My mom always tells me that if I sleep with my phone by my head it’s bad for me. I always tell her she doesn’t know what she’s talking about but maybe she’s right. Is too much cell phone screen time bad for us?

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According to the first source I read while researching this question, cell phones have high levels of radiation. This source also says that cell phone use can lead to cancer because of the high levels of radiation in cell phones. After reading this I was very alarmed because I never thought that cell phone use could lead to cancer. While reading another article I was explained that many scientists do believe that cell phone use could be linked to tumor development. I was wondering what type of proof they have of cancer being linked to cell phone use but while reading farther in the article I learned that because cell phones are a relatively recent addition to our lifestyle we couldn’t not have proof they cause cancer. Cancer takes 10-20 years to develop so scientists will not be able to come to any proof that they cause cancer yet. Scientists have come out and said that the longer people are exposed to the radiation of the cell phones the more at risk they are of possible getting cancer. I wasn’t surprised to learn that children are most at risk for possibly developing cancer than adults are. This is because children have been exposed to cell phones for a longer period of time. I am anxious to find out if they really do lead to cancer in the future. If this is true than that is a really scary issue that is going to affect most of the population, especially our generation. I don’t know if there is much that people can say to get people to stop using cell phones if there is not actual proof that they cause cancer. I’m hoping that this prediction is wrong and that it does not cause cancer but if it does I cannot even image what would happen to our society as a whole.

After reading about all of this I will definitely take the steps to try to keep my cell phone not close to me at all times, but I don’t know how realistic it would be to never use my cell phone. Cell phones have become a staple in most everyones lives and I could not imagine that everyone will stop using them if there is not proof out there that they 100% cause cancer. For now I just hope that this is not true and cell phones will not cause us cancer in the future.

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Bibliography

FREE SHIPPING ON PHONES & DEVICES WITH ALL NEW ACTIVATIONS! CALL 1-877-413-5903.” Smartphones & Cell Phones | Compare Our Best Cell Phones & Smartphones. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2016.

ghchealth. “5 Ways Cell Phones Harm Your Health.” Dr. Group’s Natural Health & Organic Living Blog. N.p., 02 Feb. 2015. Web. 02 Dec. 2016.

NC4HR. “Can Cell Phones Harm Our Health?” National Center For Health Research. N.p., 12 Aug. 2016. Web. 02 Dec. 2016.

5 Dangers of Sleeping Near Your Cell-Phone at Night – FitHog.” FitHog. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2016.

Whenever I am taking a picture in the sunlight I feel like I can barely keep my eyes open, while others don’t struggle to keep theirs open as much as I do. I have thought for awhile now that this is because I have light blue eyes they are more sensitive than other eye colors. I never researched if this was true or not but it made sense to me. I wondered if I was actually correct about this or if eye color had nothing to do with my sensitive eyes, so I decided to do some research.

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Eye color

The first source I read explained, the part of the eye that has color is called the Iris. There is pigmentation in the iris and thats what decides what eye color we have. I learned that there are 3 genes that make up eye color and they are linked to the common eye colors;blue, green, brown. I was surprised to find out that other eye colors that aren’t as common are not able to be explained by a single gene. I would have assumed that scientists knew which genes controlled all eye colors. Before researching this topic I thought that everyone had what eye color they had based on what eye color their parents had. If one parent had brown eyes and one had blue eyes, the dominant color, would be the color their child would have. Although after reading this article I know that is not true. I learned that its not as easy as that. What I learned from this article is both parents have two pairs of genes for each chromosome so many possibilities of eye color for their child can exist. I had no idea that this was how it worked. I thought the reason I had light blue eyes was because my parents both had blue eyes so there was 100% change I would have them, but thats not true. According to another article scientists actually thought the same thing I did before they discovered that what eye color you have isn’t as simple as that. I believe that sometime in the somewhat near future scientists will be able to 100% accurately predict the eye color of babies eyes before they are born just by knowing the genetics of their parents.

Are some eye colors more sensitive? 

