What is a Hippocampus? It is Latin for Sea horse – hippo meaning horse and kampos meaning sea monster. Not a creature people talk about too often. Why don’t we discuss this sea creature a little!

Collectively, in the world, there are almost fifty different types of this species and plenty of “sub-species”. Scientists find difficulty in distinguishing all the sea horse species because “individuals of the same species can vary greatly in appearance and new species continue to be found.” The sea horses tend to live in the weed-like components of the sea. These creatures are known to “eat small crustacea such as Mysis Shrimp. An adult eats 30-50 times a day. Sea horse fry (baby sea horses) eat a staggering 3000 pieces of food per day.” Although, these fish lack teeth and a stomach therefore, “food passes through their digestive systems so quickly, they must eat almost constantly to stay alive.” The snouts are able to stretch and expand. When the seahorse needs to reach into a tight area is when it will stretch its snout. Expansion is done if the “prey is larger than the snout.”

So we talked about a couple aspects of their bodies, let’s continue. Like most sea creatures, sea horse’s eyes are independent from each other. This is very useful with predators and prey. “Unlike most other fish, sea horses have an exo-skeleton. Their bodies are made up of hard, external, bony plates that are fused together with a fleshy covering. They do not have scales.” They all have prehensile tails ,which help in “strong currents and waves.” Sea horses cannot swim well, so “they rely on their dorsal fin.” This fin will beat between “30-70 times per second.” Pectoral fins either side of the head help with stability and steering.

Speaking of ‘swimming away’… how do these fish avoid predators? Well, it is not easy due to their size and swimming abilities. Although sea horses do have some tricks! Like chameleons, these creatures are able to use surrounding colors to camouflage themselves. “They have even been known to turn bright red to match floating debris.” Aside from threats in the water – there are also forms of threat from humans. There are three main actions humans will perform that hard the sea horses. These being:

1. “The Traditional Chinese Medicine Trade takes in excess of up to 150 million seahorses a year from the wild and these are used for all types of medicine.
2. The Curio Trade takes approximately one million seahorses from the wild. Along with shells and starfish; they are deliberately taken from the sea and left to die in the boiling sun. They are then sold as souvenirs, sad and sorrowful reminder of once beautiful creatures.
3. The pet trade takes an estimated one million seahorses from the wild and It is thought that less than 1,000 survive more than six weeks, very often suffering a slow and possibly painful death.”

When one sea horse dies, I wonder if their partner will know? Most likely. This is due to the fact that “sea horses pair for life.” Each morning the pair will “reinforce their pair bonding with an elaborate courtship display.” How does this work? “The female meets the male in his territory and as they approach each other, they change colour. The male circles around the female and the pair often spiral around an object.” The courtship display may last “unto an hour.”

Now what usually comes after a marriage? Babies! Except it is a little different of a process with sea horses. The female sea horse’s eggs transfer to the male where he fertilizes each in his pouch. Small species can have between 50-150 eggs and larger species, up to 1,500. Their gestation period can be from “fourteen to four weeks” long. The actual birthing can take a while with “contractions lasting unto 12 hours.”

A sea horse’s birthing process – video

Those babies are completely on their own once born. “The first two to three weeks of their lives” are spent “drifting along in the plankton layer of the ocean.” Unfortunately, “less than one in a thousand will survive long enough to become an adult due to predators.” If not predators, I am sure the size of sea horses does not help in survival because the currents can become unbearable.

Sea horses are just little creatures that people sometimes forget about them I always found their way of life to be quite interesting. I hope you gained some new information and fun facts on our horse-like sea monsters!

Image Citation

Resource for most information in the blog.

Gained video from this site.

Ever heard the term Synsepalum dulcificum? I am going to venture a guess that most of you have not.In simpler terms this is a “plant known for its berry.” Others may refer to it as a miracle berry.

How far back can we track this term? The plant was first discovered in the early 1970’s and “native to West Africa.” Tribes in West Africa picked the berries then ate them before meals. During that time period, a company by the name of Miralin wanted to “develop miraculin as a simple way of getting a sugar rush”, minus the intake of unhealthy foods. The US Food and Drug Administration did not accept their attempt due to the concept of additives. Here is a quick description of additives.

