Author Archives: Shunyi Yu

Being good at math is about natural ability or not

Some people are good at sciences, others are not. I myself don’t like math. So I study liberal arts classes as my major. From junior high school, I tart to find that I am not good at math. Not only because of math is very difficult but also whenever I see math problems, I feel dizzy and uncomfortable. Later in high school, I always try to avoid math, and now I’m a junior student, the highest math class I’ve taken is pre-calculus. Parents and teachers tell me that don’t think of yourself not good at math, you should study hard and nothing is impossible. However, I always tell them that it is impossible because I hate math and I am not good at it.

Hence, I browse online and surprisingly find that being good at math is not about natural ability. Although perhaps some people have talent in math, research published in Child Development found that hard work and good study habits were the most important factor in improving math ability over time. Sometime, what really matters is our attitude which let us cause anxiety. Over half of the 18 to 34-year-old bracket find themselves regularly saying they can’t do math. Interestingly, nearly one-third of Americans indicates that they would rather clean a bathroom than solve a math problem. Just like me, my attitude really makes me afraid of this subject.

math ability graph

Not only me, I bet a lot of students have this problem. There are math-specific learning disabilities like dyscalculia — sort of the math equivalent of dyslexia, but this isn’t always the reason for students like me. We should overcome the difficulties, although it’s hard. We should focus math as a skill, hard work, not natural ability, is the most important factor.

Do Cosmetics have more disadvantages than advantages

I’m an Asian girl who likes cosmetics, because it makes me look nicer in order to let feel more comfortable. However, I’m not good at doing make-up, so I often watch the tutorials on internet, there are a lot of video tutorials on how to do makeups. And we should admit that the power of makeup is huge!

There are so many advantages for doing makeups, I can list  tons of them.  All coins have two sides, I always know that makeups are harmful for our skin, but girls couldn’t stop using then, until recently I saw a video on the internet which let me start thinking. The video is called Artificial  Beauty (365 days wearing makeups) The video shows if you put makeups everyday, which is counted 365 days, how will it look like. They put 365 layers on a model, and the result is like a monster.

 

Even though we will never put so many makeups on face in one day, but looking at this picture makes me feel disgusting and start to think of the harm they bring us.

Here are the 10 top harmful effects of using makeups:

1, skin diseases and reaction

2,allergies

3,harmful for eyes

4,damage to nails if using nail polish

5,cancer and other chronic diseases

6, aging

7, danger to reproductive organs

8,hair problems

9,headaches

10,unwanted dependency on cosmetics

It is indeed true that cosmetics bring harm not only to our skin but also increase the risks to have cancer and other diseases. Of course, it is impossible to talk about the harmful effects of makeup without mentioning ageing. Girls likes to use concealers to cover the spots, but ultimately, this spots may look even worse and you will look older than you actually are. In some cases a foundation or powder may dry out your skin and make it look flaky, dull and ashen. Makeup can also cause acne.

Here is a article explaining the details harm that makeups bring us, including the lab results scientists did on animals and how can products be tested for safety. Most of the ingredients in cosmetics that have been tested in animals for long-term health effects were studied in ways that apply more towards the effects of higher dose exposures that may be seen in workplace settings.

I hope men give less pressure on women because men always want women to look charming. Here’s a video if men put on makeups.

Interestingly, there are a lot of videos online showing the 100 years of beauty of a country in 100 years. Here’s the USA version. I found that when it get closer to  2010, the hair style is much more simple. I wonder if it is the trend that people are going after natural beauty nowadays.

 

Who can survive a breakup the best? Man or woman?

Love is powerful while it is indeed hurtful. When two people fall in love, they won’t think about the hardness of breaking up. However, the biggest problem with love is that love doesn’t last, so break ups happen a lot. It’s difficult to deal with for both man and woman. When love comes to an end, there’s nothing more painful than losing a person.

Scientists found that getting over a breakup may be harder for women, but they still recover faster than man, and break ups are actually harder on man. But why?

