask the person, “do you know who you’re biological parents are?” To answer the question, no I don’t. I was technically adopted before I was even born. The reason I find “do you know who your real parents are?” to be offensive is because my parents are the people who adopted me and have cared for me my entire life. They are real. They are my real, true parents. My biological parents are somewhere back in South Korea. To me, they are as real as my next door neighbors, but it doesn’t make them my parents in any way.

Anyway, the point of this blog is that I feel like a lot of people overlook adoption. There is this stigma attached to adoption that the children aren’t their ‘real’ child, meaning they don’t share the same DNA and blood. That’s such a small-minded thought and it blows my mind when I hear people who think that way. According to the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, there are 400,540 children in the U.S. without permanent families, meaning they are in foster care. There are 115,000 of those children who are eligible for adoption, but almost 40% will wait over three years until they are adopted. Those are ridiculous statistics. There are so many couples out there who can’t have children for a variety of reasons, but they will still choose to not adopt. What turns people off about adoption? I seriously want to know.

From that same website, the U.S. State Department said in 2011 more than 9,000 children were adopted by U.S. families. Assuming those children each went to different families, that’s 9,000 families who just made a life-changing decision. That makes me happy to know not everyone rules out adoption. Just look at Angelina Jolie. In 2002, she adopted her first child. She now has three adopted children and three biological children.

For those who say parents won’t care for their adopted children as much as their biological children, you’re wrong. American Adoptions, an adoption agency, put close to misconceptions like that. Nearly 3 out of every 4 adopted children are read or sang to everyday from ages 0-5. Only half of biological children receive that same kind of attention from their biological parents. 90% of adoptive couples say their relationship with their adopted child is “very close” and nearly half say their relationship is “better than expected.”

After reading this Wall Street Journal article about 152 South Korean infants being abandoned in the first seven months of this year, I have realized I’m extremely fortunate. South Korea implemented a new law to reduce the number of South Korean children being adopted abroad and to make domestic adoptions a priority. All I can say is thank God I was adopted when I was because I may have ended up in foster care or even abandoned.

What is your opinion on the statistics I mentioned? Are you opposed to adoption because of some of those psychological factors? I can’t imagine living in South Korea and I certainly can’t imagine my life without my family. These are two of my older brothers. My parents adopted their first son, had two biological sons, then adopted me. Adoption isn’t for everyone, but you shouldn’t bash it when it changes people’s lives for the better.

I don’t know about you but I hate sneezing. A lot of people say it’s relieving because it feels so good. Personally, I think it’s an awful feeling. The feeling comes at inopportune times Maybe I sneeze wrong because as weird as it sounds, mine hurt. They come from my chest and really don’t feel that good. Even when I have a cold and I don’t feel relieved after I sneeze. I just don’t understand the concept of sneezing, so I decided to look up anything I could find about it. I found an article on WebMD that listed “11 Surprising Sneezing Facts.” Here are the first three that are the most ‘scientific’:

1.  A sneeze is considered a nerve transmission. It signals your brain that something is in your nose that needs to be released.
2. Sneezes keep us healthy because they clear the nose of bacteria and viruses.
3. Sneezes travel about 100 miles per hour. One sneeze can send 100,000 germs into the air.

As far as the first two go, I guess after all sneezes aren’t that bad. I wish there was an alternate option, but I guess I’ll learn to deal with them. However, that third part grosses me out. I’m a semi-germ freak. Only in the sense that I try to make sure I keep my germs to myself and I hope other people will do the same. When I see someone sneeze into their elbow, I want to give them a pat on the back. When I see someone sneeze into their hand, or without their hand, I want to spray them with hand sanitizer the way exterminators spray houses to eliminate bugs. Anyone else feel the same way?

Yes, I know germs are everywhere and not all of them are bad. Let’s face it, not being cautious when you sneeze can lead to a lot of problems with other people. When you sneeze into your hand and open a door with the same hand, numerous people are touching that door after you and picking up your germs. I hope you second guess yourself the next time you think about sneezing into your hands.

After reading this blog To Wear High Heels or Not To?, it reminded me about how much I hate shoes, especially heels. I think I may be the only person who hasn’t found “the most comfortable shoe ever.” My friends have told me about TOMS, Sperry’s, Nike, UGGS, etc. I’ve tried them all and I don’t find one to be more comfortable than the other.

