12/7/2014 0 Comments Choking Under PressureBy Jenny Gong In sports, when it gets down to those few crucial final seconds in a game, even the most experienced football player could miss an easy pass that could have scored the winning touchdown. Professional basketball players with years of training can miss easy free throws that could have led to a win. When that much pressure is placed on one person, it’s easy for them to “choke”. Recently, researchers at Johns Hopkins University have found that performance depends on two factors: the incentive of winning and a person’s aversion to loss. In their study, the participants were given $100 to play a game inside in MRI machine. At the end of 300 rounds, one random round was chosen to determine what reward the participant would receive. In a separate test, each participant was asked if they would take 140 coin toss gambles for to win money. Researchers performed this test to determine each participant’s aversion to loss. By using the MRI, researchers were able to determine that the ventral striatum was triggered during the experiment. Those with high loss aversion had lower striatal activity and performed worse when faced with high potential gains. On the other hand, those with lower loss aversion had lower striatal activity when faced with large potential losses. Through this experiment, the researchers were able to conclude that the ventral striatum plays a pivotal role in motivation and performance. Hopefully, by doing further research into the ventral striatum we will one day be able to overcome our loss aversion and the term “choking under pressure” will become obsolete. Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/11/141104183606.htm
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12/7/2014 0 Comments Paternity LeaveBy Boseong Yun
The New York Times reports on the infeasibility of paternity leave as an institution. In “Paternity Leave: The Rewards and The Remaining Stigma,” Clair Cain Miller shows that the paternity leave, despite its benefits to the families, is simply not practical. Miller explains the positive impacts of taking paternity leave in her article, “men…are likely to be more involved for years to come and that their children will be healthier. Even their wives could benefit…women whose husbands take paternity leave have increased career earnings and have a decreased chance of depression in the nine months after month.” This reveals that the paternity leave does have positive impacts on the health of wives and children with more husband participation in the family. Despite these benefits, however, Miller further shows that taking paternity leave is not an option that many can afford. More specifically, men are discouraged from taking paternity leave due to potential negative effects on their career. For instance, Miller asked for opinions from a lawyer working at a large corporate law firm, and he replied, “How are you going to service your clients? What’s your level of commitment to the firm?” This shows the cultural perception that men who take paternity leave are not dedicated to the company, and this inhibits men from taking paternity leave. Choosing to take paternity leave for the family accompany costs that harm their career. In fact, the White House Council of Economic Advisers mention that the third of male workers say that they have no option to take leave, and that the percentage of paternity leave has dropped by five-percentage point from 2010 to 2014. While Miller shows that there have been various programs and initiatives undertaken to encourage taking paternity leave, the number shows that the impact has been minute. While there may be various reasons behind this pattern, it is important to notice that taking paternity leave seems to accompany economic costs for men in the end, and also how economic costs are also intricately tied to caring for the family. For some men, bringing in more money for the family may be a priority, while some men may think taking paternity leave may be more important for the family. In order to resolve this issue, there should be more research on the impacts of taking paternity leave on the long-term with empirical evidence, also how this directly affects gender inequality issues. Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/upshot/paternity-leave-the-rewards-and-the-remaining-stigma.html?_r=0 12/7/2014 1 Comment Do We Need Milk?By Bridget Hennessy Studies are starting to show that the recommended three cups of milk a day is actually too high and is a risk to women’s health. In a Swedish study, women who drank at least three glasses of milk daily were twice as likely to die in twenty years than others who drank less milk daily. It was also found that there is a direct relationship between milk intake and women’s risk of bone fracture as intake increases. There’s more evidence that galactose, a sugar found in milk, might induce oxidative stress and inflammation in women, which affects mortality and fractures. This low-grade inflammation is persistent and is characterized by dilated blood vessels and overly active immune system, which, when tested on by giving animals galactose, caused them to die much faster. From this evidence in the health of animals, scientists watched 61,433 women for twenty years. During this time, almost a quarter of the women died and more than a quarter had fractures. After looking at age, body mass index, and alcohol consumption, the researchers found that women who drank the recommended amount of milk everyday were 1.93 times more likely to die than were women who drank less than a glass of milk per day. For males, though, there is no connection between milk consumption and mortality or fractures. Source: http://www.livescience.com/48503-3-servings-milk-linked-higher-mortality.html 12/5/2014 0 Comments What’s in my smartphone?By Mary Gallagher If you’re anything like me, you spend a lot of time standing in front of vending machines, counting out pennies in your palm trying to get a bag of Cheez-Its (do I know you or do I know you?). If you’re anything like me, most of the time you probably don’t have quite enough coins to cut it. But never fear! Grab the handy precision screwdriver from your purse and pry open that smartphone. Congratulations – you’ve got $1.58 worth of gold! Enjoy those 90-cent Cheez-Its and get a flip-phone with the money left over. We use gold in smartphones and laptops for its conducting powers. When most people think “conductor” they think copper, but copper, while cheap, is actually way slower at transporting electrons than gold is. Silver is even faster than gold, but it also corrodes much faster, which is no good if you want your phone to last more than a year or so. While insignificant on the level of each individual phone (unless you’re really desperate at that vending machine), extracting precious metals like gold from electronic waste can be both highly profitable and far more environmentally sustainable than traditional gold mining. This has been shown to be successful in small experiments – for instance, over the span of four months in 2010, the Japanese government collected 567,000 used cell phones, which yielded around $784,313.00 in gold, as well as a good amount of silver, copper, and palladium.