The origin of what is called flatulence or farts, (which, being less fine, are some of the names that people have given to them) is, in part, in the air we eat swallowing saliva, food or drink, in gases that are generated when food react with acids of the stomach or intestine fluids, mainly because, feed the bacteria that abound inside our intestines. They pay us with abundant gases and sometimes not recommended for sensitive noses.

Bacteria are to blame

These bacteria are a true gas factory, especially if you give them certain substances delivered if fully digest to the large intestine and are used by them. We speak of foods rich in sugars. It has a well-deserved family of beans, rich in fame and difficult to digest certain sugars called oligosaccharides. No less important they are: milk, which contains lactose, a sugar difficult to digest for some people; sorbitol, widely used to sweeten low-calorie foods and gum, and fructose, a natural sugar abundant in fruits and widely used in candy and treats. Another particularly active substance as the source of the gas produced by the bacteria is starch, which consists of long chains of sugars and rich in potatoes, cabbage, wheat or corn.

Not all bacteria are guilty, not generalize, some do the opposite, gases absorb and digest. Luckily, otherwise, human conversations would continually enlighten with a symphony of sounds.

When the content of a fart is chemically analyzed (among scientists there are people for everything) was found to contain a large proportion, nitrogen, the end of the day is the most abundant gas in the atmosphere; carbon dioxide, hydrogen and methane. None of these gases smell so much that architects are not few serenades, nobody can accuse the foul odor that sometimes give us farts. To that exhaust fumes smell takes a fundamental ingredient: sulfur, especially in the form of hydrogen sulfide. Obviously what we eat by mouth must go somewhere and if we eat foods high in sulfur such as onions, cauliflower or eggs, it is likely that we may be able to hide the sound, but we cannot be overlooked at all. If you have had the misfortune of a rotten egg smell they have felt the power of hydrogen sulfide in their noses. These are typical gases in the “silent but deadly” called

We’ve all done raspberries at some point. They are easy to make, together we lips and pushing the air vibrate. If much grit our lips and blew hard, the sound is more acute, if relaxed, it is more serious. Well, the procedure is the same but fart sounds, are caused by the vibrations in the anal sphincter. And depending on what you are flaccid and oppose resistance to the gas outlet, the sound is more serious or more acute and, depending on the speed when leaving will sound higher or lower.

No sex differences

Although men are reputed to be more “farts” (and sorry for the little word) women, it seems, the difference is not in the quantity but in sound quality. Social rules are those that require women to be more careful when it comes to attention and do their best to silence these, uncomfortable but natural manifestations of biology.

Here are some of the chemical fun facts about farts provided by http://www.muscleandfitness.com/features/edge/anatomy-fart:

CHEMICAL MAKEUP OF THE AVERAGE FART

● 59% nitrogen, 21% hydrogen, 9% carbon dioxide, 7% methane and 4% oxygen—all essentially odorless. (Less than 1% is what makes farts stink.)

THE STENCH COMES…

● …from minuscule amounts of ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and excrement, which can be smelled at 1 part per 100 million parts air.

THE GAS…

● …that gives farts that special stench is hydrogen sulfide.

THE MORE SULFUR-RICH…

● …your diet, the more your farts will stink.

FOODS THAT…

● …cause your flatulence to reek include beans, cabbage, cheese, eggs and soda.

BEANS, CABBAGE…

● …mushrooms and onions cause a lot of gas because they contain complex sugars that your body can’t digest.

THROWIN’ HEAT

● Farts have been clocked at a speed of 10 feet per second.

FILL ’ER UP

● 1 quart (or 600 ml) – the average amount of gas a guy with a relatively healthy diet lets out every day

http://www.muscleandfitness.com/features/edge/anatomy-fart

http://www.sciencedump.com/content/science-behind-something-you-might-not-be-so-happy-know-farts

http://www.livescience.com/32405-what-makes-us-fart.html

http://gizmodo.com/5497733/the-science-of-flatulence-farts-oops-poops-and-toots

Why do we get hiccups?

You’ve just hiccupped for what seems like the tenth time since you finished your big dinner, and you start wondering… where do these funny noises are coming from? The part to blame is your diaphragm.

