While we are talking about birth control, I figured I already made the male readers feel awkward enough and it’s time for the ladies to experience some discomfort. At the same time I would like to educate the many teen and young adult readers, being as though the majority are fairly sexually active college students. With that being said, PROTECTION/ BIRTH CONTROL: Which of all the many forms of birth control are most effective? I know it’s popular to be on the pill, some girls get a shot, others are old fashioned and just use condoms, but which makes females least likely to become pregnant?

According to an article on everydayhealth.com condoms for males are only about 82% effective in preventing pregnancy and female condoms are about 79%… Yes there are female condoms but they aren’t the most cooperative thing to use. The most popular forms of birth control are the pill, and a hormone shot. The pill most definitely works; according to Marie Suszynski author of the previous article, the pill has a 92% success rate of preventing pregnancy but that 8% failure rate is from woman forgetting to take it. It’s something that you have to take every day in order for it to be effective, so it sort of depends on the person. As far as cons, there is a link between contraceptives and breast cancer. Over time the results of studies to find out if birth control increases breast cancer risks have been mixed. Although according to a more recent study conducted in 2012 reported that hormonal contraceptives slightly increased the risk of breast cancer. Yet, age and past usage were factors and this risk will apply to any contraceptive that uses estrogen and progestin. Forms like the shot will have this side effect, but again it depends on the person; history of breast cancer in the family, age, past usage, and many more confounding variables. Honestly because of all of the confounding variables and mixed results in the meta-analyses, accepting the alternative hypothesis that birth control increases breast cancer risk is very hard to do, and I personally wouldn’t.

The shot, as previously stated, does suffer the brunt of hormonal side effects but fewer than 1 in 100 women will get pregnant while using the shot. If those odds sound good to you, be mindful there are other side effects such as loss of bone density. Bone density is gained once you stop receiving the shot but if you plan on being on it for years be mindful. Also, if you plan on having a baby you must plan very far ahead. After being on the shot it can take very long to start ovulating again; so if you planned on flicking your pregnancy chances on and off like a light switch, I advise you to try a different form of contraceptive.

After doing research I realized that this answer has a lot to do with the individual. I tried to put the results in terms of success and failure rates along with side effects to try and target the question, but essentially it is up to the user. Although, while staying in my line of research, the form of birth control that has the least negative side effects and highest success rate is hormone implants.

From article on ksnt.com by Lindsey Tanner AP Medical Writer.

Hormone implants are something that I personally never heard of and I’m not quite sure how popular they are, but they seem to pretty effective. The way they work is, a doctor will insert the small piece of plastic under the skin of the upper arm and it will prevent pregnancy for 3 years. No applying and removing, no having to remember anything, and no discomfort. This form of long-term contraception does contain progestin but no additional estrogen. As far as effectiveness, less than 1 in 100 women will become pregnant while using a hormone implant. One can also get pregnant once it is removed. There you have it, essentially the answer to my question depends on the user but in terms of pros, cons, and statistics, hormone implants are the move. I must admit the fact that it isn’t very popular and I haven’t heard of it makes me wonder if there is downsides to it that aren’t be published (or perhaps it is very very expensive). When looking into it it seems as though hormone implants are actually more affordable than other forms of contraception. According to Dr. Mary Ott, adolescent medicine specialist and pediatrics professor at Indiana University, hormone implants are actually less expensive than condoms and birth control pills in the long run. So maybe it’s a good investment; if one had the option it would be most logical to pick this one OR stay abstinent!

In a sexual relationship, most of the worry is put on the female for many reasons. Girls have periods to worry about, therefore girls get pregnant and mem don’t obviously. Because of this women take different forms of birth control to prevent pregnancy because condoms aren’t always reliable; on top of that, most don’t have the discipline to put one on. The fact the women mainly have to take on the responsibility of sexual bdhavioe, which involves BOTH men and women, frustrates me and that’s when I found this… The male contraceptive pill! It’s not out yet but it’s on its way. This blog will talk about what the male pill is, how it works, and any possible side effects.

There are quite a few different forms but the one that should be available by 2018-2020 is called Vasalgel. Vasalgel is a non-hormonal male contraceptive pill and according to Aaron Hamlin, executive director of the male contraceptive initiative, “it is poised at the first FDA approved male contraceptive since the condom. The way that it works is injection of the contraceptive into the sperm-carrying tubes, and blockage of the sperm. Another ararticle from Science Daily, refers to two proteins in males that meditate sperm transport cause infertility when absent. The disruption of the two create a blockage of sperm, being the mechanism of pill. I know that sounds dangerous but even though it blocks the sperm it allows other fluids to pass through, that way there if no pain or things of that nature. The boys reading this are probably like, ” yea right” but in comparison to vasectomies, this is a pretty humble form of contraceptive. Other strategies tried have resulted in long-term effects of infertility and interfere with male sexual activity, according to Monash University.