Today the berry is present in a few restaurants but known mainly for its use by Chef Homara Cantu, who recently passed away. When given to customers, the berry is presented as a tablet. His restaurant, Moto, is located in Chicago, Illinois. Amber Gibson of NewCity Resto concluded that Chef Cantu was able to “make cheesecake without sugar, fat or cheese. Instead, all he needs is a spoonful of non-fat sour cream, a lemon wedge and a miracle berry tablet.” Basically he presented a platter with ingredients that imitated the dessert. Customers were also able to use the tablet with their wine as well. This caused the wine into a dessert wine half way through their meals. 

Writer for the New York Times Carries Dashow, “dropped a large dollop of lemon sorbet into a glass of Guinness, stirred, drank and proclaimed that it tasted like a chocolate shake.” Since the New York Times published multiple stories on this berry, flavor tripping has become quite the trend. Partygoers are each given a tablet upon entrance. They are then instructed to let the berry tablet dissolve on their tongues. Afterward these individuals do exactly the same as customers of Chef Cantu’s restaurant.

From further research I discovered something interesting. In 2005 a women called the Chef in hopes he could help her friend. Paulas friend had been “undergoing chemo and radiation therapy.” A metallic taste is produced on the taste buds, of patients, from these types of therapy treatments. Chet Cantu did multiple trials an errors. “We chewed on car tire rubber and foil for months trying to mimic the flavor you get from radiation and chemotherapy.” says Cantu. Him and his crew were able to create “a cocktail that counteracted the metallic taste. “The patient simply did not chew the tablet prior to every treatment, but dissolved the powder in their drink. The idea to use the berry table in medical facilities has caught on.

Exactly how does this tablet work? The miracle berry is close to a magic trick. As we now know, its duty is to make our sour foods sweet to the taste buds. Each berry contains a “glycoprotein called miraculin.” This protein will cling to the taste buds once the fruit is consumed. “Miraculin acts as a sweetness inducer when it comes in contact with acids.” This will cause the bitter and sour foods to become sweet. The new taste will can between 30 minutes and two hours. 

What are the benefits? From the Chef Cantu’s use, people are able to majorly reduce their intake of fats and sugars by using these tablets. He even wrote The Miracle Berry Diet Cookbook. A smaller benefit is initially to experience such an item. The tablets can cost about $15 and up to $90 for your own plant. So the experience is not cheap!

What are the side effects? There is currently not enough studies done with these tablets to conclude potential side effects. If you are pregnant or breast-feeding, it would be a smart idea to avoid the tablet. That is mainly due to the fact that women, in these stages, are more susceptible to any bad effects of items uncommon to their digestive track. One aspect that may cause a side effect is the amount and items of food a person intakes. Although the goal is to make this a healthier way to eat, some individuals may use too many acids like items and cause themselves to be very sick later. One of my professors tried this at home and was eating items such as mustard and fish oil. So even though these are not statistically proven side effects, they can happen.

How could we conduct a study? It is hard to say. The tablet is very distinctive, so to make one group use it and another use a different supplement might be too tricky. Studies we went over in class mostly dealt with health concerns. Since the controlled groups systems would not be effected by absence of the tablet, we could only do a study based on one group. This group has to be of an age where their taste buds are still active and they need to have been testing the tablet our in a period of different test runs. In connection to the side effects – if a single person overuses the tablets, then there may be a fluke result.

Overall, I suggest people try this at least once in their life. I have heard many great stories!

Image Citation

More Citations.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/11/us/11cncberry.html?_r=0

http://www.miraclefruitusa.com

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/09/26/how-the-miracle-fruit-changes-sour-into-sweet/#.VhxJ37S4n-Y

Ever think about ticks, cockroaches and/or worms? You most likely do not – unless they’re on your pets, you have an infestation, or you’re fishing. Although what do all of these little specimens have in common? These crawlers are the David Blaine of creepy crawlers. How? I’ll explain.