The diaphragm almost always works perfectly. When you inhale, it pulls down to help pull air into the lungs. When you exhale, it pushes up to help push air out of the lungs. But sometimes the diaphragm becomes irritated. When this happens, it might make you suck air into your throat suddenly. When the air rushing in hits your voice box, you’re left with a big hiccup. This happens when you eat too much, drink bubbly drinks like soda or swallow too much air. Some people get the hiccups for no reason at all. Other things that cause hiccups include skull fracture, epilepsy, tuberculosis and believe it or not, constipation.

Some things that irritate the diaphragm are eating too quickly or too much, an irritation in the stomach or the throat, or feeling nervous or excited. Hiccups are sudden and involuntary. As the diaphragm muscle contracts repeatedly, the opening between your vocal cords snaps shut to check the inflow of air and makes the hiccup sound. Irritation of the nerves that extend from the neck to the chest could also cause hiccups . Although associated with a variety of ailments (some can be serious such as pneumonia or when harmful substances build up in the blood for example from kidney failure), hiccups are not serious and have no clear reason for occurring. Almost all cases of the hiccups last only a few minutes. Some cases of the hiccups can last for days or weeks, but this is very unusual, and it’s usually a sign of another medical problem.

There is no way to anticipate hiccups. With each spasm, there usually is a slight tightening of the chest or throat prior to your making the distinctive hiccup sound. Most cases of hiccups start and end abruptly, for no discernable reason. Episodes generally last only a few minutes. Hiccups that last longer than 48 hours are considered persistent. Hiccups that last longer than two months are considered intractable, or difficult to manage. The majority of persistent hiccups are caused by injury or irritation to either the vagus or phrenic nerve. The vagus and phrenic nerves control the movement of your diaphragm. Other causes of hiccups may involve the central nervous system (CNS). The CNS consists of the brain and spinal cord. If the CNS is damaged, your body may lose the ability to control hiccups.

You’ve probably heard lots of suggestions for how to get rid of hiccups, and maybe you’ve even tried a few. Holding your breath and counting to 10 is one way some people can get rid of their hiccups. Other people say that drinking from the “wrong” side of a glass of water is the way to become hiccup-free.

Putting sugar under your tongue might work, too. And maybe the most famous treatment – having someone jump out and scare you when you’re not expecting it – helps some people wave good-bye to his or her hiccups.

These are the different studies that have been made for remedies for hiccups.

• A spoon full of sugar: This was found in a study were 19 out of the 20 participants had been cured from hiccups.
• Drink water with your ears plugged: Anecdotal evidence from a emergency room doctor called Robert Goldstein who uses this method with both patients and friends.
• Lemon with Bitters: Another study made by J.H. Hermann where 14 out of 16 participants were cured from hiccups
• Rectal Massage: Seven out of seven patients were cured of intractable hiccups (disturbing and shocking). Possibly the stimulation of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves, study made by Michael Odeh.

These are some of the many remedies that exist to cure hiccups. There are many other to be found yet which might lead to further experiments and investigation.

http://www.mindthesciencegap.org/2012/11/05/the-best-way-to-stop-hiccups-is-there-any-evidence-at-all/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3395000

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM198112313052724

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2328464/

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM197112232852622

Society tends to believe that weather plays a role in their mood and potentially their energy levels. This may be “true”in some cases, however, they do not have the typical sunshine equates to happiness and bursting with energy and and cold overcasts translates to sorrow and lazy.  People in the world have the idea that if they are to live in a state such as Florida, they will tend to be happier due to the amount of sunshine and more be more energetic due to the Vitamin D the state tends to receive year round as unlike the state of Oregon where it tends to rain the majority of the year causing an individual’s mood to not be as joyful. Researchers have attempted to a handful of observational experiments with the theory that the weather does indeed play a factor into one’s mood. They drew up the conclusion that weather does in fact play a role in one’s mood, there are too many factors or third confounding variables that can alter the studies.

One of these variables is the possibility of the test subjects’ suffering from SAD. SAD is an abbreviation for Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). These individuals are those who will experience mood swings depending on the weather and temperature. Those who suffer from SAD tend to be more uplifted during the summer and depressed during the cooler times of year like winter. These people are those who were not accounted for in the scientists studies  as they have a special case that could alter the outcome of their observational experiments.

