I’m sure that almost everyone has heard the saying, “Lightning can’t strike the same place twice!” I’ve always wondered if that was true. It made sense, because I always figured the odds of lightning striking the same location twice was extremely small. Yet, to my surprise, this legend is not true. Lightning does hit the same exact spot more than once.

WeatherImagery reports that the shuttle launch pad at Cape Canaveral in Florida has gotten hit a countless amount of times; sometimes even more than once in the same thunderstorm. The Empire State Building in New York City gets hit by lightning about 25 times per year. Roy Sullivan, a park ranger, has been struck by lightning seven times. Although taller objects are very likely to be struck, they aren’t always the first thing the lightning hits. Sometimes, lightning misses the tall object and hits a house instead, or even the ground.

According to the National Severe Storms Laboratory, lightning could strike the same place twice because of statistics. For example, there have been so many lightning strikes that somewhere, sometime, it must strike the same spot again. Also, there could be something in the area that’s causing it to strike in that spot. It’s typical that taller objects are more likely to be struck than shorter objects. It’s also possible that there’s something affecting the ability of the ground to conduct electricity, like salt, moisture, rock, water, pipes, or metal in the ground. Other things that affect where lightning strikes are the shape of the terrain and the shape of the leaves and twigs. Because an object has already been struck by lightening, does not mean that it’s impossible for it to be struck again; the chances are just as likely the second time as they are the first time.

http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/lightning/faq/

http://www.weatherimagery.com/blog/lightning-strike-twice/

http://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/climate-weather/storms/lightning-pictures.htm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthpicturegalleries/7859013/30-electrifying-pictures-of-lightning-and-thunderstorms.html?image=10

I’ll never forget the time that my family and I went on a nature walk one day. And yes, that’s my parents’ idea of “family bonding.” We walked along a trail in a reserve, when we stumbled across a baby bird. The first thing that curious 8-year-old me thought to do, was obviously pick it up. Just as I was cupping the bird in my hands, my parents yelled, “Don’t pick it up!” I had already been holding it, and after they explained to me that the mother would abandon this baby bird because I touched it, the happy 8-year-old from five minutes ago became the saddest 8-year-old in the entire world.

Of course, years ago, I listened to my parents and believed every word they said. Now, I’m a teenager and that’s not the cool thing to do anymore. So, I had to look into this “fact” a little more. Is it true that birds abandon their young if touched by humans? Frank B. Gill, the former president of the American Ornithologists’ Union, claims that this myth is not true, and that birds do not abandon their babies due to human touch. He states, “If a bird’s nest is disturbed by a potential predator during the nesting or egg-laying stage, there’s a possibility that [the bird] will desert and re-nest. However, once the young are hatched and feeding, [their parents are] by and large pretty tenacious.” This belief comes from the thought that birds can identify the smell of humans, when in reality, birds don’t really have that great of an ability to recognize scent. Miyoko Chu, a biologist at Cornell, says that, “Birds don’t have a very strong sense of smell, so you won’t leave a scent that will alarm the parent.” Birds have extremely simple nerves, minimizing their sense of smell, which is why they cannot smell humans.

Regardless of the fact that birds will not abandon their young after being touched by a human, people should still avoid touching baby birds and nests. If you see a bird on the ground, leave it undisturbed. But, if a baby bird falls out of its’ nest and is having trouble getting back in, there’s no harm in helping it out a little.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-birds-abandon-young-at-human-touch/

http://www.livescience.com/33620-baby-bird-touch-mother-abandon.html

http://www.windward.org/notes/notes72/daniela7204.htm

Whether I’m texting, listening to music or just scrolling through Facebook, I always seem to fall asleep with my phone near me. It’s the perfect spot for me to be able to hear my alarm, and it’s within arms reach in case of emergencies. But is the convenience of having your cell phone near you while you’re sleeping worth its’ harmful effects? ABC News reports that there are three main reasons why a person should not be sleeping with their cell phone in their bed.

