Laughter may not be the best medicine but it definitely has some healing powers. Struggling to keep up with class work and band in college has been challenging and I am often stressed to the max. One day my friends made me laugh very hard and I started to feel more positive and determined afterwards. That made me curious because I had always heard the common saying about laughter and I was curious about the true benefits of laughter (if there were any). I had always thought laughter would make me feel good in the moment and then it would fade away as quickly as it came. Upon further research, I found that laughter is not affect one merely for a moment, but rather has lasting effects.

There are multiple positive effects of laughter that have lasting impacts on various systems within the body. It has been found that simply having a good laugh can relieve many symptoms of stress or tension, and leave individuals’ muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes after the laugh. Endorphins are often thought of as chemicals that give good feelings and can distract one from physical pain experienced for short amounts of time. Laughter triggers releases of endorphins and a sense of well-being and happiness consumes a person and may possibly serve as a distraction from pain.

It is also observed that blood flow increases after laughing and there is a slight reduction in artery inflammation in addition to an increase in HDL (good cholesterol). All of those elements help to prevent cardiovascular issues such as heart disease. Research into circulation of blood vessels by the University of Maryland Medical Center has uncovered that blood vessels dilate and blood circulations increase when watching movies that spur laughter versus movies that are more action-based and serious. When considering the effects of circulation, laughter may not be the only cause of better circulation, but the spikes seem to point to the conclusion that laughter that occurs during humorous movies aids in increased blood circulation.

When considering the distraction that laughter causes from pain and discomfort, there are studies that have been conducted to aid the theory. Rosemary Cogan, Dennis Cogan, William Waltz, and Melissa McCue have all conducted experiments that measure the changes in pain thresholds after listening to laughter-inducing audiotapes. One experiment has been done with 20 male and 20 female subjects who listened to the audiotapes for twenty minutes at a time with no distractions. One audiotape was a dull narrative while the other was laughter-inducing. The effects of the more humorous audiotape showed that after listening to the tape and having experiments of pain threshold, the pain threshold level increased versus after listening to the duller audiotape. The results suggest that laughter can possibly reduce “clinical discomfort.”

Laughter seems to be a healing and preventative element that can bring a lot of potential good to those who are lucky enough to experience the action. I feel fairly lucky that I can.

The question that often floats around when considering driving abilities is whether men are better drivers than women. However, what many individuals do not consider is a matter equally important with regards to driving ability-the ages of the drivers. I know I have always been concerned with the sexes of the drivers simply because I thought male and female driving styles would be so different. I was looking up the differences when I found studies that show an aspect to driving I never considered. My initial hypothesis when stumbling upon the research was that younger drivers would be more dangerous drivers and get involved in more accidents. What I found somewhat supported my hypothesis, but added another element to it-elderly drivers.

According to multiple studies, a main target group of poor drivers is the teenage population. A John Hopkins study found that, teenage boys start off with 20 percent more crashes per mile than teenage girls. Teenage rates of crashes reach much higher than those who are middle aged drivers and “mile for mile the crash rate for drivers ages 16 and 17, for example, is almost nine times as high as that for middle-aged drivers.” Teenage drivers are not only new to the activity, but their learning experience while their brains are developing may prevent them from assessing risks on the road as effectively as middle aged drivers.

Another group that has been found to have even more cases of crashes and an overall poorer driving ability includes individuals over the age of 65. A Perdue University study reveals that “ older men and women are much more likely to die from traffic injuries than younger persons, regardless of gender. Older drivers often drive shorter distances or less frequently which are considered factors that could affect driving ability. The CDC has evidence that supports the hypothesis that elderly drivers are often worse drivers than teenagers or middle aged adults. According to the CDC, “5,560 older adults were killed and more than 214,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes. This amounts to 15 older adults killed and 586 injured in crashes on average every day.” As individuals become older, they have decreased mobility and are often more at risk for health complications while doing any sort of motor activity. Also, aging affects individuals’ visions, which can hinder driving skills in that threats on the road are not as easily spotted and avoided by older drivers. Health elements such as those are what further contribute to the idea that older drivers are more likely to get into crashes-which constitutes poor driving abilities.

The studies have helped me to realize who to pay special attention to while out on the road. Overall, the effects of these groups of drivers in particular are more relevant when it comes to better driving abilities than the divide seen between men and women.

When coming across an article about blue lights I naturally wanted to skip over it. However, when I read the full title about blue lights from cell phones causing sleep problems I was intrigued because my roommates and I all sleep with our cellphones by our heads at night. There were multiple studies on the effects of blue lights, which are emitted from cell phone screens in addition to other screens on electronic devices such as tablets. There was no contradictory evidence that suggested that the use of these blue lights at night have a positive effect when people are exposed to them at nighttime, which only furthered my desire to study further into the matter. It seemed like such a natural thing for teens to sleep with cell phones by their heads for alarms or to check times and messages. It was interesting to find out that teenagers often suffer from the seemingly harmless action.