Pictures of condoms from www.amazon.com

Essentially, with all that we know about the male contraceptive pill there is no negative downside to it. Granted, it is not available yet but it has support from clinical trials and even if its not the most effective, why not give it a shot ? The pregnancy rate with condoms is 2 percent and when used incorrectly of inconsistently, that percentage turns to 18. Why not cut down the odds and help a lady out? Meta-analyses are needed of course but based off of what we know so far, male contraceptive may be worth a shot.

The answer is yes, contagious yawning is real and it happens quite often. Contagious yawning is a response to hearing, seeing, and thinking about yawning that occurs in humans and chimpanzees. The question is, why do we do it. In several studies scientists have found that there is very little correlation between contagious yawning and empathy (a person is tired as well, empathizing with the initial yawner, they yawn as well). For instance, researchers at The Duke Center for Human Genome Variation found a lack of association between contagious yawning and empathy. Unfortunately, I’m not sure how the experiment(s) were conducted. If they were observational experiments then I think they might not be as valid, because if people aren’t empathizing with others who are yawning then they’re not quite sure why they’re yawning of they’re not tired. If a person is unaware of contagious yawning they may assume that they must be tired as well when they actually aren’t. Duke believes that a better understanding of the mechanism of contagious yawning can lead to a ,”better understanding of illnesses such as schizophrenia and autism .”

President Barack Obama Yawning

This is because other studies such as the 2010 study from the University of Connecticut, found that those with autistic spectrum disorders are less likely to yawn contagiously. The study consisted of about 30 people of ages 6-15. The sample size is pretty small to completely accept the alternative hypothesis that people of such disorders aren’t at all susceptible to contagious yawning. Although another correlation found was that with age. Studies have shown that children aren’t susceptible to contagious yawning until about four years old and the Duke study found that the older the participant gets the less susceptible they are to contagious yawning. Although, age was only able to explain about 8% of the variability in the contagious yawning response.

There are other studies that do link contagious yawning to empathy such as a study conducted by psychologists at Leeds University in England. Although, the study in this case only consisted of 80 participants. There definitely is a lack in sample size once again and in this case there isn’t much variation age. It is very possible that age can be a confounding variable. Brain capability(as far as mental disorders) can also be a confounding variable. Moral of the story, yawning is contagious. There is no official mechanism for why as of now. There is a lack of meta-analyses and the only way to get an actual answer to why yawning is contagious would be to conduct more experiments.

There has been many studies and controversial arguments about whether or not is possible to cure homosexual human beings. While I personally believe that homosexuality is not a disease, I  found it interesting to try and understand why people thought such a thing was possible. What biological similarities are in homosexuals? Based off of my research, some have claimed to find what they call a “gay gene”.

When looking at the biological aspects of homosexuals, some scientists found it necessary to examine more than just humans. One of the species studied were our infamous fruit flies. We know-thanks to Andrew- that male fruit flies are toxic to female fruit flies, but what about their relationship with the same sex? According to Shang-Ding Zhang and Ward F. Oldenwald, fruit flies participate in gay behavior, such as licking of the genitalia and allowing genitalia contact. When these actions occur amongst the flies a gene called “w” is activated. During this activation of the gene a female can rarely tempt a male when passing by and widespread activation can cause groups of 5 or so male fruit flies to participate. Zhang and Oldenwald believe that their findings in fruit flies can be associated with the notion of homosexuality in humans. While most people believe it is a stretch to compare fruit flies and humans, there has been similar evidence.

Neuroscientist Simon LeVay conducted a study of autopsies of men and women with knowledge of their sexual orientation. He found that 19 gay men who died from AIDS had a tiny region in the brain (interstitial nucleus of the anterior hypothalamus) that was substantially smaller than that of 16 heterosexual men studied. There has been plenty of theories about this part of the brain effecting one’s sexual preference. LeVay’s argument is that there is a connection between the brain and sexual behavior through hormones. Whether or not LeVay’s study is accurate is hard to say. I definitely believe that the infection of AIDS could have had something to do with the results of the study (possibly be a third variable). Also, the sample size of 19 gay men and 16 straight men doesn’t seem to be enough. More than anything, there needs to be more studies done in order to have sufficient evidence. As rare as these studies are, most of them come from the idea posed by scientist Dean Hamer.

Over 20 years ago, Dean Hamer identified a stretch of the X chromosome was likely associated with homosexuality. In an effort to test the ability to replicate Hamer’s findings, J. Michael Bailey conducted a study on 409 pairs of gay brothers in 2004. Unlike the other studies I used, this one is more recent and has a larger sample size although is the evidence sufficient? Bailey found that there were linkages on the gene Xq28 (supposed “gay gene”) and a region of chromosome 8 (which has been suggested to be related to sexuality). What is unclear is how many linkages were found. In my opinion  there aren’t enough studies and evidence to prove that there is any single “gay gene”. All of these studies relate in the aspect of relation between the brain and sexuality but the mechanism is different for every study. The options of mechanism range from the “w” gene, to the hypothalamus, to Xq28, to chromosome 8, and I am sure there is more possibilities that scientists have found; they simply aren’t consistent enough. Another variable is that perhaps the individuals pairs are sharing the genes because they are brothers and they are related. Perhaps, the gene found in these sets of homosexual twins are genes that are common in most twins. My last critique on these studies is that they all focus on males- even the little fruit flies. Isn’t it possible for women to be homosexual as well? If there is in-fact a “gay gene” then it should be in BOTH men and women. In conclusion, there has been few studies done which have found possible linkage between the brain and sexual preference but not enough to accept the alternative hypothesis. I, personally, am leaning towards chance until proven otherwise.