We can begin with ticks. These types of arachnids are sneaky little ones! On those beautiful summer days, when we are outside, ticks will hunt. They leach onto us like some sort of magnetic force. “There are two groups of ticks, sometimes called the hard ticks and so
ft ticks.” Soft ticks are attracted to “birds and bats” more. The majority of us are familiar with the idea that ticks do not die easily. This is true… to a degree. “Hard ticks have a hard shield just behind the mouthparts.” This makes it hard to crush them. People tend to try and crush the head section of the tick. DO NOT DO THIS. It may cause the tick to release any form a disease into your system. In addition, crushing an engorged tick may cause infected blood to be released back into you. Ticks do not swim, but have the ability to be “submerged in water for 2-3 days and seem to survive just fine.” So if you think they come off when you’re in the pool or shower… think again! To remove a tick, locate fine pointed tweezers and pull it straight upward holding onto its head. Never twist the tick because parts of its mouth may stay in your skin. If tweezers are unavailable, “grasp the tick with a piece of tissue or cloth or whatever can be used as a barrier between your fingers and the tick.” Always double check EVERYWHERE when you have been outside all day!

If ticks do not already freak you out… let us move onto cockroaches. This is another crawler that is able to survive some interesting conditions. Roaches have tiny holes in which they are able to breathe through that are located on the sides. In addition, a cockroach “can hold its breath or 40 minutes and can even survive being submerged under water for half an hour.” Are you creeped out yet? No? Well, a roach is able to live over a week without its head! Their “nervous system activity takes place in nerve ganglia located throughout their bodies.”

Remember that rumor you always heard as a kid? Cockroaches are able to survive a nuclear explosion. The MythBusters cast decided to take the challenge! They used “three levels of radioactive metal cobalt 60.” The guys first used “1,000 radon units of cobalt 60 and then followed it up with 10,000 and 100,000 rad exposures of separate roach groups.” Radiation will destroy organisms “on a cellular level. Cells are said to be most sensitive to radiation when they’re dividing. Roaches, on the other hand, only molt about once a week at most, which makes radiation’s window of opportunity to attack cells much narrower.” In other words, cockroaches have a slow cell cycle. Therefore, they can handle “extreme radiation exposure.” The MythBusters observed the roaches for 30 days. Results showed the exposure of 1,000 rads did not affect the roaches and about 10% of the 10,000 rad roaches did not die.

Our final crawler, or should we say glider, is the worm. Are worms able to live if cut in half? If severely slaughtered by a gardening tool, then the answer is no. When a worm is cute behind the clitellum, it has the ability to re-grow the other half of itself (tail). A worm’s tail-end would not be able to grow a new head because there are no vital organs associated with this section. Sometimes a tail will grow a tail and since worms “absorb oxygen from the soil” but will perish eventually due to lack of food. The Washington Post states that worm’s tails are able to regrow regenerate a head. This may or may not be possible depending on the form and type of worm. For example, the planarian flatworm “is able to reform its entire body from slivers just 1/300th of the animal’s original body size.”

I strongly dislike any form of bugs or insects. So if this blog did not creep you out, then you’re very lucky! Contrary to not liking them, I have always been curious about each one of these phenomenons. I hope you all learned just as much as I did, if not more!

Other Sites Used

http://www.rd.com/health/conditions/13-things-ticks-wont-tell-you/

worm image citation

tick image citation

**The cockroach image directed me to a video when I went to the website for the image.**

These two topics are polar opposites. We usually do no associate concepts, related to God and Science, together. The beliefs behind both are extremely different. There are many disputes regarding the topics.

“Does prayer heal?” Andrew presented two lectures in class that helped to understand the collision of these completely different topics. Prayer is defined as “a solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God or an object of worship.”

“More than half (55%) of Americans said they pray every day, according to a 2013 Pew Research Center survey, while 23% said they pray weekly or monthly and 21% said they seldom or never pray. Even among those who are religiously unaffiliated, 21% said they pray daily. Women (65%) are more likely than men (46%) to pray every day. Older people (60%) are more likely than younger adults (45%) to say they pray daily.”