Turns out I was actually right when I said that my blue eyes are more sensitive than other eye colors. Melanin is the stuff in your Iris that makes your eyes have the color they do. The more Melanin within your Iris the darker your eye color will be. While reading this same piece I found out that white born babies actually all have blue eyes to start out with and then after a few years their eyes darken to their actual color. I had no idea about this fact, I thought that the eye color you are born with will stay that color. It’s pretty interesting that our eye color actually changes after a few years of life. So, going back to my original thought that my light blue eyes are more sensitive than others. I was right about this because the more Melanin someone has in their Iris the more their eyes are protected from the sun. The darker your eyes are the more Melanin you have the more your eyes are protected from the sun. So, people who have blue eyes have less Melanin than darker colored eyes so their eyes are actually more sensitive to the sunlight. I would predict that people who have extremely light eyes would struggle being in the sunlight in general. If they have such little Melanin in their Iris they will not have much protection from the sunlight and this could probably cause them a lot of problems. Now I can know that when I complain about my eyes being more sensitive than others I am not just imaging it, its actually scientifically true.

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BIbliography

“Genetic Mutation Responsible for Blue-eyes.” Genetic Mutation Responsible for Blue-eyes. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2016.

Dubow, OD Burt. “What Color Will Your Baby’s Eyes Be?” All About Vision. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2016.

“Is Eye Color Determined by Genetics? – Genetics Home Reference.” U.S. National Library of Medicine. National Institutes of Health, n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2016.

“Sensitive to Light? Blame Your Blue Eyes.” Sensitive to Light? Blame Your Blue Eyes. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2016.

“What Are the Percentages of Different Eye Colors?” Reference. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2016.

Over the past years I have felt like ADHD has been diagnosed to many people that I know. Do all these people have the same reason that they need it in common? I wonder what the science is behind why people have ADHD. I also feel like many people believe they have ADHD when they in fact do not have it, would there be a way to prove someone has ADHD?

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ADHD

I would say that most everyone knows what ADHD is, to put simply it is a condition that causes people to have consistent trouble paying attention and causes hyperactivity and sometimes impulsivity. There are 3 forms of ADHD. The different forms are differentiated by their symptoms; hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inability to pay attention. ADHD is more common in boys and in the source I found the rest of this background information it mentions that ADHD seems to run in families. It says that statistically when a family member is diagnosed with ADHD theres a 25%-35% chance another member of that family is also diagnosed. This article also touches on my statement I made about how I think recently a lot of cases of ADHD have been increasing in the past years. The article recognizes that the diagnoses of this condition have increased but scientists cannot prove if ADHD is actually more common today or if the increased diagnoses are due to other factors. Other factors including larger awareness of the symptoms of ADHD and the widening of the criteria for what is considered ADHD.

Science of ADHD

The exact causes of this disorder are not known by scientists. In the article I read titled, “The Science of ADHD” Heredity is found to be the main factor that determines if you’ll have ADHD. According to this same source there was a study done 10 years ago conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health that made the discovery that the brains of people with ADHD are actually 3-4% smaller than that of brains of people without the disorder. There is more research being done on the brains of these ADHD patients and I think in the future scientists will figure out much more about the detailed difference between a brain of someone with ADHD and someone without. This same article also reports that the majority of the symptoms of ADHD are  executive function impairments. These are central control processes within the brain that are in control of managing other jobs within the brain. So, the symptoms of patients with ADHD are because their executive functions of their brain are damaged. This makes a lot of sense as to why they would struggle with things like paying attention, being able to control what you say, taking charge in starting their work and many others. People with ADHD really do have something different about their brains. Hopefully in the future scientists will know more about the extent of these differences.

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Bibliography

ADHD Definition, What ADHD Stands For, Statistics and More.” WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.

CHADD – The National Resource on ADHD. “The Science of ADHD.” The Science of ADHD | CHADD. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.

“Common Pesticide May Increase Risk of ADHD.” Common Pesticide May Increase Risk of ADHD | Media Relations. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.

ADHD: A Growing Concern for Youth and Adults [INFOGRAPHIC].” Rawhide ADHD A Growing Concern for Youth and Adults INFOGRAPHIC Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.

In AP Psychology Junior year in our unit when we learned about Autism we also learned about savants and Savant Syndrome. I had heard the word before but I didn’t know much about savants. I had seen episodes  of shows like 60 minutes where they would show someone who has some sort of disability yet is really good at one certain thing. I was confused while learning about Savant Syndrome because it didn’t make sense to me that someone who had a disability was so talented at something, even more than the average person. Someone who functioned not nearly like an average person was way better at a task than normal people were. That really did not make sense to me.