Women cope with breakups better than men

A survey by Elite Singles found that when it came to being lovesick, it’s the guys who suffer the most. Of the 95 percent of those surveyed who admitted to being lovesick at some point in their lives, 25 percent more men suffer from love sickness than women at a relationship’s demise.

Woman will suffer a lot when they break up at first, and they will turn to their friends and get encouragement, in other words, woman deal with it better than man. It’s like a short-term pain. In contrast, Men are more likely to feel that pain long-term, and never really recover, as it takes them a while to realize what they’ve lost.

The pain that break up can be both emotional and physical which can last for weeks, months or years to recover. Break ups always let us feel that the world in ending and we are worthless, here are some tips you should know to survive from break up.

 

Does weather affect people’s emotion?

I come from Seattle which rains a lot, and recently it is so hot in Penn State and I don’t feel quite comfortable, although i think a lot of people really enjoy sunny days. This make me think whether does weather really influence people’s emotions?

According to my research, A 2008 study conducted by Jaap Denissen showed that weather fluctuations accounted for very little variance in people’s day-to-day mood. This is a very surprising result because most of people have stereotypes in our mind that we will be depressed in cold and get excited in summer.

However, scientists do found some relations between the weather and mood. “The amount of sunlight people are exposed to can have a large impact on mood because it affects the amount of vitamin D people absorb.” Just as what is shown in the picture below. As a result, as the day gets shorter, people may feel more tiredness during the day. For instance, it’s difficult to get up in the morning.

And from other researches, similar points have been empahsized that

Heat (and extreme rain) brings out the worst in people.

Suicides peak during the spring & summer.

Seasonal affective disorder is real.

Higher temperatures can bring a depressed person up.

On the other hand, I myself feel exhausted in sunny days so the article also says that every individual may have different weather types so that we react differently to different weathers. Some are summer lovers, some are summer haters, some are rain lovers, and others are rain haters. It all depends, and weather doesn’t have to control our mood.

And here is an article which illustrates the several components that may affect human emotions: sunlight, temperature, sleep, and light.

Does Science make belief in God easier or harder?

Human – business evolution

I believe that many people are still wondering about whether we should believe in evolution or genesis , or maybe are genesis and evolution compatible?  In this article, the author believes that the theory of evolution is not only anti-biblical, but also is contrary to sound scientific principles in many areas. I tend to believe in science but I also believe the existence of god so that this question is the first question pop up in my head at the first day at the SC200 class when the professor asks us to think of a scientific question.

I believe there are a lot of atheist believing that evolution is science, but I assume there are a lot of scientist who are Christians, especially in America that majority of people has a religion. There are a lot of people arguing, and a lot of videos and resources  available, but still there isn’t a solid answer exist, which follows up with lots of question that does god exist. I myself believe that God exists, and I have been going to churches for one and a half year. Up till now, there are still many confusions in my head so that I could not believe in Christianity completely. Are Christians believing in god only for eternity? Is that even real? In the 21st century especially, shall we believe in science or religion, or in some perspective, superstitious?

In Bible, God says:”Don’t believe in man’s words.” On the other hand, I believe that Bible is written by man. So that there are many things controversial, I don’t know if science can explain them. And I’m super interesting in hearing what does the science teacher think and what’s the classmates opinion on a objective point or view instead of evangelize. And it brings up an interesting topic, does science make belief in God easier or harder?

Initial Blog

Hi,

My name is Eileen. Nice to meet you! I’m a transfer student from Seattle to Penn State University Park. So I’m still adjusting. I ‘m a junior and majoring in Communication Arts and Sciences, and want to study IST for telecommunicatons as a minor. I ‘m studying Science 200 because I need two natural science classes. So I ask my advisor to recommend me an easy one. After taking today’s class, I think it will be super interesting, it;s not boring and the professor is awesome! I’m not a science major because I’m totally poor at math and any science related classes. Hopefully I will make an exception for this science class and fell in love with it!

Here’s a link to a short TED Talk which I found randomly one time, and I like it very much: http://www.ted.com/talks/thomas_suarez_a_12_year_old_app_developer

psu