Correlations exist between extreme heat and aggression.  Researchers have found that intergroup conflicts, such as within coworkers or teammates, tend to rise 14 percent and individual personal violence rose four percent.  These correlations may be enough for one to believe that the weather does in fact play a factor in one’s mood, but correlation does not necessarily equal causation.

According to a study done by Eric Connelly, a Harvard University professor, Connelly reported that “men responded to unexpected weather by simply changing their plans. Raining? Let’s stay in instead of going for a hike. Unexpectedly warm day? Let’s take advantage of it by going to the water park or beach. Women, on the other hand, didn’t seem as likely to modify their activities, thereby more often taking the brunt of the unexpected weather on their mood.”  This observational study provides one of many studies that prove weather does not affect one’s mood. Rather, it may alter the plan of one’s day. According to Connelly’s report, men are not as observant of the weather and do not tend to care as much as the females. There is a correlation between the number of females believing the weather affects their mood versus the males.

Weather and mood do indeed have correlations that may cause one to believe that weather does play a role in one’s mood, however, correlation does not equal causation.  It may cause one to change their plans which could play a role on someone’s mood, but there is no evident proof that weather does play a role in an individual’s mood. 

Sources Used:

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2014/08/29/can-weather-affect-your-mood

http://iri.columbia.edu/~tonyb/Weather_mood.pdf

http://www.ericconley.com/

http://www.walb.com/story/13988220/does-weather-affect-how-your-mood

http://www.weather.com/news/news/birth-season-mood-20141023

We’ve all had some sort of nightmare at some point in our lives, maybe when we were kids and crawled between our parents seconds after waking up from a bad dream or maybe as an student or adult who just had a bad night. For me, I usually don’t remember what I even dreamed about the next day but few days ago I had one of the most realistic and scariest nightmares I’ve ever had. To summarize it, my dream was at my own dorm, me talking normally to my roommate and I suddenly fell like my blanket was covering my head and I fell really slowly on the floor, everything became really slow and my body couldn’t move, I heard screaming noises behind my back and I even tried screaming for help to my roommate. Nothing work, I felt I was going to die, then immediately I woke up breathing really deeply and sweating and I panicked as I woke up feeling really disoriented. I felt confused, nervous and scared at the same time until I realized it was just a bad dream. This had me thinking for a while so I decided to investigate why or what causes our mind to create such bad dreams.

According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) young children experience nightmares, with an estimated 10 percent to 50 percent between the ages of 5 and 12 years. Surprisingly for adults this changes, only 2-8 percent of adults encounters with bad dreams and nightmares. But what is the difference between a bad dream and a nightmare? A new study by two psychologist Genieve and Antonio Zadra at the University of Montreal analyzes that basically nightmares are disturbing dreams that actually wake you up and the awakening is directly involved into what was going on in the nightmare. This is precisely what happened to me as I mentioned previously as I woke up really distressed. A bad dream can also be very perturbing but you sleep normally and you wake up normally. The researchers asked their volunteer participant test subjects to evaluate the magnitude of the emotions they experience within their dreams.  After analyzing what the volunteers had written, the researchers found that nightmares came out to be much more emotionally intense than bad dreams overall.

Also, according to the study, most of the people are inclined to say that fear is completely connected with bad dreams and nightmares but this is not always the case. While fear does drive a majority of nightmares and bad dreams, Zadra  says that about 35% of the nightmares and 50% of the bad dreams of the 10,000 they studied contained other primary emotions such as sadness, confusion, guilt, anger, disgust, and others.