– The Pew Research Center

Science can be defined in a few ways. Below are three from our August 27th slides:

1. “systematic collection of data through observation and experiments”
2. “development of theories to organize and explain all this”
3. “use of professional institutions and norms such as peer review to subject claims to scrutiny thus develop reliable knowledge”

Hypothesis will be conducted before observations and experiments take place. These would be the null and alternative hypotheses. For this topic on prayer with science, our null hypothesis states that prayer does not heal. The alternative is that prayer does make a difference. The x-variable [independent] is being used to measure prayer and the y-variable [dependent] is being used to measure how many patients stay in the hospital, die, heal or how quickly each heals.

Let us put these concepts into action. A study revolving around prayer was conducted by the Rabin Medical Center in Israel, from 1990-1996. The patients with bloodstream bacterial infections, about 3393, were part of a random double blind placebo trial. Individuals were placed into two separate groups. The one group was prayed for daily, while the other group was not, or controlled. The idea behind this study was to determine if prayer healed. After the trial was completed, the results concluded that “28.1% of the prayed-for people died, while 30.2% of the controlled people died” as well. The alternative hypothesis would then be rejected because the action of praying for the one group of individuals did not make a difference. In other words, both groups had a specific percentage of deaths.

Results can be placed into three different categories. These are correct decision, false positive and false negative. The sectors are formed from two sources; state of the world and scientist’s decisions. The negative and positives do not initially mean the test was wrong or correct. It means that something may or may not be occurring with the observation or experiment. For example, false positive is when it is stated that prayer helps people heal when in-fact it does not. False negative is when it is stated that prayer does not help people heal but actually it does.

The study resulted in a false positive because prayer did not heal the individuals with bloodstream infections. If we think back to our resulted percentages, not everyone that was prayed for ended up dying. This makes it possible for the study to also have a false negative. Those percentages show that “prayer reduced morality by 2.1%.”

“Could this difference be due to chance alone?” Since the study initially ended with both a false positive and negative, the overall “conclusion may not be right or wrong.” Chance definitely plays a huge role in science. There can be several underlying factors that cause the results obtained from a study.

Chance can also be apart of prayer. I had arthritis since I was three years old. Everyone prayed for me and now it is in remission. This being said, I always took medicine and used therapy exercises. Would I still have this if there was no medicine involved? Would the prayers be enough? Chance with prayer also relates back to your own religious beliefs.

It would be incredible if we could predict the outcomes of studies. Since we can’t predict, we must work with all possible data to create a hypothesis, conduct an observational or experimental study, evaluate all theories and use peer review to help conclude your results. Each one of these steps was portrayed with this study. Therefore, we are able to put prayer and science together. This was done in a more low-key way. There is science in everything, even if you choose not to believe it.

Photo Citation

While we sleep, millions of dreams are produced. Only a select few are remembered. Some dreams are emotional, reoccurring or paralysis. This all depends on one’s mindset prior to sleeping. Dreams are usually a collaboration of different things you saw, did or heard throughout the week. There are a lot of different dreams!

Emotional dreams are our most common ones. These vary between exciting, upsetting, scary, or stressful dreams. When someone dreams of happiness, that initially indicates this person is currently satisfied with all that is happening in their life. Experiencing a sad dream is the result of: loneliness reminiscing on past memories or the feeling of failure. If you were to have a storm occurring, this is due to chaos in your life. Chaos can include relationships, schoolwork, jobs, or money. I will dream about tornadoes ripping through the city and not being able to take shelter. Then we have nightmares. These are the scary side of dreams. We all had a few of these in our lives. Some are extremely terrifying and others just make no sense! These can also relate back to stress in your life. There are a few other symptoms of nightmares as well.

Can dreams predict the future? I would say no. Dreams most defiantly will drop hints. Short story: my mother had a dream she was going to meet someone named Marc. One night she went out with her friends, mainly because of the dream. Turned out she did meet this Marc guy and the rest is history! So if you ever get those hints – do not take them for granted! 

Reoccurring dreams relate back to our emotions. Some of my dreams occurred over, and over again. These are either the exact same dream or a dream that needs to be finished. Dreams like these will occur when we have tasks that need to be done, we are scared/nervous of something or even “your inability to cope with something in your life.’