Blue lights are emitted in wavelengths similar to those of daylight and they are especially beneficial during daylight hours because they “boost attention, reaction times, and mood” according to the Harvard Health Letter. However, at nighttime the pineal gland produces melatonin, a hormone that effects the circadian rhythm, or the biological clock. That clock naturally shifts for teenagers, but if it shifts enough, consistent problems with sleep can occur. According to the Washington Post, melatonin is released into the brain a couple hours before a person’s natural bedtime. The hormone reduces the earlier feelings of attention and alertness as one becomes more tired. Blue lights alter the effects of that release in that blue lights suppress the levels of melatonin released to a person. Therefore, while looking at the screen one stays more alert, for if less melatonin is released, one has trouble falling asleep as easily as he or she would if his or her cell phone is turned off in the first place. The hormone melatonin allows the brain to cause a sleepy sensation and help people fall asleep while regulating the sleep cycle.

Several studies have been conducted to show the effects of blue lights on melatonin levels. A study done by Mariana Figueiro of the Polytechnic Institute in New York did a study with laptops involving teenagers and adults. She found that teenagers had more sensitivity being exposed to the light, and even if they were only exposed to a tenth of the amount of light teenagers still suppressed more melatonin. Steven Lockley, a sleep researcher at Harvard Medical School, explained these findings with his findings about teenagers. He explains, “teenagers have all the same risks of light exposure, but they are systematically sleep-deprived because of how society works against their natural clocks”. By this he means that teenagers are more affected by the blue lights and the suppression of melatonin-causing their sleep schedules to be worse than those of adults. In another experiment, she had adults use iPads for multiple hours and after two hours there was a significant stunt in melatonin release. The University of Toronto released another study in which melatonin levels were tested and observed when people where a group was exposed to bright indoor light with goggles that blocked out blue light and a group who was exposed to regular dim light without goggles. The hormone levels were around the same measure in the same two groups revealing that it would be beneficial to wear blue-light-blocking goggles and it supported the idea that blue lights suppressed melatonin levels.

There are suggestions to avoid the effects of melatonin level suppression and they are often involved with the restriction of electronic use. ABC news suggested that storing technology away from the bedside while the Harvard Health Letter suggests stopping the use of technology a couple hours before bed. More technological solutions include getting apps that suppress the blue light and using dimmer red lights for nightlights.

Overall, there are harmful consequences to using electronics before bed and keeping them close by that may not be evident to most people. Perhaps the shift of the biological clock would not have such intense effects if electronic use is restricted at times that melatonin is released. Based on the studies done so far, it would be logical to avoid heavy cell phone and tablet use when going to sleep if one wants to get a greater amount of sleep as well as good quality sleep.

This past summer, I was sitting on the lifeguard stand while bees constantly buzzed around me and I would swat them away with my hands. Swatting away bees is a fairly common action for they often intrude on personal space and fly around personal items. I have always considered bees to be more of a nuisance than anything. While I knew certain bees pollinated plants I always imagined one landing on top of a flower and my positive thoughts about them stopped there. Upon more research about bees I found that the amounts of bees in the world are steadily decreasing and beekeeping businesses and our food that we consume everyday suffers as a result.

Bees all over the world, and especially in the U.S. are dying away in the present. Their decline is about 30 percent per year. There are multiple theories as to why they are dying off, but their vitality to consumerism is undisputed. According to the Pesticide Action Network of North America, “most fruits, many vegetables, almonds, alfalfa and many other crops all dependent upon bees for pollination, the variety and nutritional value of our food system is threatened”. While there is not a major crisis right now, there is a growing concern coming from farmers that have to purchase more acres of land in hopes of obtaining a higher crop yield. PAN also referenced a U.N. report that found “of the 100 crops that provide 90% of the world’s food, over 70 are pollinated by bees. In the U.S. alone, honey bees’ economic contribution is valued at over $19 billion”. This revenue depicts what a large portion of our economy stems from-bees and their natural pollination process. Bees are currently at odds with pesticides. This is a main hypothesis as to why bees are dying off at such an unprecedented rate. While pesticides allow food to avoid pests and other insects that may harm plants, they kill one of the most important sources of nutrients and life to the plants-bees and their ability to pollinate. According to Honey Haven, neonicotinoids, particular sorts of pesticides, are highly toxic to honey bees. Another theory as to why bees are dying off is the climate change. As temperatures increase, instead of shifting north as other species do, “bees’ range is only compressing in from the south, leaving less and less available habitat”. This means that bees compress into one area and as limited resources and living areas for the bees occurs, more and more bees die off. This theory also supports the idea that fewer foods are pollinated that we eat everyday.