What exactly is Savant Syndrome? 

Basically it is a condition where someone with a serious disability is able to preform certain tasks amazingly well that completely surpass what would be thought of as normal performance on them. While doing research about this condition the first source I read talks about how it is extremely rare and because the amazing talents these “savants” have scientist may never truly fully grasp how the human memory and cognition work until they are able to fully understand savants. Also in this source I read that this syndrome is much more common in men than woman. Men out number women in a 6 to 1 ratio regarding this condition. This made me wonder why it’s so much more common in males. Could it have to do with genetic makeup? Or maybe it has something to do with the hormones in males that females do not have. After coming across this question i had I did some research on it. (FINISH LOOKING FOR RESEARCH FOR THIS)

 Savant Syndrome

When I did research on why exactly Savant Syndrome happens I came across Bernard Rimland, he studied over 34,000 cases of Autism in his lifetime and he found that when studying the autistic patients that had the savant skills they were skills found in the right hemisphere of the brain. He also found that the skills these people lacked, that most do not, are skills associated with the left hemisphere of the brain. This seems to me like people with the Savant Syndrome has more access to their right brain. Maybe not more access but I think it would make sense that because they have deficiencies in their left hemisphere this would make their right brain stronger and perhaps this is why they are very talented in certain skills. After reading the first source I realized that there is probably a link between autism and Savant Syndrome. All of the patients of Rimland’s had Autism and he used them to study the savant skills they had. So, I decided to do some research on this realization of mine. In the piece of research I found it is explained that not everyone who is autistic has savant skills and vice versa but there is definitely a correlation between the two. This source also mentions that there are savants who are average people who were not born with Autism that can develop savant skills after an event where they have had brain damage. That logically does not make much sense. If someone has serious neurological damage why would they develop an extremely above average ability. Something traumatic happens to their brain and then somehow they have acquired an amazing new skill. It is baffling to think about and although scientists and doctors know some information about Savants I think it is also baffling to them and they will not fully understand them for a long time. In the same source  it talks about how these savant abilities all have the cause of them in common, abnormal brain activity. Another source I found says that their may be a genetic part of Savant Syndrome. This piece talked about how the prodigies with Autism, what this source considered savants, are more likely to have a member of their family with Autism. They didn’t provide any more information about this so I can’t really agree with this statement. I do agree that Autism definitely seems to have a genetic link but I am not convinced that Savant Syndrome does. I am aware that it is common for people with autism to also be considered a savant but I don’t think that would prove that Savant Syndrome itself is genetic. Scientists have pinpointed the fact that the abnormal brain activity is the cause of the savant talents but there is not much further detailed information about it that I have not already covered.

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Bibliography

“Savant Syndrome.” Savant Syndrome. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2016.

Kaufman, Scott Barry. “Where Do Savant Skills Come From?” Scientific American Blog Network. N.p., 25 Feb. 2014. Web. 29 Nov. 2016.

SingularityHub. “Unleashing the Power of the Savant Brain in All of Us.” Singularity HUB. N.p., 30 Mar. 2011. Web. 29 Nov. 2016.

“The Science behind Savants.” The Advisory Board Daily Briefing. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2016.

“Neurowiki 2013.” Savant Syndrome – Neurowiki 2013. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2016.

My cousin has Aspergers and growing up I would think to myself, “Why does Sean have Aspergers?”. I often thought it wasn’t fair that he had to struggle with Aspergers and no one else in my family did. I wondered how it must feel to be the only person in our family to have it and how it must feel to know you are different from everybody else. The most recent time I saw my cousin I started wondering if the type of autism he has, Aspergers, is genetic. Did my Aunt and Uncle carry certain genes that made him have Autism? While thinking about blog topics to write about this one came to mind and I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to do some research on the question I had, is autism genetic?

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What is Aspergers?

First off I’ll give you some background about the form of autism my cousin has, Aspergers. The way my parents explained it to me is that it is a form of Autism and many people that have it don’t pick up on social cues and are generally socially awkward in social situations. For example, my cousin is 19 and he is visually uncomfortable when he has to simply greet people and shake their hand. Aspergers is a high functioning form of Autism. Some cases are worse than others but many people with Aspergers have jobs and are productive members of society. Aspergers according to Merriam Webster’s dictionary is defined as, “A developmental disorder resembling autism that is characterized by impaired social interaction, by restricted and repetitive behaviors and activities, and by normal language and cognitive development.” (Merriam Webster Dictionary)

Is Autism Genetic? 