In Tuesday’s class, we spoke of vaccines and there relation to autism. During the conversation the idea of a cure came up and I thought it would be interesting to attempt to get the truth behind this idea. Most of us don’t think of autism as something that one can “fix” or cure. Although, now that it is affecting more and more children every day- according to Andrew’s slide, rising in the western world now 1/150 kids have autism-people are scared and convinced that it can be cured.

In March of 2006, an article was written in the “Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders” which did a randomized double blind trial testing the efficacy of gluten-free and casein-free diets in the treatment of autism. Over the course of 12 weeks, children of ages 2-16 years, were monitored while on the diet. The urinary peptide levels and autistic symptoms were collected over the 12 week period and the results shown no significant findings during the experiment. Now there is possible confounding variables, one that stuck out to me was the number of subjects which was only 15 children. The age range 2-16 is pretty wide to me as well, but if there was no findings in any of the autistic children then the age doesn’t really matter. This theory has been brought up often throughout science and medicine so I wasn’t surprised to find what I found to be helpful, a study on the meta-analyses.

An article from “Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders” shows a systematic review of the research done on the use of gluten-free and casein-free food diet in the treatment of children with autism. Scientists studied 15 different cases and came to the conclusion not to support the use of this diet to treat autism. The article highlights why people believe this diet will cure autism and that is because of the “Opioid-Excess Theory”. The theory suggests that autism is caused by disruptions in the process of proper spread of amino acids through the blood stream. This theory comes from research found that autistic children have significant gastrointestinal problems (diarrhea, constipation, bloating, etc.) But we know more than any other, that correlation does not equal causation. Therefore, the sufficient evidence proving that this diet has no affect on the autistic symptoms of a child should discourage these believers. Although, for whatever reason, people still believe and the first article I mentioned states that despite the results “several parents reported improvement in their children”. One specific parent who shares this belief you all may be familiar with, if not from television than from class.

Jenny McCarthy, (model, actress, etc.), is the mother of 13-year old Evan Asher, who was diagnosed with autism apparently after receiving a vaccine. The article on her interview argues that what’s being called a cure should be referred to as “recovering”. The family put Evan on the gluten-free/casein-free diet along with detox of metals, vitamin supplements, and anti-fungals for yeast overgrowth. The family claimed to have had the child on the diet for a year then taking Evan to the doctor and being told they have never seen such improvement. Granted, there can be a lot of third variables affects Evan’s anecdote. One being if the diet improved speech and behavioral analysis, it really depends on the age of the diagnosis, because the boy could have simply been growing. Along with that, it would also depend on the extent of the boy’s condition. Plus, doctors always say that but most realistically, the boy could have simply been lucky; chance is always an option. Parents are going to want to believe that their child can recover from autism whether it be the case or not, so to try all options isn’t wrong at all. Maybe more research needs to be done, but the amount we have is pretty sufficient and it declares that as of now we can accept the null hypothesis that diet does not effect autistic symptoms.

While reading a blog on rappers I was condemning myself for being able to remember all of the words to a rap song by half of the men on the blogger’s list and not the difference between false positives and false negatives; and then I wondered, why is this? I started to think it was just because it is music which may lead into a future blog one day but today I want to focus on the men. Men or essentially, any deeper voice seems to have an affect on memory in humans, especially for females, but why?

In an experiment conducted by Hwajin Yang, Sujin Yang, and Giho Park 165 undergraduate students were tested by listening to voice samples and having to restate what they heard, in any order, based off of memorization alone. Third variables like hearing and tone of voice samples were all controlled. Participants all passed hearing tests, rated their own mood (so the mood of the subject couldn’t affect memory) and the voice samples consisted of 325 male and female actors forced to use either a neutral or angry tone; this way all of the variables are consistent in getting an accurate conclusion. The research found that something about a female’s voice impaired the memory of the human being. For female and male listeners the results were generally the same: when there was a male voice the remember rate was higher, reaching the 50 percentile. When there was a female voice the forget rate reached a high of 40% and the remember rate significantly dropped from high 50s to the 40s, being the highest, and for male listeners in particular, reaching a 20% low. So we can assume that a male voice is easier to remember than a female’s, but why? An article on Cracked presents an interesting potential mechanism.

