Are Video Games Good or Bad for People?

      http://dana.org/Cerebrum/Default.aspx?id=39414
         You're parents always say that video games are bad for you. Some studies support that while others say that video games can help develop a child's brain. Both are correct according to this study. The "right" of video game will help develop a kid's brain. But, violent games, such as Battlefield or Call of Duty are known to make children more  violent. 
        In a study where 33 laparoscopic surgeons were brought together to train their surgical skills, they used a video game related simulation. The game had better predicting and testing abilities than regular training. On the other hand, in studies where kid's and even adults were exposed to violent games, they patients were prone to addiction and obesity. This brings another issue into question. How long should we spend playing this games? 
       The study does not suggest what we should do, but only gives suggestion on how we should judge the amount of games we play. The most important factors are Content, Structure, and Mechanics. The amount of time is also considered, but it is based upon the the former 4. Content refers to what the video games contain. Obviously educational games are good for the person, but in teenagers, how many of us really enjoy educational games over thrill-inducing ones? In non-educational games, there are many categories. A video game’s on-screen structure contributes to its effects. For example, some games require a player to scan the screen constantly for small changes, such as signals announcing the sudden appearance of a “dot,” and to respond quickly to these changes. (ex. Cytus) The mechanics of a video can affect the player motor skills (ex. Cytus). The mechanics is usually beneficial for the player as it improves hand-eye coordination, and in some cases, reaction times. The things need to be taken into consideration when judging how long one should play a video game. 
        However, it still leaves lots of doubt and controversy of whether video games are good for you or not. What do you guys think?

New Research Shows That Hugs Prevent Stress and Infection - Sanchit Kumar

Throughout the years of your life, you have probably heard that hugging each other relived stress and somehow helped reduce the symptoms of an infection. The question is if this statement is actually true, or if it is just some old wives tale told throughout the years. This question was tackled by a team from the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences who was lead by Sheldon Cohen who is a University Professor of Psychology in CMU's. With this question in mind researchers found that greater social support from people you know and trust can protect agains the increased susceptibility of infections that can harm you and resulted in less severe symptoms also causing less stress. In order to test this theory farther Cohen decided to do a social experiment. People dealing with ongoing conflict are less likely to fight disease and people receiving more social support are less likely to develop anxiety and depression. Based on this information Cohen brought forth 404 healthy adults in order to test his theory. Each one of them were assessed by a questionnaire and the frequencies of interpersonal conflicts and receiving hugs were derived from telephone interviews conducted on 14 consecutive nights. After this the test participants were each intentionally exposed to the common cold virus and monitored in a quarantined situation to assess the signs of the sickness that they were shown to. The results that were shown were astounding, the people with perceived support reduced the risk of infection. What is even more surprising is that hugs accounted for 1/3 of that perceived support. With all of this information brought forward Cohen came to the conclusion that being hugged by a trusted person can somewhat protect you from the harmful effects of an infection. This shows what has already been know, the less stress that you put on yourself, the more likely you are to stay away from infection. Strange that something as easy as a hug can help keep you healthy.

Works Cited:
Article - Carnegie Mellon University. "Hugs help protect against stress, infection, say researchers." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 17 December 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141217101316.htm>.

Picture-  Pelaez, Jose Luis. "Mother and Daughter Hugging." GettyImages. Getty Images, 
     n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014. <http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/ 
     mother-and-daughter-hugging-high-res-stock-photography/103051648>. 

Should We Eat Five or Six Times a Day? - Jackie Li

Throughout the centuries, it has become a norm to eat three meals a day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with the exception of a couple of snacks, of course. But through the course of data analysis, it is shown that eating smaller portions of five or six meals is healthier to your body, rather than eating three huge meals. This is all due to the fact that your body, with the fluctuating feeling of fullness and emptiness in your stomach, resulting in sleepiness and exhaustion, struggles to digest large amounts of food at one time. An example to show how much the stomach and digestive system struggles is when people start bloating after eating a large amount of food. Bloating is a build up of gas inside the body when, for example, eating too much food at once, while swallowing air unintentionally, which will lead to mild discomfort. With the five or six smaller portioned meals, there will be less bloating, due to eating less at a time, and there will also be a smaller influx of hunger, while working and waiting for the next meal. This will lead people to be more able to cope with their duties of the day, without feeling the urge to fall asleep. Eating in these portions will also help us burn more calories at a time; with eating less but more often, we will be able to burn more calories by walking briskly without starting to feel nauseous, and much more!