Lauri Quinn Loewemberg, a professional dream analyst states that bad dreams and nightmares is part of a thinking process. “The nightmare is when we are thinking about difficult issues during Rapid Eye Movement (REM)  and trying to sort them out. We often try to ignore our difficult issues with distractions during the day but when we are asleep and are forced to be alone in our own heads, these difficult issues will be addressed,” Lauri Quinn says. There are other factors that might have a strong effect in the creation of nightmares and bad dreams. Some of these include:

• Anxiety and Stress: Anxiety and stress, often as the result of a traumatic life event, are sometimes the cause of nightmares and bad dreams. Stress in school or at work can cause these.
• Spicy Foods: The International journal of Psychology released a small study where a group of healthy men eat spicy meals before bed on some evenings and compared their quality of sleep on nights where they had non-spiced meals. On the spicy nights, the subjects spent more time awake and had poorer quality sleep. The explanation is that spicy food can elevate body temperatures and thus disrupt sleep.
• Alcohol: Excess consumption can also lead to nightmares and bad sleep since alcohol is depressant drug.
• Illness: Illnesses that include fever, such as the flu, can often trigger nightmares. And other sleeping disorders, including apnea and narcolepsy, may also increase the incidence of bad dreams and nightmares.

But what about us college students? We undergo a lot of stress, anxiety, we consume alcohol, some maybe drugs. Several studies have found that bad dreams and nightmares are mostly inclined by personality type and that someone who has experienced some kind of trauma are more likely to experience these. A study published found that 47% of college students had at least one nightmare in a two-week study. Also, another study published in 2014 showed that blind people are four times more likely to have a nightmare than those with vision. he study confirmed the nightmares were associated with emotions the blind experience while awake, such as the potential of embarrassing social situations like spilling a cup of coffee.

http://www.medicaldaily.com/bad-dream-more-just-dream-science-nightmares-327586

http://www.medicaldaily.com/blind-peoples-nightmares-product-intense-negative-emotion-while-awake-306533

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2307768

http://www.aasmnet.org/resources/factsheets/nightmareparasom.pdfhttp://www.lauriloewenberg.com/book-dream-on-it

http://www.medicaldaily.com/top-ten-foods-induce-insomnia-

245486http://www.divinecaroline.com/self/dreams/six-reasons-we-have-bad-dreams

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140128094143.htm

http://blogs.voanews.com/science-world/2014/01/31/new-canadian-study-analyzes-nightmares-and-bad-dreams/

http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Antonio_Zadra

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_eye_movement_sleep

http://www.iupsys.net/publications/journal/

http://vadlo.com/Research_Cartoons/PI-nightmares.gif

As time has progressed throughout history, students from different ages and backgrounds seem to have the belief that cramming and pulling all nighters are beneficial to our output on exams.  However, despite said belief, taking study breaks throughout periods of studying are extremely beneficial for an individual’s grades. Scientists have found more about the nature of our brain’s attention spans and how the brain demonstrates that even brief distractions or time away from the materials being reviewed can drastically improve an individual’s ability to focus on tasks for prolonged periods of time.

An example of these scientists making said discoveries would be in 2011, psychology professor named Alejandro Lleras of the University of Illinois, conducted a randomized control study in which eighty four test subjects (students whose ages ranged from 18 – 20 years old) were divided into four groups that all performed the same repetitive, computerized task for 50 minutes.  All four groups were given a set of numbers prior to the start of the 50 minute study and were told to state if they saw these numbers at any point during the trials.  Three of these four groups were not given breaks and as time went on, their ability to identify the numbers decreased as the one controlled group who were given three-five minute breaks managed to score significantly higher.

Not taking breaks while putting our brains through long periods of strain such as partaking in long study sessions would be the just as detrimental as putting our bodies through intense physical workouts without rest or water.  Eventually, our bodies would give out in the form of physical injury or a potential loss of consciousness.  Same goes with our brains.  According to Amy Arnsten, a professor of neurobiology at Yale University, long periods of mental strain and stress during times such as cramming for an exam to prolonged periods of studying can cause our brains to “short-circuit” causing our brains to stop taking in information in front of us and more times than not, will forget or disregard what it is we have previously studied or work on. This “short-circuit” also causes our brains to linger off and rather than take in materials, can lead individuals into a period of day dreaming. In order to reduce the chances of these “short circuits”, one must simply take small study breaks throughout the period of study.

Partaking in long periods of studying is perfectly okay to do, but taking breaks is evidently  mandatory.  MIT recommends that working for 50 minutes with a ten minute break is the most beneficial and efficient way for one to study.  Rethinking your study habits can dramatically improve both your grades and overall ability to retain information as time goes on.