Lucid dreams are ones we have full control over. During the creation of the dream, certain individuals are capable of two specific actions. This person can either wake him or herself or “become an active participant in their own dreams, making decisions in their dreams and influencing the dream’s outcome without awakening.”

Ever feel like you’re falling when you first go to sleep? This is actually your mind and body transitioning into sleep mode from being awake. In contrast to the “overlap state.” Between the “REM stage and waking stage of sleep” is when a paralysis dreams occurs. I certainly do not like these dreams at all. It will diminish your control i.e. no sight, speaking or hearing can be done within the dream. According to the Huffington Post, this type of dream could also mean the person lacks control in his or her “awake life.” Paralysis dreams are rare and in that sense does not happen to everyone. There is no need to be concerned if you have this sort of dream. It is usually just our body not progressing through the sleep process smoothly.

Interesting Fact: If you do not remember you dreams, then this is a sign of a good nights rest.

Being that we are all here in college, rest is not a bad idea! Appreciate it when you can!

More types of dreams listed here.

Image Citation

Do you ever have swollen joints or sore muscles? You may be an athlete, exercise religiously, or have an autoimmune disease. There are two different temperature renowned ways to help with the healing process. Individuals are able to “use cold for acute pain [new swollen or inflamed injury] or use hot for chronic pain [injury that is a day or more old]”.

Let us start with the heat therapy, or more commonly known as Thermotherapy. This therapy treatment is common for “stiff joints or chronic muscle and joint pain.” A chemical by the name Lactic acid is compiled when the muscles are “put under stress and deprived of oxygen.” This type of acid will cause your muscles to become sore because of decreased blood flow within the injured area. The decrease in blood flow causes lactic acid to become stuck. Applying heat will heighten the blood supply i.e. produced a solid flow of blood. Heat will also reduce the make of any toxins. It will relax the injured area for a minimum length of time. We can work with two forms of heat therapy. There is local and systemic heat. Local heat comes from tools that are more common and convenient. These consist of heating pads, damp towels and heating wraps. On the other hand, systemic heat is conducted through larger items. These would be anything relating to a hot bath, shower or sauna.

Now let’s drop the temperature. Using cold temperature therapy is distinguished as Cryotherapy. Once an injury occurs “the damaged tissue becomes inflamed.” This form of therapy is used “24 to 48 hours after an injury.” Unlike thermotherapy, this source of temperature therapy will narrow the blood vessels which intern slows blood flow. If the blood continues to flow naturally it could cause “fluid buildup in the affected area.” Ways to apply cold to the swollen or sore area is through ice packs, an ice towel, cool gel packs or even a frozen bag of vegetables — I’ve used that a lot. It is important that you do not keep a cold item on the spot for longer than 20 minutes.

Aside from homemade therapy, there is also items people buy that help relieve their sore muscles. “Icy to dull the pain. Hot to relax it.” Who uses this slogan? The answer.. IcyHot! Many people have either used or heard of this company. IcyHot produces about 17 products from creams to patches to sleeves. Each product has specific directions for use and should not be over used or applied. WebMD lists some side effects of IcyHot when used incorrectly or if the user is allergic.

Andrew stated in multiple classes that our intuition is lousy. People believe that if we simply apply cold or heat application to injured areas, that it will heal. This is an incorrect statement. Do not rely on either method of therapy to fully cure the injured or irritated area. Both will only provide temporary relief.

Note: both treatments should not be applied directly on the skin due to obvious reasons. 

Image Citation

Do you like honey? Do you know where it comes from… how it’s made? Of course you do! Although it is possible we could lose this sweetness entirely.. and more.

For a long while i honestly thought it was due to cell phone waves. There was an experiment done by the University of Chandigarh in North India. For about three months they “fitted cell phones to a hive and powered them up for two fifteen-minute periods each day.” The result of this action was that “bees stopped producing honey, egg production by the queen bee halved, and the size of the hive dramatically reduced.” I do not agree with this experiment. You cannot just hoot the phones up to a bee hive and expect them to live. These waves are present around the air, not right up and close in the hive. The Huffington Post explains their views on bees and cell phones.

