I’m sure you’ve all heard of the infamous tiger mom, Amy Chua who believed “tough love” was the most efficient way in parenting children; however, I believe her methods of strict parenting are extremely unnecessary.  

Some examples of her parenting style include “ calling one of her two daughters “garbage” for being rude, dismissing a homemade birthday card as subpar (“I don’t want this — I want another one”)…or threatening to give away a beloved dollhouse if her daughter couldn’t master a complicated classical composition within days.” Chua also believed that “Chinese mothers are better than those of any other race.” Being raised in an Asian household, I can definitely say my parents never treated me with disrespect and although some Asian parents might be more strict, there isn’t any way to categorize them as “better” than others. 

Aaminha Kahn, a writer for Forbes magazine, grew up with a father figure who was a close match to Amy Chua’s definition of a “tiger parent.” Tiger parents typically hold extremely high standards for their children to reach and expect them to meet those standards no matter what. When Kahn told her father she “wanted to be a writer, but my father had made it very clear that firstly, writing was a rubbish profession for lower-class people, and secondly, if I didn’t study medicine, I would find myself out of a home and without a family in short order.” By living up to her dad’s standards Kahn had difficulty becoming the person she wanted to be and always had someone standing in her way. With an overbearing father, it was hard for Kahn to reach her full potential because she was always afraid of her father’s disapproval.

In my opinion, it is better to nurture your child than to restrict them from doing what they are truly passionate about. Obviously it is up to the parent on how to raise their children, but from experience, I can say that I definitely appreciate parents who aren’t overbearing. 

Have you ever woken up with muscles so sore you can’t even move? Almost every time I go exercise I come back super sore and my mom tells me to use IcyHot or Bengay. This made me wonder—do topical muscle creams actually work?

Delayed onset muscle soreness or DOMS starts to appear “within 12 to 24 hours after exercise, peaks after 24 to 72 hours, and should disappear within three to five days.” This happens when the muscle tissues are stressed and small tears in the muscle appear when you contract your muscle. 

Muscle creams contain three main ingredients: menthol, camphor and methyl salicylate. These ingredients create feelings of warm and cold to the skin and “competes with and helps to block the pain signals associated with DOMS…so [it] has no direct effect on the muscles themselves.” Since there is no direct contact between the cream and the sore muscles, it is believed that the muscle cream “distracts” the nervous system from the pain of the muscles and concentrates on the sensations of hot and cold.

Dr. William O. Roberts claims that “We try to treat based on the scientific literature, and I personally haven’t seen a lot of good literature supporting the use of topical analgesic so unless someone does a double-blind study with lots of proof, we really don’t have good evidence that these products make any difference.” Since there has been little research on the use of sports creams, there is no proof as to whether or not easing muscle pain with creams is due to the placebo effect. One solution could be giving two randomized groups of 200 people specific workout regimens and handing one group a sports cream, while handing the other a placebo. The only problem with this is that people have different levels of strength and some people will be more sore than others, so those who are more sore might believe the cream doesn’t work. 

Ultimately, there are not enough studies to prove whether muscle creams work. Personally, the hot and cold sensations relieve my muscle pain, so using these sports creams is up to personal preference. Since these creams haven’t done any harm to my skin or muscles, I might as well just continue using them.

Yesterday I decided to workout and that got me thinking about why some people are more athletic than others. I’ve played tennis my whole life and some of my friends tell me that they wish they started a sport at a young age so they’d be more athletic now. I always ask them why don’t they start working out now, but they think it’s too late. This made me wonder if some people born more athletic or is athleticism linked to the time you spend working out?

Scientists have found a “power gene” called alpha-actinin-3 or ACTN3 is “associated with the presence of a muscle protein found only in the fast-twitch fibres required for sprinting, which almost every male Olympic sprinter and power athlete possesses” and “studies have indicated that kids who get the right combination of variants from their parents to make ACTN3 are likely to succeed in power or endurance sports.” That being said, there is evidence that people can be born with genes that are associated with athletes, but there is no evidence against the fact that people can practice to get to a higher level in sports.

Athletic build can also determine whether someone is good at a particular sport. Some people may not discover which sport their body is fit for, therefore making it seem like they aren’t as good at it as someone who has the right build. For example, “Michael Phelps has a very long torso, which is great for swimming speed, just like the long hull of a canoe. Short legs. Large hands and feet.” Michael Phelps body type obviously wouldn’t work towards his benefit if he was a gymnast because they tend to be shorter.

Another study by Malcolm Gladwell suggests that if you practice an activity for 10,000 hours, whether it may be playing a sport or instrument, you will become the cream of the crop; however this hypothesis was disapproved. Researches from Princeton University found that practicing for several hours only made an 18% difference on the level of sports performance, so although practice can lead to improvement, Gladwell’s method of excessive hours of practice doesn’t make excellent athletes.

David Epstien,  author of “The Sports Gene” and track runner for Columbia University, questioned the possibilities of being naturally talented at sports. His training partner, Scott, was the son of two Canadian track stars and set a record in 1997 while David had just started running that same year and tried out for the varsity team with no background in running. Would David’s pure determination make him as good as Scott or would it be impossible for him to live up to Scott’s innate ability? To test his observation, David and Scott went through the same intense training routine and found that he “had low baseline ability but a rapid training response that allowed him to improve quickly, while Scott began with a high level of baseline talent but less potential to improve.” On the surface, it seems like genes have no affect on athletic ability because David was eventually able to surpass Scott’s level because he had more room to improve. This experiment proposes that athleticism can be linked to the amount of time you practice, and not to your genes.