In Eddie Rodriguez’s article on Cracked called  “5 Seemingly Random Factors That Control Your Memory” the third factor is deep voices. He raises topics like why Darth Vader is a bad ass and Morgan Freeman, Barry White, and more have been so impactful because of their voice despite their looks. It made me consider the advertisements on the radio that you never forget (If you’re from Philly you can recite a club onyx commercial from the radio), television commercials, talk show hosts, and so much more. Rodriguez draws a point of causation due to sex. His article references research done by University of Aberdeen in Scotland and McMaster University in Canada, which conclude that evolution has caused women to remember everything that they find desirable about a man. To very many women a deep voice is sexy, therefore what a deep voice says sticks like glue to us. The researchers conducted a study in which women had a to play computer memory games with objects that were read aloud by male voices of different pitches. When the objects reappeared they had to pick out the ones that they remembered being said, and of course, the ladies picked out way more objects that were read aloud by the deeper voices.

Now I am sure that there could be other reasons for this behavior; for example if someone on street yells banana at you with a Darth Vader voice you will probably remember that moment every time you past that part of the street, and it doesn’t seem sexy at all! But in relation to the other experiment, this sex appeal sort of makes sense. In one of my previous blogs I wrote about sex drive and studies have proven that the male sex drive is significantly stronger than the females, could this be why they struggled to remember the content of what the female voices were saying? Perhaps the men were distracted in thinking of what the women looked like, what she was wearing, if her voice turned him on, and other sexual thoughts; causing a significant impairment on the memory. But what is to say that sexual orientation couldn’t be a third variable? If the mechanism is truly sexual, then do homosexual males remember the deeper voices because they are attractive? If women have evolved to remember everything they find about a man to be desirable, then do homosexual women remember nothing of deep voices because it isn’t attractive to them? The true mechanism of why the gender of the voice affects the memory is still unknown, but based off of the research and the experiments, it is safe to say that we can at best reject the null hypothesis.

In Andrew’s class today we discussed the Monty Hall Problem and when being told that the right answer was to switch I had great trouble understanding why. When we took the poll my initial answer was to stay, because mentally I didn’t see the point of switching; either way there is a 50/50 chance…I suffered from this mental hardwire described as one of the reasons humans can’t seem to get it. When learning the rest of the theories, I thought of one that wasn’t listed in which I believe contributes to why we make the decisions we do (in the Monty Hall Problem and any other situation): we go with our gut.

Frequently, people are told to “go with their gut” choice, or people justify decisions they made by saying they “had a feeling in their gut” which makes perfect sense. According to Prof. Marius Usher of Tel Aviv University’s School of Psychological Sciences, people make the best decisions when they do so. In this behavioral experiment, participants were told to choose between to options based on instinct alone. As a result, participants made the right decision 90% of the time. I understand there is a lack of information and tons of confounding variables, such as the educational background of each participant in he study and what kind of questions were asked. Well Prof. Usher decided to take a mathematic route. He conducted a controlled experiment in which subjects had to look at a computer screen with rapidly moving pairs of numbers on each side of the screen and decide which side would have the highest average. There wasn’t enough time to calculate each number so the subjects had to rely on what Prof. Usher calls “intuitive arithmetic”. When shown a larger group of numbers the percentage was about 65% of correct answers. Although, when only 24 groups, the answers were right 90% of the time.

Yes, there is a chance that this test was conducted on some very intelligent people but what about for those who aren’t the best at math? What causes them to go with their gut feeling and sure enough be right? Neuroscientist, Dr. Antonio Dimnasio claims that there is biological reasoning behind gut feelings. Him and his colleagues of University of Iowa College of Medicine, carried out a single blind experiment in which participants played a card game with fake money and were forced to choose from two decks; one had good cards and one had penalty cards, but they didn’t know that. After a few times choosing from the bad deck subjects vocally expressed their knowledge that one deck was faulty but their actions had already been carrying out this knowledge. Scientists attached the palms of the participants to a machine that detected electrical conductance of the skin. 10/16 subject had properly working brain systems and they all got sweaty palms when choosing from the faulty deck. Along with that, these 10 were already choosing from the good deck more than the bad one. The other 6 in the experiment suffered from sort of brain damage behind the eyeball and 3 of them never came to the conclusion that one deck was better than the other and all of them chose from the faulty deck more than the 10 others in the test. Some of them claimed to be risk takers but this bad decision making took place in their real lives too (decisions about relationships, jobs, houses, etc.)

What Dr. Damnasio found in this study was that emotional memories and intuition guide decision making in humans. Intuition is what makes this decision making process unconscious but memories that cause certain feelings toward a decision turn those unconscious decisions to conscious thus making them gut feelings. So this may explain why humams experience omission vs. commission in the Monty Hall Problem. Making active decisions have most likely led to bad outcome at least once before for all of us. This caused an emotional feeling that none of us liked and probably don’t want to experience again, this we decide to stay instead of switch. The one time we are supposed to take a risk our intuition, which is supposed to help us, won’t let us. Ironic, I know.