For quite some time our bee species has been dying off. It was recorded that “up 30 percent per year, with a total loss of domesticated honeybee hives in the United States worth an estimated $2 billion.” Mother Jones food and agriculture correspondent Tom Philpott reported the findings of many scientists. These findings are a “compelling pile of evidence”. The evidence suggests that there is “relatively new class” of insecticides called neonicotinoids. It will affect the nervous system of the insects. Unfortunately, the residue of this insecticide will collect in the pollen and nectar of certain “treated plants”. This causes a central problem for the bees. Basically the neonicotinoids will paralyze and kill the insect.

Another effect on the pollinators are the climate changes. The temperatures have been increasing by at least 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit. This causes most species to head north. Although, the bees tend to stay in their habitats. That being said, the “bees’ range is only compressing in from the south.”

Last year there was an article published on the BBC website. In summary it states that bees are very important to our lives. Bees are towards the top of the species list. These little guys “pollinate 70 of the around 100 crop species that feed 90% of the world and are responsible for $30 billion a year crops.” So this type of insecticides does not only effect the bee population, but a lot of other animals in the food chain. Birds are a clear example of this. The Washington Post found that there haas been a drastic decrease in the Netherland’s bird population. This is specifically in areas where the neonicotinoids is used.

We may lose all the plants that bees pollinate, all of the animals that eat those plants and so on up the food chain. Which means a world without bees could struggle to sustain the global human population of 7 billion.”

 BBC Article – Author Unknown

So what can we do to help? 

Have you? I have. Why do we feel the need to always check social media? It is a constant action.   We check our accounts even after we just looked. Most people will go on Facebook and five minutest late, decide they need to look at it again. Facebook has become an outright way of life. Many students can not get through one class without checking their Facebook account; amongst other SM accounts.  I will usually have Facebook open when I’m doing work on my laptop and keep checking it. Honestly, how many changes occur every 10 minutes, or so, this it is necessary to go back on?

According to The Social Habit “48% of Facebook users check their account more than once per day, 23% of Facebook users check their account more than five times per day and 8% of Facebook users check their account more than eleven timer per day! That being said “the mean number of daily Facebook checks is 4.” Checking our Facebook account has turned into a part of our daily schedules. Some people check it right as they are waking up. Others may check is between classes or on a lunch break at work. Why? Why don’t we just enjoy the scenery around us while we walk to class. Instead everyone is mindlessly staring at his or her phones seeing what is “new”.

Statistics taken from Pew Research Center show the percentage range of users who are frequently on certain sites versus other sites. Those sites consisted of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn. The percentages rank from “70% say they use Facebook daily, 49% with Instagram, Twitter has gone down to 36%, Pinterest [not as social] with 17% and LinkedIn which people are rarely on with 13%”. From those percentages we can see that most social media users are constantly on Facebook.

I literally just checked Instagram and Snapchat while writing this post. There was no need to though. You see how addicted we are to these sites [apps]. This has to do with our psychological acceptance of society. Part our brain, the Nucleus Accumbens, works as a Reward System. This is “responsible for rewarding feelings about food, sex, money and social acceptance.” When we receive “positive feedback…it lights up this part of our brain like fireworks.” Moria Burke, computer scientist, has done a study to show that “personal comments satisfy receivers more than the one-click like”.

So there are a couple ways about it. People are addicted to social media to gain that brain stimulation of people liking/commenting on their posts. This meaning they post -everything they do- all day long, in hopes someone comments on your post. Or on the other side, people constantly check social media to silently engage with others by commenting on their “friends” posts. In addition, Inking Media proposed eleven different reasons why people feel the need to even have accounts! I have to say this list may be very accurate for a handful of the population.

^^^^^Our lives today. Seriously Facebook, leave us alone!

P.S – Penn State is gorgeous in the Fall… let’s all put our phones away and enjoy it. 🙂

Do you drink beer? Ever wonder where your favorite brews come from? They aren’t just harvested from the mountains like those commercials; obviously. There is a specific detailed process to brewing beer!

Millions of different beers are brewed each day. The Beer Drifter states that there are over 56,000 beers in the world. That being said, I highly doubt the majority of us have tried every single beer that is out there.