Nutrition and the health of ones' body has always interested me throughout my entire life, starting when I was in the third grade. I was always obsessed with my body and how I would become healthier when I was a little kid and this sparked my research on diets, disease, and exercise. Through researching these topics, I feel as if I know more which will help boost my caution with living better.

Link to the Article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-53111/Why-eating-little-best.html

Carnivorous Plant

Cephalotus follicularis by Angela Shaw

also called the pitcher plant is a carnivorous plant found in the swamps of SouthWestern Australia. This plant is known for it’s unique leave, hence the name the pitcher plant. Like all carnivorous plant the Cephalotus follicularis consumes insects, it’s adaptation to consume these insects is very unique. The  Cephalotus follicularis produces two types of leaves.

In the spring this plants produce normal leaves, this helps the plant store carbon through the process of photosynthesis. These normal leaves last for approximately a year, afterwards, when the leave production is at it’s peak the plant produces pitcher like leaves, that help the plant obtain the trap like form. This plant is approximately 3 cm. tall when producing normal leaves, and it’s maximum height when producing pitcher leaves is approximately 6 cm. The leaves/lid of the Cephalotus follicularis is normally open, exposing the digestive fluid; however if the plant is drying out, then the lid is closed to protect the digestive fluid.

The Cephalotus follicularis has a deceiving smell of a sweet nectar, coated along side the lid, this lures insects such as ants into it’s trap.  Another adaptation of this plant that allows it to survive in it’s ecosystem is the hair along side the leave that gives it protection from other organisms.

I found this article interesting because it explained the different adaptation a carnivorous plant must perform to survive in a competitive ecosystem. I also found it interesting that this plant has a seasonal routine, that includes the production of different leaves that help the plant store energy and protect itself from harmful factors in an ecosystem.

Article Link: http://botany.org/Carnivorous_Plants/Cephalotus.php
Pitcher leaves    

Normal leaves             

Life on Mars: Possible or not?- Beatriz Feijo

There has always been a great debate in astronomy whether or not there is life on Mars. Recent studies on a martian meteorite, broken from the surface of Mars by an asteroid, could be the answer to the big mystery of life on the Red Planet. The Tissint meteorite, found in 2011, underwent further analysis, which caused the discovery of carbon, which is essential to life, in the rock. This finding has brought more discussion between scientists with different views of the discovery of carbon in the meteorite. Some argue that the carbon was formed by nonliving causes, while others state that the carbon came from life on the planet. Many missions were sent to Mars in search for signs of life, and this may be one sign to life on the planet. Life on others planets is one of the greatest goals for humans, and the search for evidence has been complex. We have spent years searching for different signs of life outside of planet Earth, and invested billions of dollars on several missions to other planets. Mars, being one of the closest planets to ours, has been one of the most searched. This new meteorite might lead search for life on Mars to a whole different level. 

I have always been interested in the subject of astronomy and space, ever since I was small. Movies that contained these topics always seem to fascinate me because there are so many mysteries in our immense universe that we have not discovered. These mysteries, such as life on Mars, always make me curious to learn more. I believe that one day, perhaps when we have more developed technology, we will find life on other planets. It may not be Mars, but the Universe is so huge I think there is another form of life that we are not aware of. The discovery of this meteorite leads us one step closer to figuring out the mystery of the Red Planet.

If you want to check out the article, click here:

http://www.livescience.com/48994-mars-meteorite-life-debate.html

  

Did Birds Really Evolve From Dinosaurs Or From Something Else?- Achyut Kasi

     It was widely known in the past that birds evolved from dinosaurs on the ground. However, that idea is starting to have a closer investigation with the discovery of a new fossil found in Inner Mongolia. Personally, I would have never thought that there was a link between ground-dwelling dinosaurs and flying birds. Instead, I would have thought that there could have been a relation between a type of flying dinosaur to birds. The article goes on about how with a thorough examination of the newly discovered fossil, these researchers were able to determine that the fossil is of an early type of bird called Scansoriopteryx. This bird is closely related to tree-dwelling archosaurs who seem to have mastered basic aerodynamic maneuvers such as gliding. Also, these archosaurs lived way before the dinosaurs so the birds are not directly related to dinosaurs at all.
     I chose this article because I have always been interested in the past and findings such as this pique my interests. It was always fun for me to find out how one species was created as a result of evolution of other species. The links between the different species was fun to look at because you can see the progression from one organism to another and some possible advantages that could have came out of the evolution. 
     I found this article to be interesting because I like when people prove something to be incorrect. What gets me excited is the fact that something that was widely believed to be true was simply wrong through intensive, detailed investigations. The time of dinosaurs or anytime in the past is a beautiful mystery. No human was there to witness anything but it is important to find out and understand the past so that we, as humans, can learn everything there is to know about our sacred home, Earth.