According to the first source I read while researching this question autism seems to be more common in people who share similar genes, like twins. Twins are more likely to both be born with autism than fraternal twins are. I think that this shows how there must be a genetic link to autism. This source also talks about how scientists think that there is definitely a genetic thread in autism. I know that scientists do not yet know what exact genes cause autism but I think that with time that will be discovered. With more technology advanced and research done on autism I think figuring out the exact genes that play a part in causing autism will be discovered. I was surprised when I found out while reading that autism seems to be hereditary. This surprised me because my cousin who has Aspergers is the only one in our family to have a form of autism. Before doing research I didn’t think that autism would have been genetic. Researchers have found 20 chromosomes that have areas of them that can help researchers figure out which genes are linked to autism. Once researches are able to find the certain gene or genes that are linked to autism I think many advancements will be made. With the help of the advancing technology surrounding genetics I predict researchers will be able to get rid of the gene that causes autism and one day autism won’t exist. Another source I found researching found in a study trying to determine the causes of autism that it was 95% genetic in a study of 258 twins. This source also mentions how there are many possible genes that link to autistic traits. I think this is going to make it a lot harder for scientists to figure out exactly which ones do. Clearly autism is genetic but we don’t know yet what exact gene or maybe genes link to autism. With technology advancing I am hopeful that one day scientist will know exactly which genes link to autism. That would be a huge breakthrough discovery in science.

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Bibliography

Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2016.

“Autism and Genetics.” Autism and Genetics | Understanding Genetics. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2016.

GeneticLiteracy. “Autism in Our DNA? Slew of Studies Points to Genetics as Main Driver, but There Is No “autism Gene” | Genetic Literacy Project.” Genetic Literacy Project. N.p., 09 Aug. 2016. Web. 28 Nov. 2016.

“Controlling the Genetic Genie.” 3D PERSPECTIVES RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2016.

Doc. “Autism, Down Syndrome, and Other Genetic Disorders.” Organic Lifestyle Magazine. N.p., 13 May 2014. Web. 28 Nov. 2016.

Everyone’s heard the question, “why is the sky blue?” asked before. I being one of them never thought to actually research why the sky is blue. Why blue? Why not any other color? I wondered what the science behind the sky being blue was or if the sky really was blue or we just perceive it as that color.

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Why Blue?

The reason we see the sky as blue is because of how sunlight and our atmosphere interact with one another. According to the article I read, when sunlight combines with different types of matter it can result in causing light to scatter. There are different types of scattering and according to the article I read the type that makes the sky look blue is called, Rayleigh Scattering. This type of scattering depends on the different wavelengths of light and the lower wavelength is the one that is scattered most and the light that goes along with this is blue as opposed to longer wavelengths that go with red light. Put in simpler terms, there is more blue light scattered than there is red light. Due to this scattering of light we see the sky as blue. While researching this question I started thinking about how during a sunset the sky changes colors. The sky will turn orange and and red sometimes with no trace of blue. Why is this? According to another article I read, Sunsets aren’t blue because when the sun is setting it is low on the horizon. Blue light gets separated away and this light doesn’t get to our eyes. The colors red and orange are the ones that don’t get scattered away and they reach our eyes causing us to see the sky as these colors.

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sources:

http://images.wisegeek.com/sky.jpg

http://www.livescience.com/32511-why-is-the-sky-

blue.htmlhttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Sunset_2007-1.jpg

I have always been someone who needs a solid amount of sleep to be able to function. Yet, some people I know can go through their day running on just 3 hours of sleep. Why is this? Do we need sleep? Do some people need sleep more than others? The idea to write my blog post on this topic came to me because I stayed up until about 2 am last week to get some of my homework done and the next day I was exhausted. On the other hand my roommate stays up until 3 am or later every night and functions completely normally the next day. I’ve always been told by my mom that you should get 8 hours of sleep each night but maybe thats not the case.

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Why Do We Sleep? 