It is the start of October and what better time to talk about breast cancer than now? Breast cancer is very common and has been for the past few years so I’m not about to tell you what it is and how to do a mammogram but I do want to address some common misconceptions and maybe enlighten you all with some fun facts.  

Okay, so I don’t know how to start it without defining breast cancer so I’m sorry for lying- breast cancer is a malignant tumor that starts in the breast and can spread to any surrounding tissue, according to the American Cancer Society. It is most common in women but men can get it as well. Causes of breast  cancer range all over but it is most commonly chance that causes it. There are certain risk factors, for example according to the International Journal of Cancer

To begin with, the earlier you catch the disease, the more likely you are to survive from it. Ladies AND MEN, at our age the doctors don’t give us mammograms because our breasts aren’t dense enough, but a self mammogram in the shower takes up about 6 minutes of your time. It takes nothing, and the more familiar you are with your breast the more likely you are to realize when something is wrong. Speaking of dense breast, stay active! Breast Cancer Facts and Figures 2013-2014 claims one of the most common risk increasers would be obesity, or postmenopausal obesity. I know most of us aren’t at that point yet but it’s good to practice good habits now because the heavier we become, the more dense our breasts are, and the more likely we are to contract breast cancer. Those of you on birth control, consider a different kind of contraceptive perhaps because plenty of sources, including

Touchy topic I know, but in this blog I plan to address a common misconception amongst men and women in today’s society: the need for sex amongst men. It is common for men to justify disturbing sexual behavior with the fact that they are men. It is also common for the female to be more invested in feelings and emotions than the male partner, but why is this? Do men need sex more than women? I believe that while we all have the instinct to reproduce, men have stronger sex drives than women.

When determining a strong sex drive aspects that come into consideration include: number of sexual partners, masturbation, frequency of masturbation, frequency of sex, frequency of sexual thought, variety of sexual acts, willingness to make sacrifices to obtain sex, and most useful, sexual fantasy and its frequency. Beginning with the act of having sex, according to Ehrlichman and Eichenstein, it is in the male instinct to impregnate as many women as possible. This meaning that it is natural for men to want to have sex with a numerous amount of women. Most of the time the physical characteristics are the only essential aspect of choosing a woman to have sex with. Men look for a woman who appears to be healthy, young, attractive, and typically well enough to carry a child. Now, when you young college boys read this article you’re probably thinking that creating a child is the last thing you want to do, which could be very true. Although, when choosing a women to lay down with it is an instinct- more so self conscious- to engage in sex with a women who you could see being capable of having your children. Ehrlichman and Eichenstein also say that women have a sexual instinct as well BUT unlike men, the mind of the female effects the decision of her sexual partners. The female does not just lay down with any man when given the sexual desire to do so (which the female DOES experience), but she will wait until that man has exceeded more than just physical criteria. Not saying that it is impossible for a man to resist another woman or that a woman will always wait before sex, because that isn’t true. It is simply in the nature of men to think of the act of sex before emotion and vice versa for women; whether or not you personally adapt to that behavior.

Earlier I mentioned that one of the best determinants of a strong sex drive was sexual fantasy, and that is because all of the other aspects could be skewed by third variables in a study. For example: a boy raised with all brothers and constant exposure to pornography may be more sexually active than a boy raised in a very religious house hold. The two boys, with their two different backgrounds and different sexual experience, can still have similar strength in sex drive based on how often they have sexual fantasies. In a study by Ellis and Symons in 1990, the variety of partners in sexual fantasies were tested amongst college students. Students were asked whether they had over a thousand different partners in their sexual fantasies. The study showed that men are four times more likely to have over a thousand different partners in their sexual fantasies than women. Based off of this it is concluded that men think about sex more often that women do, hence a stronger sex drive. Granted, this is an observational study, there is no experiment being done here which I would imagine would be hard to do. Researchers have to trust that the feedback is at best as accurate as possible. Further studies have been done to prove the same thing, these studies are also observational. Although, the studies are questioning subjects on what they want which is essentially what this topic is about- desire for sex. For example: a study by Johannes and Avis sampled married couples with ages 51-61 and found that women were less likely to wish for more sex than they were currently having and men were more likely to DESIRE more sex than they were having. Similarly, Ben N. Ard Jr. did a study in 1977 with couples who had been married over 20 years and found that women were generally content with the amount of sex they were having but the men desired a 50% increase and sexual intercourse. The list of studies like this go on and they come to the simple conclusion that men simply have a stronger sex drive than women. Men want to have sex more, they think about it more, they masturbate more, they fantasize about sex more, and more often than not they feel as though it is in their nature to be engaged in sexual activity frequently; and by the looks of things… they’re kind of right.

Food that is appealing to the eyes and nose

How many of you would consider yourselves “picky eaters”? Your food can’t touch, or your choices of foods don’t have much variation… have you ever thought about why? I, personally, am a picky eater and I know that a major determining factor in whether I like a food or not is its smell and appearance. Now, when growing up we are taught that we shouldn’t judge how something tastes based on how it looks, but now, after doing research, I’ve learned that there is scientific reasoning behind why people let sight and smell affect taste.