I just listed a few of the worst shoes you can possible wear if you’re looking for supportive shoes. Sure, they may be stylish, but they aren’t doing your feet any favors. After learning this past summer I have plantar fasciitis, I would know those shoes are bad for your feet when worn in excess. Basically, plantar fasciitis is when you strain one of the ligaments under the arch of your foot. Constant strain on these ligaments (because of unsupportive shoes) can cause tears, which are extremely uncomfortable. Personally, it felt like someone was stabbing me in the bottom of the foot when I walked. It was not pleasant at all!

Penn State’s campus has taught me a very valuable lesson: wear supportive shoes. Students here do a lot of walking from class to class, and frat to frat. Wearing the wrong shoe for your foot for extended periods of time does more damage than you may initially think. Don’t let it go on for too long. My advice is to go to a sneaker store like New Balance and get someone there to take an exact measurement of your foot and buy proper shoes. I kick myself every day for thinking TOMS was a good investment. I’m almost positive those shoes ruined my left foot.

Interestingly enough, I came across an article on New York Magazine called “You Walk Wrong.” And who would have thought? It’s one thing to wear the ‘wrong’ shoe, but to actually be told you walk wrong…that’s a whole other story. Sure, there are people who are pigeon-toed where their feet face inward as they walk. Also, there are people who walk duck-footed and it’s just the opposite where their feet face out as they walk. The way I see it, they’re walking and that’s a privilege so what’s wrong with that?

The article focuses on a study called “Shod versus unshod: The emergence of forefoot pathology in modern humans?” A basic outline of the study can be found through the link. Essentially, the study looked at and compared 180 modern human feet among three different population groups, and then compared them to 2,000-year-old skeleton feet. Believe it or not, the people who lived 2,000 years ago had healthier feet. Also, one of the modern populations who usually go barefoot had the healthiest feet out of the three. Do you think as time and evolution go on, we’re going to destroy our feet because of the shoes we wear? Through science, it appears we already have.

So, the moral of the story is to walk barefoot…plain and simple. Of course, that’s not realistic by any means. We live in a world where we walk a lot. If you go to New York City, you’re walking everywhere. Ask anyone who lives there and they will tell you it’s true. For us, we walk everywhere on and off campus. Shoes are necessary, but remember to pick the right ones. Have you heard of any shoes that are supposed to be great for your feet? As my physical therapist told me over the summer, walk around at home barefoot because it’s strengthens your feet.

As I was wracking my brain for topics for my blog post, I read an interesting title on Yahoo called “Why Its So Hard to Swat A Fly.” I was intrigued immediately. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve tried to kill a fly and ended up feeling like an idiot because I looked like I was just swatting the air. Flies are so harmless, yet they are the biggest aggravation.

I’ve always thought flies are so fast because their eyes are huge and they have peripheral vision. It turns out flies have a compound eye which is made up on visual receptors to create their field of vision. Interestingly enough, flies can’t focus on one image because they receive information from all different points at once.  Personally, that would give me a huge headache.

Michael Dickinson, a professor at Caltech, has done a lot of research regarding the biomechanics of insect flight. He finally answered the question of why it’s so hard to swat flies.

Flies have the ability to calculate the location of the threat (us) and they develop an escape plan. They place their legs in the best position to get out of the way if the threat imposes on them. Upon spotting the threat, flies take about 100 milliseconds to develop this plan and place themselves in the right position. No wonder they move so fast.

Penn State’s picture of the flag at half-staff on Old Main

for the victims at Washington Navy Yard.

It broke my heart when I heard about the naval yard shooting yesterday. I thought, “Another shooting?”  And it’s sad I said another.  The amount of tragic shootings in the last year alone is mind-boggling. From Sandy Hook to Aurora, now the Washington Navy yard, the death count is rising.

Many of you think that Aaron Alexis, the shooter, had a mental disorder.  It upsets me that people’s first reaction to a violent crime is, “Oh, there must be something [mentally] wrong with him/her.” While that may be true, it’s not necessarily the sole reason why Alexis decided to murder innocent people. He clearly wasn’t sane, but it doesn’t mean his psychological disorder drove him to be violent. The thing I hate the most about violent criminals is that they create a mental illness stigma.