It turns out, bees have more impact on people everyday lives than I could ever imagine, so I’ll be careful not to swat them away when unnecessary and appreciate their vitality to food consumerism. I never tied in bees and their pollination to the economy and the fact that there is growing concern with multiple angles in science to support ideas is worrying and troublesome.

Contesting sources have different claims with regards to the accurate lifespan of Killer Whales (also known as Orca’s). These different viewpoints are something I have been observing since I saw the documentary Blackfish that mainly contested SeaWorld and its marine life processes. The documentary claimed that there were different opinions as to Orca’s lifespans, and showed employees at SeaWorld making comments about Orca’s living longer in captivity versus in the wild. This bit of information intrigued me, for I thought captivity would lengthen the lives of Killer Whales due to the predatory aspects of the wild. So, I decided to research further into the matter and what I found confirmed the claims of the documentary that shocked me even before I began my research.

When I examined SeaWorld, perhaps the widest chain of marine life parks, I discovered a webpage that highlighted an array of facts on Killer Whales. Under the lifespan category it was stated that female killer whales live around 50 years whereas males only live around 30 years. This information is presented as fact even though the SeaWorld Cares website makes note of Tilikum-a 35 year old whale still performing at SeaWorld. The differing information was puzzling, so coming across the Orca Network webpage only served to add more confusion because it showed research that contradicted claims made by SeaWorld. A several-decade long study on female killer whales, conducted by Emma Foster and her colleagues at the Center for Whale Research, suggested that killer whales could live much longer than the lifespan stated by SeaWorld as well as other researchers in a similar field. The study showed evidence that in natural Orca communities female Orca’s will give birth in their teens while SeaWorld breeds their whales after only a few years. Foster believed that suggested hormone supplements or other medications given to whales to produce offspring years before the normal observed rate. The study found that female killer whales often live 3 to 4 decades after having their last offspring, so this makes sense when thinking of the lifespans of whales of SeaWorld because the last offspring of the females there are born before the females reach 10 years of life. However, in a natural environment in which female whales begin having offspring around14 or 15 years, the life expectancy increases significantly. In fact, some of the post-reproductive female whales observed in Foster’s study (which suggested they were between 30-40 years of age) are still alive to this day. Seeing as the study has been occurring for decades, those females would be around 60 or 70 years old. Furthermore, Foster comments on a 2005 study that states “..it is possible substantial numbers may have been injured or killed opportunistically by fishermen, fisheries personnel, and sportsmen during an era of widespread predator control. Bullet wounds were evident in up to 25% of the animals taken during the live-capture fishery in the 1960s and early 1970s”. SeaWorld was known to capture live whales during that time period, so it makes sense that their whales would live shorter lifespans after having exposed bullet wounds. In her own essay on her research Foster states that if those sorts of events had not occurred females could have lived to their 80’s or 90’s and males could have lived until their 70’s (similar to human lifespans).

            The evidence I found from watching Blackfish and the study conducted by Foster led me to believe that Killer Whales have the potential to live much longer lifespans than I originally expected-especially while living in their natural habitats versus in captivity. The early breeding of whales in captivity makes SeaWorld’s claims somewhat accurate in a sense, but now I can see that it is simply because their methods of reproduction are causing the shorter lifespans of the whales they claim to take care of very well.

Hey everyone,

My name is Veronica and I am originally from Togliatti Russia, but the better portion of my life was spent in Bellefonte, PA (which is about a 20 minute drive from PSU). I’ve been immersed in diverse cultures, so I am able to grasp science in that way, for I accept the unconventional. In March of this year I was able to travel to China. While I toured the cities, and the schools within them, I was not entirely surprised to find that the schools put strong emphasis on their science classes/programs seeing as representative students from Shanghai scored over 100 points better on the PISA test compared those of the United States.

With that aside, I am not interested in a science major by any means. I have never been good at memorizing equations, chemical tables, or explaining scientific theories in-depth. However, I do want to have knowledge on diverse subjects, for I am a Communications major and it would help me understand who to advertise to if I can understand their backgrounds. I am interested in this class because I think it can provide further assessment of my critical thinking abilities as well as provide essential knowledge about issues that impact our world. This knowledge would be vital to understanding the world around me and why life is the way it is. I believe that the takeaways from this course will provide me with sufficient tools to be able to understand different cultures, peoples, and means of life. This correlates to my future career in advertising because if I understand more about whom I am supposed to appeal to with my products, then I will have an avenue to follow when creatively thinking of strategies to later project to my audiences.