To begin with, food is identifiable by sight. You can look at an orange and tell that is an orange without eating it. Although, when a particular food is unfamiliar to you, one becomes quite the skeptic. One can also identify food with smell, in most cases. As far as the other senses, neuroscientist Dana Small, explains how other sensory qualities affect taste in her article, “How Does the Way Good Looks or Its Smell Influence Taste?” What Small explains is that to our brains, taste is a combination of the taste of the food, smell, and touch in one single sensation. The cells that we have in our mouth that sense flavors such as bitter and sweet are located next to our sensory cells. These are activated when chewing or sipping and they give us the ability to identify temperature creaminess, etc. There is also a way of perceiving smell through the back of the mouth called, retronasal olfaction. In the article, Small says “Once an odor is experienced along with flavor, the two become associated; thus, smell influences taste and taste influences smell.”

Maggie Koerth-Baker also explains why smell influences taste in her article, “The Surprising Impact of Smell and Taste“. In the article, Baker mentions that while we chew we force air through our nasal passages, carrying the smell of the food along with it. Tom Finger, a professor at the University of Colorado-Denver Medical School, says “Without that interplay of taste and smell, you wouldn’t be able grasp complex flavors.” So now we can see that not only does smell and sight influence taste but smell and taste work together so we experience true sensational flavors. So value your sense of smell ladies and gentlemen, because food won’t be the same without it.

Some of you may be familiar with the colloquial term: “black don’t crack”, and what it means is that basically black people retain their physical youth longer than most. Now, this is just a saying but is there any scientific truth to this statement? I’m sure plenty of us have encountered men and women of color and have been surprised when learning their age; I know I have. After doing some research I’ve come to learn that there is genetic truth as to why some black people appear to be a lot younger than they are.

Kate Pickles article for “Mailonline” focuses on a dermatology study orchestrated by a Harvard professor, Dr.Alexander Kimble, and her findings. After testing about one million people, dermatologists came across what they called a “young gene”. What the gene does is, “fit into seven categories that affect areas such as DNA repair and the performance of the skin’s barrier against damaging environmental factors”.　It makes subjects look about ten years younger than they actually are. The results showed that the “young gene” was possessed by about 10 percent of the white subjects and 20 percent of the black ones.　

There has been other publications on this interesting study; one being a video on thenewaspect.com, titled ” ,Harvard University Says Black People Have Youth Gene” here. The video mentions how the medical school at Harvard and the Dr. Alexander Kimble were looking for a genetic recipe for youthful skin when they made the discovery. This is not to say that all old, black people look young and its impossible for other races to have this gene. This is just to publicize the science behind a commonly used colloquialism. You never know, ten years from now you may realize that you, in fact, have the gene.

(Below is my grandmother Sheilah Wright (age 66), my great aunt Beverley Johnson (age 60), and my great grandmother Gloria Johnson. (age 85)

These pictures were taken at the book release of my aunt Beverley Johnson by my mother

Oct 18, 2008; State College, PA, USA; A general view of Beaver Stadium during the third quarter between the Penn State Nittany Lions and Michigan Wolverines. Penn State won 46-17. Mandatory Credit: James Lang-USA TODAY Sports

“WE ARE ! PENN STATE!”, roars over the crowd and the band blares its musical cheer while we all sit and indulge in the Penn State past time of football. Although, does anyone ever stop and wonder what’s going on through those football player’s heads-literally? I did, and it brought me to the conclusion that football can lead to lethal brain damage.

Football is constant collision. No matter how many pads, helmets, or protectors you wear, you will more than likely have a brain injury over the course of your qtime playing the sport. This could be something as subtle as a concussion; but if you have enough concussions and it could lead to “mild cognitive impairment or even Alzheimer’s”, says doctor’s from the “Neurosurgery”” article, “Association between Recurrent Concussion and Late-Life Cognitive Impairment in Retired Professional Football Players”. A long list of doctors, including Kevin Guskiewicz, Stephen Marshall, Julian Bailes, and more, tested 2,552 retired professional football players with the average age 53.8. The studies shown that “Retired players with 3 or more concussions had a fivefold prevalence of MCI(mild cognitive impairment) diagnosis and a threefold prevalence of reported significant memory problems…”. While there was no specific correlation to Alzheimer’s disease, the data shown that dementia-related syndromes were associated with repetitive concussions in professional football players.

Reading this, one may think that the dementia-related diseases have a lot to do with the age of the subjects, which could be a third factor, but that doesn’t explain why 24-year old Chris Borland chose to retire quite early. In Rachael Rettner’s article, “Chris Borland Leaves the NFL: the Science of Football and Brain Injury”, she writes of Chris Borland’s decision to leave the NFL due to the link between football and degenerative brain disease. Borland was afraid of losing his life to a brain disease caused by playing football. One of the lethal diseases is called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). “This disease has been linked to the deaths of Tom McHale who played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Dave Duerson, who played for the Chicago Bears”, says Rettner. CTE is caused by repeated blows to the head and is common in football players, boxers, and hockey players. This is one of the many brain injuries that Borland is trying to avoid by throwing in the towel at only 24 years old.