An interesting article I found gave a real-life example of why people resort to violence using Ted Bundy who was convicted of killing 30 women (and probably more).  Apparently, he had a bad childhood, a bad break-up experience and psychological problems that led him to make horrible decisions.

The reason I wanted to write this blog is because it hits close to home. Not to get all personal, but my eldest brother has a lot of mental problems. Honestly, I think he’s a psychopath, but it doesn’t mean he should be held to the same standard as murderers. I think it’s wrong to say people who have mental disorders are violent and people who are violent have mental disorders. In many cases it’s true, but it shouldn’t be people’s initial thoughts.

For anyone who wants to know more of who hasn’t heard about the naval yard tragedy, you should read this NY Times article!

Video games have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Growing up with three older brothers, I always had the latest gaming system and the coolest games (at that time). Super Mario World, anyone?

I never thought about the influence of video games and the message behind them until recently. Personally, I love the Halo games (yeah, yeah, I don’t like COD). I think the aliens in Halo are really funny looking and the levels are more fun for me. Anyway, I would never think of Halo negatively affecting my behavior or my mentality.  But it’s the shooting and violent games like such that cause researchers to analyze the psychological impact on people.

In my opinion, video games don’t cause people to be more violent. However, there may be a correlation (wink, wink).  According to the above NY Times link, it’s hard to scientifically say if there are long-term effects of violent video games. That is, the game may lead to aggression and hostility with other people, but that behavior is short-term.

So why do they say violent video games are harmful?  Well, according to International Human Press, there are at least three reasons why. First, video games are active. Players are engaging in the game and learning to complete whatever task is at hand. Next, being as players take on the role of the character, they are more prone to identify with him/her/it. And lastly, these games are praising players if they kill someone, bomb a building or steal something. They unlock levels or earn more points by completing such objectives.

I don’t let any of this get to my head as the latest video game that I’m pretty excited for is Grand Theft Auto V. It comes out today, which is how I came up with the blog idea. The game itself has been getting a lot of hype with people saying it will be the best GTA yet. Clearly, this game does not promote any positive behaviors being as it has “theft” in the title. For those of you who have no idea what this game is about, you basically run around with weapons and commit crimes in violent ways. Basically, this is not a game I would allow my 10-year old self to play. 

I want to know everyone else’s thoughts on this topic. Do you really think video games make people more violent? How old were you when you started playing video games? Do you play “violent” games and do you think they affect your behavior?

After taking this science exam, I needed to feel better somehow. Most people would go for a run, relax and watch TV, or even take a shot of some refreshing Vlad– but for me, I decided to eat at Panda Express. I was going to drown my sorrows in some Orange Chicken, or as Mean Girls put it, “eat my feelings.”

Naturally, I regret my decision to eat such garbage, but it was definitely worth it at the time. I’ve always wondered why a lot of people’s first instinct is to eat when they’re sad or when they’ve had a bad day. The clich� line told to girls after a break up is, “Go eat some Ben and Jerry’s and you’ll feel better.” Bu what is ice cream going to do for a person emotionally? While it may taste good, the feeling you get while you’re eating it is only temporarily satisfying. Trust me…that Panda did nothing for me– I’m still mad about that exam.

My dinner tonight got me thinking about how some people do what I did on a regular basis, so I guess I’ve always wondered how common emotional eating is. Emotional eating can be defined as using food to cope with emotions even when you’re not hungry.

According to Women’s Health Mag, a study done in 2007 showed emotion triggered more eating than any other obstacle. The article gave the obstacle example of a buffet-style dinner– most people are more inclined to eat more when at a buffet because the food is right in front of them.

Unbelievably enough, about 75% of overeating is due to emotional eating according to experts. Not all of it is emotional, though. Let’s be real– how many of you eat because you’re actually hungry and that’s the only reason? Many of us are triggered to eat when other people are around us as a social thing, or we’re in a situation, like a football game, where we feel influenced to do so.

We’ve all done something similar to what I did earlier, but why? I’m curious– how many of you have gotten Canyon because you were drunk and not because you were hungry? You thought, “I’m drunk…I have to get Canyon.” Then you go satisfy your situational hunger, not your true hunger. How do we stop this overeating phenomenon that’s going on in our country? Do you think it’s out of control?