I started off my research by looking up why it is exactly that we sleep. Despite all of the research done on this topic, scientists have a hard time answering this question. There is not just one theory as to why we sleep. According to this article there are a few. The first one mentioned is called the adaptive or evolutionary theory. This theory says we sleep because animals that were asleep during the night time are safer. Since these animals were quiet and asleep during the night/ when it was dark this behavior carried on through natural selection. Another theory mentioned in the same article is the Energy Conservation Theory. This theory says we sleep to conserve the energy that we have. There is also a theory called the Restoration Theory that basically says we sleep to give our bodies the chance to refuel. This theory is supported by many because many bodily functions like tissue repair, muscle growth and more happen during sleep. A recent theory that is vastly supported is called the Brain Plasticity Theory. Scientists don’t completely understand the concept of brain plasticity yet but essentially this theory says sleep is connected with the organization and construction of the brain. Right now in the science world there is not just one proven theory as to why we sleep but I think in the future scientists will keep making new discoveries in this field.

How Much Sleep Do We Need? 

When researching the question of how much sleep we need I came across that people of different ages all need different amounts of sleep. According to National Sleep Foundation new borns need between 14-17 hours of sleep each day as opposed to teenagers(age  14-17) who need 8-10 hours of sleep. New borns might be getting the reccomended amount of sleep but I know for a fact when I was 17 I was not getting 8-10 hours of sleep. The National Sleep Foundation also says that younger adults( ages 18-25) should be getting 7-9 hours of sleep and again I and everyone else I know does not get that amount of sleep. I seem to be surviving on about 6 hours of sleep each night. Am I suffering because I don’t get the recommended amount of sleep? There are negative effects of not getting enough sleep, this article  says you will lack alertness, you can struggle remembering things, you are more likely to get into car accidents and you can become less likely to participate in activities like exercise. If you are seriously sleep deprived it can start to affect your appearance and you can start to look older than you actually are. From what I have researched I would definitely say that sleep is extremely important for our health and mental health. Sleep is not something we can live without.

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Sources:

http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/matters/benefits-of-sleep/why-do-we-sleep

https://sleepfoundation.org/media-center/press-release/national-sleep-foundation-recommends-new-sleep-times

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https://i.ytimg.com/vi/SVQlcxiQlzI/maxresdefault.jpg

Whenever I have a dream and wake up remembering it I wonder if what I had a dream about has any meaning. I have always heard that certain dreams you have relate to something happening in your life. But, is this really true? Is there any way to prove that dreams have meaning?

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About Sleep

When doing research about this topic I learned some information about sleep in general. According to this New York Times article When doing research scientists break sleep down into two different phases, REM (rapid eye movement) sleep and non REM sleep. Dreams happen during REM sleep. REM sleep is when your eyes move all around while you sleep and you body is basically paralyzed. You don’t move around basically at all during this phase of sleeping. We know we dream during this REM phase of sleep because when surveyed 80% of people woken up during REM say they are in the middle of a dream.

Meaning Behind Dreams?

In the same article it talks about how neuroscientists essentially say dreams are mental gibberish and don’t have any secret meaning or significance. This assertion has caused a lot of dispute because many different types of therapies believe that dreams are significant. Different types of psychologists that think dreams hold psychoanalytical meaning interpret the significance in different ways. For example freudian psychologists think that what you dream are your impulses that are bad that your brain is trying to pass off as dreams. Research of neurologists strongly goes against beliefs like the ways of Freudian psychology. According to this  article dreams are fundamentally something biological. You have them to get rid of the pieces of information that are not of use to your brain. Dreams are essentially like you have a bunch of random trains of thoughts. In the New York Times article a doctor explains how dreams are bits and pieces of what happened during your day that are being added into your corresponding past memories. From what I can gather many doctors and researchers have different ways of explaining why dreams happen to us and what they mean. There are contrasting views between neurologists and some psychologists on whether dreams actually mean anything or if they are simply a biological practice. I’m curious to see if there are any discoveries that will be made in the future to tell us more about our dreams.