First, your pillow could be set on fire. A teenager in Texas recently said that she was woken up to a burning smell, which was caused by her cell phone being underneath her pillow. The phone had melted, and it burned her sheets and mattress. Another reason to avoid sleeping with your phone is that you could keep yourself awake. For someone like me, who already has so much trouble falling asleep, this could be a huge problem. Cell phones reduce sleeping time because they emit blue light. This light hinders with the production of our sleep-inducing hormone melatonin, and interferes with our nightly slumber. The blue light releases wavelengths that are much like daylight, fooling our bodies to believe that it’s daytime. In order to fall asleep easily and without distraction, studies show that you must turn off any electronics two hours before you go to bed. Lastly, there is talk of possible health risks that come as a result of sleeping next to your phone. There’s no research yet that proves that cell phones can cause cancer, but cell phones do emit little amounts of electromagnetic radiation. This is the same radiation that X-rays and microwaves give off, that could lead to tumor growth if received in large quantities. Nevertheless, the World Health Organization alerts us that cell phone usage could have the possibility to cause cancer.

According to the Pew Internet Project, 44% of cell phone owners have slept with their phone next to their bed in order to make ensure that they didn’t miss any important calls or texts. Although we live in a world that’s now obsessed with cell phones and social media, it’s time to start putting our health first. Sleeping without a phone can avoid numerous problems.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/reasons-sleep-phone-bed/story?id=24839804#

I’ve always caught myself squinting when I walk to and from classes on a sunny day, but never really thought anything of it. I just assumed everyone was as sensitive to the sun as I was, until I heard someone say that people with light eyes are usually more sensitive to sunlight. Although sunglasses always do the trick, I was still curious to find out what the reason was behind blue and green eyes being more sensitive than brown eyes.

Dr. Anupama Horne, a Duke ophthalmologist (a doctor who specializes in eye and vision care) claims that having light eyes is definitely a contribution to the reason for our awkward squinting when looking into bright lights. She makes it clear that photophobia mainly affects people with lighter eyes due to the smaller amount of pigmentation in the multiple layers of our eyes. Photophobia is used to describe light sensitivity, or discomfort in bright lights. People who have photophobia cannot avoid the effects of lights such as the sun or fluorescent lights. Photophobia also causes people to have a hard time seeing anything or concentrating in bright lights, as well as being a source of pain around the eye. If you catch yourself rubbing your eyes or squinting when you’re in bright light, there’s a good chance you may have photophobia.

The reason that people with darker eyes, or brown eyes, don’t have as much trouble with the sun is because the pigmentation helps them avoid the glare from the sun or from bright lights. Another doctor, Francesca Marchetti, explains that people with lighter eyes also have a better chance of macular degeneration (when light-sensitive cells began to die) as they grow older. Since I have light eyes, it was important for me to also find out what can be done to prevent anything harmful from happening. Staying away from the sun, wearing hats and keeping your sunglasses on are a few things you can do to protect your eyes. Light eyes are a blessing, and a curse.

http://www.dukemedicine.org/blog/#!/myth-or-fact-people-light-eyes-are-more-sensitive-sunlight

http://www.knowledgesalad.com/useful/light-colored-eyes-really-sensitive-bright-light/

We’ve all had someone tell us not to swallow our gum before. Whether it’s been a friend, a parent or even a teacher, they’ve all said the same thing. “Throw your gum out in the trash, don’t swallow it, it takes seven years to digest!” Hearing this as a naive child, I obviously was bound to believe that when I swallowed my cinnamon flavored chewing gum, it would be trapped inside my body for seven years. And back then, seven years seemed like a life time. I guess it technically was a lifetime to me, considering I probably heard about this for the first time when I was around seven years old. But when I’m trying to have fun on the playground with my friends and there’s no garbage around me, what’s a seven year old supposed to do?

Thankfully, this well-known gum myth isn’t true. According to Dr. Rodger Liddle, a gastroenterologist at the Duke University School of Medicine, “Nothing would reside that long unless it was so large it couldn’t get out of the stomach or it was trapped in the intestine.” Just like every other food we digest, gum travels through our digestive systems, as our body breaks it down. In a matter of days, our gum is completely gone.