With that being said, playing football and receiving constant concussions over time directly link to degenerative brain diseases. When a person dedicates their life to a sport that could potentially kill them we must understand what that person is risking for not only themselves but the entertainment of fans, love for the sport, and lets say the unity of a university ,like Penn State perhaps. So in the future, think twice before you call a football player a “dumb jock”, because you never know what’s actually going on in their head.

As much as I love this class, I found myself struggling to stay awake in it recently I couldn’t understand why; being as though Andrew is so interesting. I told my mother and I thought maybe because it is my last class of the day and it is directly after I eat my lunch so I might have the “itis”(“The general feeling of lethargy and well-being experienced after eating a satisfying meal.”)says the Urban DictionaryMy mother said, “Maybe it’s not that you’re eating but more so WHAT you’re eating” and that made me wonder… Does food have an impact on your feelings? I believe that the answer is yes and more specifically, junk food causes negative behavior.

The common answer to my question is that junk food makes you fat and being fat makes you lazy- which are true. Even UCLA professor, Aaron Blaisdell, did a study using rats which focusing on that aspect, called “Does a Junk Food Diet Make You Lazy? UCLA psychology study offers answer”. Blaisdell used rats in his study to display how those overweight from being fed fattening food are now lethargic, having less energy. This is completely true, but those of you who are in decent shape and still have a problem concentrating after lunch, this may be why:

According to “Fit Day“, junk food does not have the proper nutrients to keep your body healthy and high amounts of sugar causes stress on your metabolism. “Fit Day” also says that because junk food contains bad carbohydrates and lacks enough protein, one’s blood sugar level will drop suddenly after eating, causing the feeling of grumpiness or fatigue. So when asked if junk food makes you lazy, the answer is yes and this explains why. Along with that, food influences the feelings of people-besides junk food and lethargic behavior.

In “Sources of Positive and Negative Emotions in Food Experience“, Pieter M. A. Desmet and Hendrik N. J. Schifferstein studied people and what emotion they associated with what foods. There were twenty-two emotion types, ranging from satisfaction to jealousy. There were more pleasant responses than negative but the negative emotions correlated with none other than JUNK FOOD. The emotions that were associated with junk food were shame and contempt- which makes sense. Mentally, one knows that junk food isn’t healthy therefore, when eating it one has the feeling of shame for doing so and contempt towards the food itself. None the less, food definitely causes different emotions and feelings within us all of the time- and junk food causes those feelings to be negative. And with that, stay healthy!

Picture from “Lose gene and lose the fat”- article from 3news

I was watching the VMA’s rerun while trying to think of a topic for my next SC200 blog when the perfect idea came to me; relation between music and academics. While brainstorming I couldn’t help but associate intelligent people with knowing how to play an instrument. I thought it was stereotypical at first to think that the smartest kids play the piano, but after doing some research I realized that there is some truth to it.

It’s not specifically the piano that makes individuals smarter; it is the exercising of a different side of your brain. Musicians are often forced to do more than one thing at a time-one might say that everybody multi-tasks, but not quite the way that they do. One of Vanderbilt University’s Psychologists say in an article by News Staff that instrumental musicians often have to switch melodic lines with both hands while playing a piece of music. Musicians also have to be able to quickly interpret musical symbols and keep rhythm. This intensive multi-tasking can be described as divergent thinking or thinking “outside the box”. Musicians are constantly using the left side of their brain, so when put in problem solving situations; they tend to find resolutions quicker than most non-musicians. Divergent thinking and intense creativity often times causes musicians to have a higher IQ.

This isn’t the only proven evidence on the matter. Psychology professor, Glenn E. Schellenburg, from University of Toronto, did a study on “Long term positive associations between music lessos and IQ Schellenburg studied children and he compared kids with formal musical lessons to kids simply listening to music. What’s different from the analysis above is that both subjects are exposed to music, and even then there was no positive correlation between simple musical involvement and IQ. The study showed that formal musical lessons have a positive correlation with IQ and academic performance; these qualities are general and long lasting.

In conclusion, yes, musicians are technically more likely to have a higher IQ than non-musicians. That is not to say that non-musicians are dumb and all musicians are brilliant- there is still chance. Although, if you did your own private test with, lets say, your class and you were able to figure out their IQ scores- the results may be similar to the ones I showed you above. The reason for that is simply because musicians have to exercise a part of their brain on the daily basis, that non-musicians do not (unless the non-musician is a part of some other mind stimulating group, or may even just be left-handed). Basically, musicians think differently than non-musicians; causing them to have higher IQ’s. I wonder if my IQ is really high since I played the flute in the middle school…probably not.