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sources:

http://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/10/science/do-dreams-really-contain-important-secret-meaning.html?pagewanted=all

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-theater-the-brain/201506/what-do-dreams-mean

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AAAKsdj4_-E/VQ7Ypcu0IZI/AAAAAAAALKk/jzsG_ieDzGw/s1600/o-SLEEPING-facebook.jpg

http://az616578.vo.msecnd.net/files/2016/06/18/6360188044629914142098200022_dreams.jpg

One time when I was younger and my mom told me to spit my gum out when we got into the doctors office we couldn’t find a trash can. I quickly exclaimed to my mom that i’d just swallow it. She then immediately screamed that I should never do that. “Swallowing your gum is bad for you, it’ll stay in your stomach forever”. I never thought to question my mom and from then on was scared of swallowing my gum. Some of my friends would swallow their gum around me and I would tell them its bad for them but they would tell me its not bad for you and they did it all the time. I’d never thought to do research on the subject and actually figure out the truth about swallowing gum. Does gum really stay in your stomach forever after you swallow it? If so, can this harm you? Or does it really not effect you at all?

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What Really Happens When You Swallow Your Gum? 

While doing research I came across a common misconception many people have. In almost every article I read they debunked the idea that if you swallow gum it stays in your stomach for seven years. So, my mom was clearly wrong when she told me the gum I swallowed would stay in my stomach forever. As I read article I learned that the way the stomach breaks down food is different from the way it breaks down gum. According to a different article our digestive system doesn’t have the enzymes to be able to break down the gum resin. The part of the gum that our body can’t break down goes along the digestive tract until it gets to your colon. Then it simply passes out of your body with your next bowel movement and this happens within three days of ingestion of the gum. So, were my friends who told me swallowing gum isn’t harmful right?

Can swallowing Gum be Harmful? 

Yes, they were right. Swallowing gum every once in a while by accident will not harm you and your body will simply pass the gum within just three days. But, if you are swallowing your gum every single day this will become a problem. While reading an article I learned what happens when you swallow gum too much. What happens is the digestive tract can get blocked if you either swallow too much gum at once or a lot of normal pieces of gum over time. The other article talks about a rare case when swallowing gum caused harm. In 1998 two children needed medical attention because they swallowed gum many times every day for a length of time. Clearly this is not normal behavior and it makes sense these kids needed medical attention. With the research I did on this topic it’s safe to say that if you swallow your gum every once in awhile you’ll live!

sources:

http://an%A0https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/swallowed-gum.html

It Does Not Take “7 Years” to Digest Gum

https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/swallowed-gum.html

https://kidshealth.org/EN/images/headers/K-swallowGum-enHD-AR1.gif

Why Do We Go Gray?

I have always wondered why some people start getting gray hairs when they’re twenty, yet others don’t see a gray hair on their head until well into their fifties. Why exactly is this? Is it true that people get gray hair earlier because of stress? Or is it all genetics? While researching this question I came across information about hair I have never known before. In fact, I had no idea about any of the science that explains hair color.

Science Behind Going Gray

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I learned that hair gets its color from a pigment called melanin. When you get older your hair starts to have less and less of this pigment and that is why your hair gets gray. Everyone’s hair will at some point turn gray if they live long enough. Hair will actually eventually turn white if it loses all of its pigment.  When Doctor Tobin talks about hair going gray he explains that it is because of two things; age and genetics. Genetics wise each hair follicle will age at different rates in different people. Some people get gray hair much earlier than others and that means that their melanocytes(cells causing gray hair) were producing slower than other peoples. Scientists also say that there are many other reasons that could cause hair to turn gray that are not due to genetics. For example; climate, pollutants, toxins and chemical exposure. I also read about how European researchers say that the cause of gray hair is because hydrogen peroxide builds up in your hair follicles. You can read more about the researcher’s findings here. Another website I found in my research attributes hair going gray to mainly genetics. Sinclair, the author, brings up how twins tend to both go gray around the same time. Scientists aren’t sure what gene actually controls this yet. Sinclair debunks the myth that stress is a cause of gray hair and says how other disease can produce gray hair. Some examples include; Alopecia Areata, Vitiligo and Werner Syndrome. These diseases are rare and aren’t explanations for the majority of the populations early graying. Sinclair explains that to prevent the graying scientist would have to figure out how to elongate the lives of the melanocytes (the cells causing gray hair mentioned before). As of right now, from the research I have done and the information I gathered I can conclude that there is not only one clear reason that tells us what the cause of gray hair is.

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Can We Prevent It?