Sources Used:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/jobs/take-breaks-regularly-to-stay-on-schedule-workstation.html

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/02/stress-damages-brain/?page=all

http://web.mit.edu/uaap/learning/study/breaks.html

http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/02/09/taking-breaks-found-to-improve-attention/23329.html

I recently came up with this question when arguing with a friend whether if it was better showering at night or in the morning. Personally, I always need to start the day with a refreshing morning shower. It’s like people who are addicted to coffee, if they don’t drink it in the mornings, they can’t operate properly. The same happens to me, if I don’t shower before starting my day, you will see me like a zombie falling asleep everywhere. Also, I can personally say that if I during the day, do any kind of activity were I get dirty or sweaty, like a sport or something then I can’t go to bed without taking a shower. So basically for me, I usually have two showers a day.

I started to research about this trendy question and I found that basically the time of the day when you shower has to do with each person’s personal and professional goals. Essentially, you should shower in the morning if:

• You have oily skin: If you’ve always had problems with an oily face, or acne, then showering in the morning is probably the best method for you. Holly Phillips, M.D, NYC based internist and contributor for CBS news stated that ” Showering in the morning. . . can be especially good for those with oily skin, since oil can build up during the night and showers are excellent at clearing the pores,”
• You work in any creative field: “If you’ve got a tough week ahead at work and really want to perform at your creative best, showering in the morning is the way to go” says Shelley Carson, a psychology lecturer at Harvard University. This reaction is mainly due to the necessity of some people to something psychologists often call “Incubation Period”. This process works in the shower because it is referred to a relaxation zone pretty much compared to those feelings after meditation or yoga. At this point, the brain is relaxed but alert and this is when ideas might come up the best.
• You have a rough time waking up (Like me): As previously stated, I mentioned that in order to fully wake up I needed to have a refreshing shower in the morning. But one thing is important, the temperature of the water. Sometimes, you might want to have a hot steamy bath in the morning but according to studies turning in to cold water the last few minutes of your shower can jump up your metabolism and can also help you be more alert during the day. Its hard but it helps.

These are the main reasons why you should take a morning shower taking in consideration your personal and professional goals, not lets take a look at the night shower goals. So,fundamentally you should take a night shower if:

• It’s difficult for you to fall asleep: Your body temperature determines how you will be feeling and getting a relaxing shower can lower your cortisol which is a stress related hormone. The instant cooling of your body temperature after a shower is considered as a natural sleep remedy.
• You get dirty during the day: Most of us participate in some kind of outdoor activity on a daily base, or just being at work or at school during the whole day makes you feel dirty at the end of the day. Well in fact we are exposed to many types of germs and bacteria in almost any kind of environment, even just being in a city might make you feel like in need of a shower at night.
• Have dry skin or wear makeup: Dermatologist like Holly Phillips suggest that showering in the night is much recomendable for patients who suffer from eczema which is dry skin.

If I asked you what would be some possible solutions to lower crime levels you might think about some factors such as; increasing the number of police officers or people sent to jail, maybe improving the country’s economy or the creation of more jobs. But what if I tell you this factors would only help to reduce crime and violence levels temporarily keeping the root of the problem intact?

Turns out, according to John J. Donohue and Steven D. Levitt, there might be a solution to crime. As it is mention in one of Levitt’s books, ” Think like a Freak”, the best solution to crime is the legalization of abortion. According to Levitt, back in the 1970s, abortion was legalized in the United States, producing a decrease in crime by the 1990s. He insists that this levels were this high by that time because of all the unwanted kids that were borne and raised in inadequate environments that would latter lead them to crime. After studying the situation, he came to a conclusion that the only mechanism that would attack the problem directly on its root would be abortion. For more information click here.

On the other hand, there are many other hypothesis that insist abortion actually might increase crime in many cases. John R. Lott, Jr., a research scientist at the University of Maryland, rejects notions that abortion has decreased crime supposedly because it has kept numerous disadvantaged youths from being born into lives of poverty and crime.

So… Is abortion the right mechanism for crime levels to drop?

First, we must look for a correlation. After reading the chapter regarding crime drop in Levitt’s book (which supports abortion reduces crime), and Lott’s article which insists that abortion was not actually related with the decline in crime levels back in the 1980s and 1990s, we might consider Lott’s article a more reliable source. Mainly because of all the information regarding different researches that have been held since Levitt’s experiment. Besides, all of these information makes a huge emphasis on why Levitt’s experiment is not accurate or complete.