Most of them are brewed with the German Purity Law [or Rheinheitsgebot] in mind. This law is the “collective name for a series of regulations limiting the ingredients in beer in Germany and its predecessor states.” The four ingredients consist of barely, yeast, hops and water. The most common beer would be a Sam Adams. Some brewing companies will use adjuncts. This interferes with the purity law. Three would be corn, rice and an assortment of fruits.

Before we start learning about the brewing process, it is important to know the fermentation equation. This equation is sugar + yeast = ethyl alcohol + carbon dioxide. In simpler terms, it is the idea by which sugar is converted into alcohol and carbon dioxide, in the presence of yeast.

The brewing process contains four phases. I will not go into extreme detail on each, but here is summary. The first phase is named the Malting Process. During phase one the grain is soaked into water, which causes the plant to grow. This growth will initially create amylase, an enzyme that converts starch to sugar or converts a complex carbohydrate into a simple carbohydrate. Heat from kilning will roast the grain and therefore stop the growth of a plant. This helps to preserve the amylase; which gives the beer color and flavor. Our final product will be Barley Malt.

Phase two starts off with milling. This is simply crushing the malt. This step is when we would use those adjuncts. Then we move onto mashing [cooking the grain] and lautering [rinsing and removing the husk] of the grain. Finally we add those hops! These are the strobiles of a plant called Humulus Iupulus. Hops are very oily and floury. The oils have a bitter taste to them that will offset the sugary taste of the malt. Along with the bitterness, these hops provide aroma and helps to stabilize any bubbles. We then move onto trub separation, which will remove the proteins. Wort will be the final product. The wort will ferment into beer.

Fermentation will be the next phase. There are two different fermentations. We have primary and secondary. Primary is the yeast conversion into alcohol, while secondary is when the beer rests [lagering]. Over time the beer will mature. Finally we are set for the fourth phase that is finishing. The chillproofing step will eliminate any protein haze. Here is a list of the different agents used to chillproof beers. Then there is blending and filtering to remove any access particles. So in the end we have our beer that is then pasteurized to protect the beverage from spoilage on the shelf. Note: this is not done for kegs.

Our two main beer types are Ales and Lagers. These are complete opposites of each other. Ales are top fermented with saccharomyces cerevisae at a temperature between 53-77. Their primary fermentation is about 3 days and secondary could be from 7-14 days. As for Lagers, these are bottom fermented with saccharomyces carlsbergensis the 42-52 degree area. There is a longer fermentation period with primary being 7-14 days and secondary as long as 90 days. Both of these beers have a concentration of esters. Esters are natural chemicals that are created or released during the fermentation and aging. There are a few factors that will effect the fermentation.

So when you’re out drinking… you’re drinking science! Weird huh? Yes, but that is because science is everywhere! Now go have a beer!

Human beings are a complex species. When we are born, we have no knowledge or motor skills. There are many steps that we learn along the way. For example, we learn to crawl, walk, talk and pick up objects. This is initially done on our own [with some parental guidance]. What I mean by ‘on our own’ is that these are actions the body does not do for us. One action our bodies are wired to do is blink. We do not need to learn how to blink; it comes naturally. Let us go back to the handling of objects.

Are you a lefty? According to a Huffington Post article by Katie Kens, only about 10% of the worlds population is left-handed. That is a great deal of right-handed individuals out there! Some think all your genes come from your parents. Well I am not too sure about that on this topic. Both my parents are left-handed but all three of their children turned out to have a right-hand dominance. So where does the trait of being left-handed come from? Our right side of the brain dominates the mathematical logistics and the left works with “spatial abilities”.

“The right side of the brain controls muscles on the left side of the body and the left side of the brain controls muscles on the right side of the body. Also, in general, sensory information from the left side of the body crosses over to the right side of the brain and information from the right side of the body crosses over to the left side of the brain. Therefore, damage to one side of the brain will affect the opposite side of the body.”

-Eric H. Chudler. All Rights Reserved.