Is it possible to prevent your hair from going gray? While researching this I found many natural remedies that people claim to prevent premature hair graying and to just prevent going gray in general. There is really no science that proves these natural remedies to be 100% effective but here are a few examples, Coconut oil and curry leaves, Sesame oil and carrot juice, and onion juice. Most of these remedies include having to drink the juices or apply the oils to your scalp. If it were me going gray, I’d just stick to hair coloring instead of trying these remedies. I also found some more practical and dependable options that include doing things like not smoking, exercising, and eating healthy. These options are what any person that wants to keep themselves healthy and youthful should do anyway. Another option I read about is the use of supplements according to this source the use of B source vitamins can prevent gray hair. I looked into this further and found a doctor that said that a vitamin B-12 deficiency can be a cause of premature gray hair but I found no studies done that prove it. After researching all of this I came to the conclusion that there is no one way that is completely proven to prevent hair from going gray. As for now, we just have to wait and see if science comes up with a prevention more reliable with science to prove it.

sources:

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/gray-hair-cure-scientists-find-root-cause-discoloration-6C9802771.

http://theconversation.com/health-check-why-does-hair-change-colour-and-turn-grey-37966

http://www.newhealthguide.org/How-To-Reduce-Grey-Hair.html

https://www.leaf.tv/articles/vitamins-that-prevent-gray-hair/

Does Coffee Really Work?

While walking to my classes each morning most everyone I pass has one thing in common. They all hold some kind of coffee in their hand. Whether it is from Starbucks, Au Bon Pain, or even the commons most college students have their much needed coffee in hand for surviving their morning. Everyone I know who drinks coffee says they could not live without it. My Mom has gotten to the point where she needs my Dad to actually bring her a cup of coffee in the morning to drink before she gets out of bed. I personally have never drank coffee and have always wondered how effective drinking coffee in the morning really is. Does it really energize you? Do you become addicted to it? Because I’m pretty sure everyone I know that drinks coffee is also addicted to it. When I typed in the question, does coffee really give you energy?, on google I was given many links to articles about the effectiveness of coffee. I found one that matched up perfectly with my question that talks about if caffeine really gives you energy, click here for article. 

What I found

Hansen, a wellness coach that specializes in treatment of adrenal fatigue, explains the science behind why coffee becomes less and less energizing the more often you drink it. Basically, when drinking coffee there’s a signal sent to your brain that makes your adrenal glands create adrenaline and cortisol. If you’re not an addictive coffee drinker and only have coffee every now and then these two stress hormones will be activated and cause you to feel energized by the coffee you drank. On the other hand, if you are drinking coffee every day and multiple cups of it you are not going to feel this from just a cup of coffee. Your adrenal glands are not going to have the response they would if you drank coffee less often. There was research done where people were given no caffeine, 300 mg and 600 mg over a week. To no surprise when those that were given no caffeine that week were finally given a dose of caffeine their body produced large amounts of cortisol. But, when the people who were given doses of caffeine were given more their body had no response to the caffeine.

What Does This Mean?

Caffeine is clearly addictive and when people are drinking multiple cups every day they are dependent on the stimulant. When all this coffee is consumed it takes so much of it to not feel the fatigue that is happening to coffee addicts bodies. Those who are drinking many cups of coffee each day, and are dependent on this coffee to get them through the day should cut back on their intake. If you are able to have a cup of coffee just a few times a week, your body will feel the effects of it you will not have to drink three or four cups just to stay awake.

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Hi everyone! My name is Kate Billings and I’m a freshman from Wayne, Pennsylvania, which is about thirty minutes outside of Philadelphia. I’m currently in the Division of Undergraduate Studies. I am not sure what I want to major in yet but I’m very interested in Psychology and Human development. I will most likely transfer into the health and human development school or the liberal arts school. Science and math have always been my least favorite subjects in school ever since I can remember.I have always hated science a little more than math, and didn’t want to take a biology, chemistry or physics class in college so my advisor recommended that I look at this class. I have no plans on being a science major and need a science gen-ed so this class seemed like a good fit. When I read the description I thought it was very intruiging and would help me work on my critical thinking skills.

I think in this class we will learn about interesting concepts and think about science in a new way. I have always felt that the way science is taught in High School isn’t taught effectively. All throughout my years in High School I was just memorizing formulas, people and vocabulary without really understanding concepts. click here to read more about how the way we approach teaching science isn’t effective.