Being completely honest, I accept that I have somehow used my phone or my tablet at any point in my life during a flight, and thus I feel kind of guilty for it, I’m pretty sure most of you have done the same. C’mon don’t lie. But could it be possible that any of our electronic devices could actually cause a flight catastrophe? Or is it a complete myth?

A recent survey conducted by the Consumers Electronics Association revealed that approximately one third of the passengers that had flight in previous years have left on at least one electronic device during the course of a flight. Another survey showed up that around for out of 10 passengers admitted they don’t always turn their gadgets off on flights. As a matter of fact, there has never been reported any instance were electromagnetic interference from a portable device caused a plane to crash.

What is true, is that cellphone do have caused interference in planes. In fact the problem that concern many pilots is the issue of a interference on the plane in critical phases on the flight, were complete attention is needed in order to have a safe and secure flight. Examples of phases could be like at the take off and the landing of the flight were the pilots need extreme concentration to perform such task.

A study was made by the International Air Transport Association and it showed that from 2003 to 2009 there were 75 instances were there was electronic device interference and 29 of those interferences included mobile phones. The math was done, and they showed that this unusual event might happen in one out of 283300 flights. Now, could this be due to chance? This is the other part of this observational experiment. The low rate in which this events happened stipulate the evidence that the probability is so low, (less than .5 %) that it could totally be due to chance and that electronic devices can’t bring a plane down. The counterargument comes in when the pilots were interviewed. According to the CNN article Can your cell phone bring down a plane? “the pilots who reported the problems seemed convinced, saying that when passengers were instructed to turn off electronic devices, the problem went away”.

The problem could be easily explained and defined as an example of the term Tragedy of the commons. We personally would think, If I turn on my phone, it wont make any effect, or let me work on my computer nobody would mind. But this thought is inclusively irrational because that same thought could be held by many other people and at the end causing a mayor electronic wave interference that may end up in a catastrophe.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/23/travel/cell-phones-devices-on-airplanes/
http://www.howtogeek.com/194421/what-does-airplane-mode-do-and-is-it-really-necessary/
http://www.ce.org/
http://www.iata.org/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130604-why-we-turn-devices-off-on-planes
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/tourism/130510/flyers-dont-turn-phones-planes-survey#1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons

I have always loved video games ever since I first received my first Nintendo 64 console. Video games had some part in my childhood and I’m pretty sure most of the people in our generation had played a video game at some point in the lives. The popularity of video games has become so big that the average gamer spends about 6.3 hours playing video games in a week. By the age of 21, the average gamer has spent around 10,000 hours playing video games. This astonishing fact has created lots of hypothesis regarding on the effects that this video games might cause in the brain and the neurological system of humans.

A new experimental study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B conducted by the teams of Dr. Gregory West, assistant professor at the University of Montreal. The experiment consisted in testing the effects of video game playing on 59 healthy young adults with an average age of 24. 13 of the participants were females. The participants were split into two groups, the action gamers who ere 26 and non-action gamers who were 33. This classification of gamers and non gamers was based on whether the participant had previously reported  a minimum of 6 hours a week of action video game usage during the previous six months. The gamers were asked to play to play two different action games which stimulated and enhanced an indirect of the hippocampus and the striatum volume. This two areas of the brain are important for keeping and maintaining proper brain health.  The method used to record this messages of the brains of the players was that the participants used skull caps which recorded their brainwaves and eye movements as they maneuvered through the game.