The concept of “cross over” could state that those who are more skilled in mathematics are our left-handed people and more creative people are right-handers. In other words, depending on which hemisphere of your brain is stronger determines your dominant hand. The majority of the population be right-handed due to language. Humans have always spoken a certain language since time began. This may indicate that people started to use their right-hand because it was natural for them to use that hand if the left side, of their brain, was stronger.

According to Jason Goldman of BBC, “there has never been any report of human population in which left-handed individuals predominate”. This does not mean right-handers will rule the world, but it does entail that the lefties may stay the minority for a while. All in all, there is not specific research geared towards the neuroscience on which hand we are more comfortable with. In addition, we may never understand why such a small percentage of the population has a left-hand dominance. What do you guys think?

Left-Handed Celebs…

Henry Ford / David Rockefeller / Phil Collins / Jimi Hendrix / Michelangelo / Tim Allen / Robert DeNiro / Whoopie Goldberg / Lisa Kudrow / Nicole Kidman / Keanu Reeves / Mickey Rourke / Bruce Willis / Phil Esposito / Oscar de la Hoya /  Steve Carlton / Barry Bonds / Reggie Jackson

Hey left-handers… you’re amongst some great people! Check out the whole list for yourself.

P.S. – August 13th is International Left Handers Day 🙂

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/29/left-handed-facts-lefties_n_2005864.html

https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/split.html

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20141215-why-are-most-of-us-right-handed

http://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/smart-living/fun-facts-about-left-handers/ss-BBlmaFR#image=4

http://www.indiana.edu/~primate/left.html

We can relate almost any topic back to science. This being that there are numerous forms of science. Let’s talk about something that is barely discussed. Fall is approaching, which gets people excited for autumn activities. This is the perfect season in my opinion. Football is one of the biggest excitements that tend to start off the season. The majority of us follow a specific professional or collegiate team. Me? My heart is set on hockey.

Not many people enjoy watching hockey. Maybe it is too fast paced or maybe because people just do not understand it. Could even be due to the fact that this sport does not have a game for the games. What I mean by this is most people don’t play fantasy hockey or form a bracket for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. But let’s get back to the main point. Most of us do not relate sports to science. That’s where we are wrong my friends. How? Well you could say the injuries are connected to Neuroscience or getting into other players heads is a form of psychological thinking. Although we need to talk about what is below the brain… the ice!

I think we all have the basic idea of ice… just frozen water. But is it that easy? Preparing a rink is more than just pouring gallons of water into a floor and cranking the air conditioning. There is a proper method of layering. Each layer contains a specific amount of water. Too little of an amount of water placed on the area will cause a thin layer of ice. This would make it easier for players to slice the ice open. Not good. In hockey, there are two ways to talk about ice. These terms are fast ice and slow ice. Fast ice is what players love to skate on. There is a significant less amount of ‘slush’ on the surface; i.e. it is more slippery. One would assume that the terms ‘slush’ and ‘slippery’ are the same concepts because we slip on sloshy snow

Slippery ice makes it ten times easier for skates, sticks and pucks to freely slide. It’s a logical thought to think the water on top of ice is formed by any type of friction or pressure from the weight of each player. It has been determined that this water substance accumulates from a layer of ice. A more water-like layer is put into effect during the ice process. This layer is said to be about “one molecule thick”. Technically the ability to skate is done by vibrating molecules.The water molecules needed on the ice vibrate so rapidly that it is unseen by the naked eye. These molecules are only able to move up and down. Too much liquid would form if the molecules were moving from side to side.

So now we know that vibrating molecules help the players to skate, but how does one truly skate? Sure, there are your basic skills of skating. How does this action occur? They work with gravity of course! The gravity will pull on a players center mass which causes them to lean. The gravity puts more force on the bottom half of their body. Note that if the players use this technique while they are not accelerating it will result in falling over. As for the the ability to move, that is represented by initial momentum. That would lead us into an entirely different type of science.

Just like hockey players we all have very fast past lives. On most given days the majority of us do not stop to smell the roses. Before taking this class I sometimes thought in depth on certain topics but not to this extent. To think there is science behind almost everything is quite intriguing. Let us see what else we can discover!

http://www.exploratorium.edu/hockey/skating1.html

http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/ice-rink4.htm