Although swallowing gum isn’t much of a problem, chewing gum should not be consumed on a daily basis. Chew it, and then spit it out in the garbage. If large amounts of gum are swallowed constantly, a problem could occur. A study in 1998 shows three cases of children who had issues due to excessive quantities of chewing gum being swallowed. One of the children was just four years old, and had been facing constipation for about two years. After eating about five to seven pieces of gum a day, they had finally realized there was a problem, and doctors removed a “taffy-like mass” from his body.

So, for everyone who swallowed a piece of gum seven years ago, when Steve Jobs released the first iPhone ever, you can let out a huge sigh of relief. Don’t worry, the chewing gum is already out of your body. And for all of you who swallowed a piece of gum today, it won’t be sitting inside your body until the year 2020.

http://www.livescience.com/22448-does-gum-really-take-7-years-to-digest.html

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130625-does-gum-take-years-to-digest

http://www.fembodynutrition.com/can-chewing-gum-stop-a-craving-in-its-tracks/

After multiple trips to the Caribbean islands and countless hours spent hanging out in the sun with my friends, one could say I’ve been begging for my body to receive some color for quite a while. Being a pale teenager has been a serious struggle of mine, especially when taking pictures next to your tan friends has basically become a weekly activity. Now, I’m not asking to look like the infamous Snooki from Jersey Shore, but when I anxiously await for prom pictures to be uploaded onto FaceBook, only to come to the unfortunate realization that I look like a ghost, I have to start wondering what causes our bodies to tan and why I’m not getting any of it.

According to teen health, the sun gives off three main types of ultraviolet rays, which are UVA, UVB and UVC rays. The UVC rays don’t have anything to do with our skin and the way we tan because they’re caught by our ozone layer. Due to mainly UVA, and the few UVB rays that get through the ozone layer, the melanin in our skin is affected and our skin becomes tan.

UVA rays cause tans by oxidating the melanin in our skin, meaning that the melanin goes through a chemical reaction after the exposure to these rays, which is the reason why our skin becomes darker. Once the melanin becomes darker, so does our skin. UVB rays cause tans as well, but through a different type of technique. The UVB rays produced by the sun cause melanin production to grow, and other changes to the cells that hold the melanin, which also leads our skin to become tanned.

Although I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s physically impossible for me to tan, and I’ll probably never get that perfect picture of myself glowing on the beach during my annual family vacation to Aruba, I can’t be the only one who faces the same problem. While taking a drive through my home town, or strolling through State College, anyone will notice multiple tanning salons. How do tanning beds come into play with UV rays and becoming tan? Tanning beds can sometimes be considered a “safer” alternative to tanning outside, but that may not always be accurate. Older tanning beds that produced UVB rays have been replaced by newer beds that use UVA rays, because they don’t burn the skin the same way. While this may be the case, this does not mean that they are necessarily safe. These UVA rays are often thought to be the reason for skin cancer and immune system issues in some cases. So, regardless of whether you’re tanning outside or in a bed, UVA and UVB rays are the reason that our skin darkens. It’s important to remember that even though tan skin may look nicer in the moment, the health affects won’t feel nicer in the long run.

http://teenhealth.about.com/od/bodyimage/a/howtanninghappens.htm

http://sante.gouv.qc.ca/en/conseils-et-prevention/bronzage/

http://www.healthyfoodspace.com/tanning-might-dangerous-dont-know-instructions-according-skin-type/

http://www.standuptanningbed.org/tanning-bed-supplies/

Hi everyone! My name is Gabrielle Gordin and I’m from Livingston, New Jersey. I’m still undecided about my major, but I know that I’m not interested in becoming a Science major. When I was here for orientation, I told my advisor that Science was never one of my strong suits in high school, and I requested to take a Science course that didn’t consist of a lot of math, but still filled my general education requirement. Physics and chemistry were always a struggle, but biology wasn’t as difficult because it was focused more on memorization. This Science course seems to be more interesting than the other ones I’ve taken, so hopefully I’ll enjoy it! Besides being extremely excited to take this course, I also cannot wait to participate in THON, and attend all the Penn State football games!