The big and astonishing discovery was that the action gamers were twice as likely to use their caudate nucleus which is the brain’s reward system. The non-gamers showed that their brain waves relied more on the brain’s spatial memory which is the hippocampus. This experiment was measured again with the same results, completely eliminating the null hypothesis and the probabilities of chance. It is known that video games due have favorable effects as Dr Gregory West states “For more than a decade now, research has demonstrated that action video game players display more efficient visual attention abilities, and our current study has once again confirmed this notion,”

The final conclusion of this study clearly stated the following:

• Gamers rely much more on the caudate nucleus than the Non-gamers
• Non-Gamers relied on the hippocampus’ spatial memory
• People who rely on caudate nucleus-dependent strategies have lower grey matter and functional brain activity in the hippocampus
• People who spend a lot of time playing video games may have reduced the integrity of the hippocampus which is associated with an increased risk of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Even though this is a well conducted experiment, in my opinion I consider that there are many other variables that could be changed in further studies to have more solid facts and arguments that would prove solemnly the hypothesis stablished. These variables could be the video games which the participants play, the time of the day, the physical attributes of the young participants. Furthermore, this research gives really good evidence about the truth of video games on how our generation should be careful in order to have a better future.

Video game link to Alzheimer’s?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caudate_nucleus

http://dementiaresearchfoundation.org.au/blog/what-are-effects-playing-video-games-brain

http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/282/1808/20142952

http://time.com/120476/nielsen-video-games/

http://www.nouvelles.umontreal.ca/udem-news/news/20150521-what-impact-do-video-games-have-on-the-brain.html

We have all at some point in our lives cracked our knuckles, back or neck. Its just almost involuntary to make a movement that cracks your back for example. It might be weird, but my daily routine includes cracking my neck and back everyday when I stretch after I wake up, and the sound of the crack just gives me a really pleasant feeling. I wondered, what causes this crack I always hear?

The different joints that can be “cracked” or popped are the ones found in the back, neck, knuckles, elbows, ankles and shoulders. The first theory that was presented was the theory of the bubbles by  scientists JB Roston and R Wheeler Haines in 1947. They stated that cracking the knuckles caused these bubbles to form in the synovial fluid. This fluid acts as a form of lubricant The fluid contains the gases oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide. When you pop or crack a joint, you stretch the joint capsule. Gas is rapidly released, which forms bubbles. In order to crack the same knuckle again, you have to wait until the gases return to the synovial fluid. In a related article, Professor Greg Kawchuk explained that “As the joint surfaces suddenly separate, there is no more fluid available to fill the increasing joint volume, so a cavity is created and that event is what’s associated with the sound.”

Another reason of why our knuckles or neck crack is because of the movement of joints, tendons and ligaments. When a joint moves, the tendon’s position changes and moves slightly out of place. You may hear a snapping sound as the tendon returns to its original position.

What I am about to write about must never be done by anyone reading this blog for safety issues.

Loosing weight is a big concern for most of the people who have had overweight issues. This was my case. In the football league where I played junior varsity, there is a rule that in order to play, you must weight 150 pounds if you are 16 years old and 160 pounds if you are 15 years old or less. This stupid rule is called the older the lighter rule. Its main concern is that they want to prevent really heavy kids to hit or injure smaller kids. At the time I weighted 175 pounds and my height was around 5’10. I wasn’t fat nor muscular, I was normal as you could consider. But in order to play I must strictly be weighed before every game and be at 150 pounds. The first 15 pounds we technically easy to loose in a period of three moths because it was fat loss and some muscle loss. After i got to 160 to got stuck. I was already skinny, and I had not many fat or much muscle in the rest of my body.

Here comes the unhealthy part of the extreme weight loss method I used. My diet consisted of two slices of ham for breakfast, half a chicken breast boiled for lunch and 20 cashews for dinner, no snacks in between and just water. Besides that, on a daily base I would cover my body with a boxing vaseline that made me sweat more, two trash bags, a t-shirt, and long sleeve t-shirt and a jacket. I would run before and after practice with this gear and I would attend practice using all this year. ( I’m from Panama and the average weather is around 88 F and really hot and humid so imagine). The worst part was that I took 6 pills of Ciruelax ,which is a laxative, every night.

The big challenge came before the championship game. I woke up 6 hours before the game and I weighted 162 pounds. My body was not being able to loose more weight, so I had to loose water weight. I ran for 3 hours with all my gear, had a one and a half hour period of sauna with 15 minute intervals and lastly I took sweetarts into my mouth and spit the saliva it produced in order to loose those extra ounces left in my body. And well, the laxatives I took made effect too.  I did made the weight at 149 pounds. I lost 13 pounds in a few hours.