Overall, there is no conclusion on whether genes or practice make an athlete because other variables like body type and natural talent may affect how good someone is at a sport. One thing for certain is that the more practice you put in, the better you’ll get.

The other day I heard someone say that the scent of sandalwood smells different on everyone. I’ve also bought some perfume because it smelled good on my friend, but when I sprayed some on myself it didn’t smell the same at all. This made me wonder if all perfumes smell different on people or only certain scents. I knew that people have different body chemistries and scents react in various ways, but I had no idea how.

Nuria Estape, a science journalist for The Healthy Skin Blog claims that skin is made of different chemical compounds, which are released into the air through evaporation by the eccrine and apocrine glands, therefore creating a natural scent. The natural scent then blends with the perfume and creates a scent unique to each individual.  According to Karen Kirkpatrick, “The perfume chemicals that stay on your skin longer mix with your own skin’s chemistry, which changes all the time due to things like heat, humidity, sweat, medications, diet — even age.” There are three “notes” or layers to a perfume. The first is released into the air 15 minutes after applying the perfume, the second layer is only noticeable after 2 hours of application because the chemicals evaporate from your skin slower, and the third or base note appears within 5 hours of spritzing the perfume; so instead of body chemistry having an effect on perfume, there could be a third variable involved.

Another possibility could be due to the receptors in your nose which varies from person to person. Dr. Joel Mainland discovered that out of 400 receptors “30 per cent of receptors are different between two individuals at random.” Dr. Joel Mainland conducted an experiment in which he cloned 511 receptors and put them into host cells, then measured how each receptor responded to 73 different scents. His research revealed that “changing one particular receptor meant that some people smell a specific type of steroid as a pleasant sandalwood – while others thought it smells like pee.” This information tells us that other than your natural scent mixing with the perfume, your nose receptors may also be effecting the way you perceive a scent.

So next time you buy a perfume, spritz a bit of the sample on and wait for awhile to ensure that all 3 notes of the perfume mixes well with your natural scent. You may also want to ask for your friends’ opinions on the fragrance because it might smell bad without you even knowing it!

Have you ever gone shopping with a clear idea of what you need and then go back home with two extra bags of clothes? I went shopping over Labor Day weekend and realized that I had spent a lot more money than I had planned, which made me wonder if stores have ways to manipulate your senses and subconsciously tell you to buy more of their products.

Neuromarketing author, Roger Dooley, asserts that “only 5% of our buying decisions are made consciously. It is the subconscious 95% that retailers play tricks on.” This being said, Dr. Kit Yarrow, a psychologist from Golden Gate University, claims that one of the main senses retailers try to manipulate is sight. Colors have a big impact on your emotions and can encourage you to spend more. Yarrow states that, “Colors have different associations and those things tend to get people going. So, for example, red is almost always the color associated with sales because it inspires people to take action and it’s a stimulating sort of color.” One main reason Target has so many customers is because of their red logo. If Target’s logo was blue, people wouldn’t be as inspired by their “low prices” since blue is associated with calmer emotions as shown in the image below. I believe Yarrow’s findings are true because as a frequent shopper, I’m usually more drawn to clothing racks that have a red sign on top because I know those items are on sale.

Another major sense that stores try to manipulate is your hearing. Marketing professor, Ronald E. Milliman, at Western Kentucky University, discovered that playing music with slower tempos such as classical made it more likely for customers to “linger inside stores — and spend more money.” Researchers at Penn State and Singapore found that upbeat music also influences a shopper’s purchase. Their research suggested that upbeat music tends to “overstimulate shoppers and prompt impulsive purchases.” The infographic below illustrates how a few well known retailers use music to encourage their shoppers to spend more. Whether it be classical or the Top 40 chart, shoppers are manipulated into buying more items, which concerns me as a shopper because I don’t want to spend more money than I planned on. This also surprised me because I always thought music played in retail stores was just meant to go along with the overall vibe of the store, not to prompt me to stay in the store longer or buy on impulse.

Lastly, retailers also use your sense of touch to their advantage. Researchers from Yale, Duke, and Stanford found that “staples like bread and milk are often found at opposite ends of the supermarket, because this forces shoppers to travel the length of the store, past shelves of tempting nonessentials.” Since items like bread and milk are usually found at the back of the store far apart from each other, costumers have to walk through aisles of other groceries, tempting them to buy items they don’t need. Basically, “the more time an item spends in your hand, the more likely you are to purchase it. That means stores are structured so you’re always picking things up”, states Environmental Psychologist, Paco Underhill. This strategy lets a costumer’s eyes linger on other items and be drawn to buying them.

Many people, including myself, enjoy shopping but not being manipulated, and these strategies that stores use to make people spend more money will make me more cautious of what I’m buying the next time I’m shopping. One way to avoid being tricked by stores is by shopping online, but part of the shopping experience is seeing the actual product, feeling the material, and getting a whiff of the store’s scent, so I guess retailers will always have the advantage over us. Maybe that’s why mothers always tell us to make a list before we go shopping.

Hi everyone, my name is Megan and I’m from San Jose, California! Most people ask me why I would leave the warm weather behind and I can tell you that I am not ready for winter at all because the coldest it ever gets during the day is around 60 degrees.

I also really enjoy playing tennis so here is a video of Roger Federer hitting the ball from between his legs.

I am a Finance major at the Smeal College of Business. I never considered a science major because I wasn’t good at studying facts in my high school science classes. Although I didn’t do exceptionally well, I still enjoy learning about science and discovering new things about the world we live in so I decided to take this class to cover my Gen Ed requirement. I think SC 200 will help me appreciate science since it takes on a more conceptual point of view.