                                                    A link to the article can be found here:
                                      http://scienceagogo.com/news/20140610064636.shtml

Pick Up the Pace! - Prat Palanichamy

     Everyone has grandparents or know elderly people that go walking because they believe it will make them healthier and be able to take on the challenges humans face at the later stages of their life, such as the inability to do things they used to be able to do and pains in their body. Although this is true, running regularly might be a much better alternative that fight back against aging in ways walking just can't. One reason why walking is not a good exercise for elderly people in the long run is because of the fact that as they get older, it becomes increasingly harder for them to even walk properly, and this leads to shorter walks, and soon, this exercise will come to a complete stop simply because the old body just can't keep up with these activities.

        According to a The New York Times article, researchers at the University of Colorado in Boulder and Humboldt State University in Arcata, Calif. started wondering if this decline of older people's physical ease is inescapable, or if it can be reversed or slowed by other exercises, and running in particular. 30 men and women from Boulder were recruited in the age range of late 60's to 70's to conduct the university's research. 

     Fifteen of these volunteers walked at least 30 minutes or more for 3 weeks, and the other fifteen ran for at least 30 minutes or more for 3 weeks. The scientists then gathered the volunteers and had them all walk on special treadmills where their oxygen intake and how hard their feet hit the treadmill, to assess their bio-mechanics were recorded at the Locomotion Laboratory in the University of Colorado.

     As it turned out, the runners had more efficient walking than that of the walkers, because they required less energy to keep up with the pace of the treadmill. The runners did so well that the researchers compared the older people's walking efficiency to the walking efficiency of younger people who were conducted in a previous experiment. The researchers found that the walking efficiency of the older runners(ranging in ages from late 60's to 70's) had about the same efficiency of of a sedentary college student. 

      The reason for this is because of the fact that prolonged aerobic exercise, such as running, is known to increase the number of mitochondria within muscle cells. This increase in mitochondria provides more energy to move for longer periods of time with less effort. Also, the runners are also believed to be more coordinated than the walkers, and this allows for fewer muscles that are needed to contract during movement, which means less energy is spent.

      This study shows that there are better ways for older people to stay in shape and keep their body fit, and could really benefit the health of older people. I chose this topic because it goes along very well with the topic we are learning in class, which is energy balance and learning about how the foods we eat and the different types of exercise play a big role in our lives. Running can be a great exercise for people of all ages, as it burns calories and has many long-term benefits and keeps us in shape. Also, I really enjoy running, so this article was interesting to me. 

New York Times Article

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/12/03/run-to-stay-young/?src=me&_r=0

Another Case Against The Midnight Snack- Gabriella Hinks

   When pulling an all-nighter, it is never complete without lots and lots of food. The thing that many people don't realize is the effect these "midnight snacks" are having on their health. In a study done by the Sulk Institute for Biological Studies, they used mice as a representation of the effects the late night snacks have on a persons weight over a period of time. It was found that mice being fed a high-fat diet but with a shortened window of opportunity to eat, were leaner and healthier than the mice given the same options with no restrictions on when they could eat. This was shocking to me because I had always been told that a healthy and balanced diet was one of the keys to a healthy life. Now this is changing to not only what you eat but also when you eat it. This could change the lives of so many people significantly because as it has been shown our country has a higher obesity average than most. If we could simply restrict them from eating at certain times, we would be one step closer to our goal of each individual having a healthy and balanced lifestyle. It was shown that a simple restriction of time caused a body fat drop of 5% over the course of just a few days. Imagine if this was everyday.

 

   I chose this article because I feel this study will have significant affect on our treatment of obesity and help us gain our goals of a healthy and comfortable body weight and life style for everyone. I find it really interesting that no longer is it just what you eat that has an affect on your health but when you eat it too. So before you decide to cut all fatty foods out of your diet in hopes to "slim-down" why not try simply giving yourself a time window where you can eat the foods you enjoy.  

 

   

 

For more information here is the link to the article:http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141202123735.htm