My performance was not the best, I had cramps due to dehydration, my digestive system was not functioning properly due to the laxatives. I made the mistake of loosing weight through unhealthy methods that luckily for me didn’t gave me serious sides effect in the future.

The human body is our treasure, we can never take the chance to abuse for different ways to gain personal achievements.http://www.freedrinkingwater.com/water-education3/14-water-hydration-cramping.htm

http://livewell.jillianmichaels.com/much-weight-can-lose-day-4482.html

http://www.leanhigh.com/weight-loss/how-to-lose-the-most-weight-in-one-day

The power of the human body and mind has amazed us throughout history. What we can achieve and do with our bodies is truly correlative to the power and state of mind we have. For some reason, I have always been intrigued with the secrets and myths of segregated communities in our modern world. It is almost astonishing to believe that there are people who have never seen a TV or had access to internet in their whole lives.

Recently I stumbled with a facebook post about a community of individuals who called themselves the Hunzas that live in the peaks of the Himalayan Mountains. You might think, who are these people? what is so special about them? who cares about them? There is a deep myth that is even considered celestial about this people. It is said that the people from this community never get sick, have perfect health and living conditions for an average of 140 years. WHAT?, how is this possible?

The Hunzas live in the roof the world, in the extreme border point of India with borders of coverage between Kashmir, China, and Afghanistan. This people live in an inaccessible valley at 3000 meters above sea level. They are completely unaware of the outside world. These are the most astonishing theories about their perfect health. The Hunzas are characterized by the absence of any kind of disease. They posses endless energy and enthusiasm. There life expectancy is about 135 to 145 years old, incredible compared to the average Westerner’s life expectancy which is 70 years old. It is common for 90 year old men of the Hunzas to procreate children. The average 80 year old Hunza female looks like a 40 year old female westerner.

When I first read all this stories about the Hunzas I questioned myself how could this be achieved, and as I researched I found that their “fountain of youth” or elixir of life is all based on their nutrition.Sir Robert McCarrison was the firs ever to go and study this community and document them. He discovered their incredible secrets in nutrition. The first rule of this people could easily be translated into the common phrase” You are what you eat “

The basic components of the Hunza diet are:

• Fruits and vegetables (mostly raw): especially potatoes, string beans, peas, carrots, turnips, squash, spinach, lettuce, apples, pears, peaches, apricots, cherries, and blackberries.
• Nuts: walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, beechnuts, and plenty of almonds, consumed whole or processed into an oil using a technique passed down through the generations.
• Animal protein: especially milk, cheese, and chicken. The Hunzas are not strictly vegetarian, but they consume very little meat.
• Yogurt: crucial for the health of intestinal flora.
• Grains: especially barley, millet, buckwheat, and wheat, mostly in the form of bread called chapatti, which the Hunzas eat with every meal (and to which some attribute the amazing potency of Hunza men, in part due to the high vitamin E content of the whole, natural grains).
• On any regular day, their daily food averages 1900 calories, including 50 grams of protein, 36 grams fat, and 365 grams of carbohydrates.

The Hunza people also have great physical conditions due to physical exercise. Beside all the labor they do in their village, they usually take daily hikes of about 20 kilometers in the mountains giving them really good physical conditions in such extreme weathers. They also practice the art of relaxation and yoga breathing which enables them to have complete relaxation and live a life without any source of stress. Happiness is crucial in the lifestyle of the Hunzas. They maintain and community really tied up to their cultural beliefs. The families are really functional and harmony in between the members of the community is crucial. It is really amazing how the simple things in life can gives the virtue to live longer in a world so corrupted.

Hey Guys!

My name is Jose Ignacio Arango, and I was born and raised in Panama, Central America, not Panama City Florida. I enjoy different kinds of activities but mainly sports. I played american football since I was 8 years old so it is my biggest passion. Surprisingly american football has become really popular down in Panama in the last few years. I’m majoring in Business Administration in Smeal but I might change to Finance eventually.

Even though I have never been a big fan of any type of science I’m always eager to learn something new. This class has tons of interesting topics and as I saw on the syllabus, many of the different questions/topics that we will discuss are really intriguing. I hope to make the very best out of this experience

Here is picture of my beautiful city where I live

Cinta Costera, Ciudad de Panama