Recently a group of friends and me were looking for our first college party downtown and we were taken by surprise and utterly shocked to hear the word “NIGGER” screamed at us from a balcony. This was the first time that this has happened to me in my entire life and it got me thinking… I take pride in Penn State, I love this school dearly and that was not the type of behavior I experienced any other day while on or off campus. Obviously, that act of disrespect was intentional but is there a way to unintentionally be racist or prejudice. I did a lot of research and I came to the conclusion that yes, it is very possible and for most of Penn State’s students, this type of behavior could be lurking unconsciously and ready to raise its ugly head given the right setting and mind altering stimulants.

Throughout orientation you’re forced to do those silly ice breakers and essentially you find out where everybody is from. Our student body has a great deal of students from upstate Pennsylvania, home to very few minorities. MTV did a special called “White People” and statistics that they acquired included the fact that most white Americans live in a sort of “white bubble”. In fact, the average white American lives in a town that is 77% white. Along with that, the average white person’s group of friends is more than 90% white. These traits fit a lot of Penn State’s students and I believe that due to these facts, a lot of the time one may not know any better or truly understand how different minorities are affected by the attitudes and behavior of white individuals.

Now some white readers may be saying “I live in an all white town and I’m not racist”, or “Where I’m from is plenty diverse and I have a black friends” but that’s what they all say…Just kidding! Well, to some extent- see, it could be unintentional or a subconscious slip. The statistics presented in the show “White People” included that almost all of his subjects (white college students) claimed to be color blind. According to the documentary, 3/4 white Americans say society would be better off if we never acknowledge race. Now is this they’re true feelings or is it just trying to fit in and be politically correct? The same studies show that 4/5 white Americans say that they feel uncomfortable discussing racial issues and it wouldn’t surprise me if calling themselves “color blind” is their way of avoiding it. This inconsistency with white people and their feelings toward race brings me to my other source, John B. McConahay from Duke University.

Professor McConahay conducted an experiment to use the concept of racial ambivalence to demonstrate an accurate scale of racial attitudes in what they called the “Modern Racism”. What they did was configure a group of first week college students out of an Intro to Psych class and tested them using the most recent version of the Modern Racsim Scale, embedded with political and racial fillers. After getting their test results, they put the subjects in a small laboratory and gave them a booklet to evaluate resumes. After a few practices on resumes (with no physical picture included) they were given three to evaluate and decide whether or not they would hire the candidate (these resumes had pictures, some of which were black candidates). The catch was that these resumes were identical in credentials, but those who scored high on the Modern Racism Scale expressed less willingness to hire a black candidate. Those who scored lower, in the positive context, expressed a willingness to choose the black candidate over the white one with the same credentials. This may seem like it makes no sense in relation to my argument but what this proves is basically what McConahay says in his article, “White Americans are ambivalent about their attitudes and behavior toward black Americans”(McConahay, Hardee, & Batts, 1981). Whether one knows it or not, a white American typically contradicts themselves when they say “they are not prejudice in any way” or even more simply “that race doesn’t bother them”.

I got my braces removed a week before I came to Penn State, it was an amazing day! Although, the discussion with my nurse about where I was going to school made me less excited when she assumed that I only could get into Penn State- Main Campus by playing a sport- because I am black. After doing this research I do not justify any racist or prejudice behavior at all, but in some way I understand why it may occur. Bigotry, racism, and prejudice are all still happening around us but those who contribute may not even realize what they’re doing and who they’re hurting, simply because they are ignorant to it. My SC200 class may just see this as a class requirement but I am in the process of trying to come to grips with this reality and figure out a way that I can make a difference. We all need to be aware of how we can affect the people around us and we need to be mindful of the things we say and do because a normal saying to you may be something hateful to another.

https://slowrunninghoney.wordpress.com/2012/12/19/racial-slurs-an-explanation/ An article on the explanation of racial slurs.

Hello all, my name is Briana Wright and I am from Norristown, Pennsylvania (small town about 15-20 minutes from Philly). I am currently enrolled in the college of communications with a focus in broadcasting-journalism. As you may be able to tell based off of my major is that it has nothing to do with science and I am very fortunate for that! I have never been a fan of science; the older I got the more I detested it, which is why I took this course. I was told when scheduling classes that this course was for students who weren’t the best at science. Being as though it is a requirement, I have no choice of taking science but I believe that of all the science courses I could have been put in, this one I’ll enjoy the most. One science related subject that I am very interested in is sociology. While that isn’t necessarily science, I plan on using that provoke scientific questions for this blog. The blog of which I will also enjoy, being a comm major I don’t mind writing; I’d rather be on camera but writing is about my third favorite thing to do. Besides that I am looking forward to this class and I can’t wait to begin!

P.S.  The photo below is a picture of my old cheerleading team and I; even back home I always represented BLUE and WHITE!Here’s the website to my old highschool. Home of the EAGLES!

Norristown Cheerleading Team doing our annual parade. (I am the second person from the front in the left line)