[1] But much of our e-waste is currently exported to poorer nations in exchange for cash, where cottage economies have sprung up around extracting gold from smartphones and laptops. The incomes earned from inefficient backyard extraction might be too small, however, to balance out the health impacts of the toxic pollution that comes from the e-waste.[2] If countries like the United States follow Japan’s example and recognize the profit in recycling their e-waste, hopefully they will create more sophisticated recycling programs that will both provide jobs and protect the environment and public health from e-waste pollutants. [1]http://books.google.com/books?id=kBDo5ClEaxAC&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=50+cents+of+gold+in+cell+phones& source=bl&ots=v9zUfaTuU-&sig=xMVj-_8_erVKBuSOqMr1PMQcMws&hl=en&sa=X&ei=- 4lWVKXYOtD4yQTRpYKQBQ&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q= Japanese%20government&f=false [2] http://www.iop.org/news/11/may/page_51103.html 12/5/2014 0 Comments Anxiety ManagementBy Ammara Virk
The most common type of research done on anxiety seems to focus on what causes anxiety. For example, they may focus on environmental factors such as work-related stressors as a cause for anxiety. In such cases, they are focusing on processes that “turn on” anxiety. However, as is pointed out by the article “The biology of Anxious Temperament May Lie With a Problem in an Anxiety ‘Off Switch’”, an important aspect of anxiety to consider is that dysfunction could exist in an individual’s ability to deal effectively with and diminish anxiety after its onset. Researchers at the University of Madison suggest that a specific neuropeptide, neuropeptide Y, is the ‘off-switch’ and deficiency in this neuropeptide can lead to anxiety. Also note that these deficiencies were found in the central nucleus of the amygdala, a region of the brain that plays a very important role in fear, anxiety, and their regulation. These findings have important implications for treatment: for example, in instances where preventative therapy is not possible, this will allow researchers to focus on treatments “promoting recovery after stress.” This is very helpful as early onset of extreme anxiety (that is, during childhood) can lead to problems like depression and substance abuse later on in life. Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141202082133.htm 12/5/2014 0 Comments Bio-PrintingBy Kaitlynn Bayne Remember when 3-D printing just seemed like something out of a sci-fi movie? Well as we all know, this “fantasy” has become a reality. You can buy a 3-D printer and print many things you need, even shoes! But here’s something you probably never thought of: how about a 3-D printer that prints functioning organs? Those might be a little more useful than shoes, right? Although it sounds extremely unrealistic, it is a lot closer to becoming a reality than you might think. Okay, so there won’t be a new template online that will have your printer magically make working organs. However, scientists from the Universities of Sydney, Harvard, Stanford and MIT have been working on a type of technology called “bio-printing.” The idea is similar to a 3-D printer, using interconnected tiny fibers and cell-rich protein-based material to make up the tissues (which would be the material used to make the organs). Although the technology is not at a point where it can start being used in hospitals, it is well on its way. They have successfully bio-printed small parts of tissues in the lab. This means that there is definitely a possibility that in the future, whole organs could be made with this technology. Right now, there is a much higher demand for organs than there are organ donors. Just imagine being able to print out a full organ at a hospital and it saving somebody’s life. That would be incredible. Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140630103136.htm By Claire Wiggins The University of Sussex recently published their findings in Scientific Reports, describing how people can learn to associate letters with colors in a synesthetic manner, and that this type of training may boost the individual’s IQ score. The study was initially inspired by the neurological condition Synesthesia, which causes an individual to experience overlaps in their five senses. For example, they may “see” a sound, or “taste” a shape or color. Although this condition is fairly common (about 1 in 23), scientists are unsure if it genetically inherited, if it is learned from environmental influences, or a combination of both. In the study, participants were not only able to pass tests of color-letter association, but often associated personas or moods with the letters as well. Interestingly, those who participated in this association training had an average of 12 points added to their IQ score compared to those who did not participate in any such training. Co-author of the study, Dr. Daniel Bor, commented, “The main implication of our study is that radically new ways of experiencing the world can be brought about simply through extensive perceptual training. The cognitive boost, although provisional, may eventually lead to clinical cognitive training tools to support mental function in vulnerable groups, such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity (ADHD) children, or adults starting to suffer from dementia." Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/11/141118105522.htm 12/3/2014 0 Comments Thoughts on Palliative CareBy Saara Mohammed
Leafing through the National Association of Social Work Standards for Social Work Practice in Palliative and End of Life Care, I recognized a lot of values and roles outlined that I had observed when shadowing a social worker last year. I shadowed a social worker working in the University of Michigan hospital, who, during the day I spent with her, dealt with a patient with sepsis whose family members refused to meet and come to a conclusion about continuation of care, as well as treatments prescribed by a physician that did not align with the social worker’s goals. This is the part that truly struck me. I remember the social worker mentioning all the health care professionals that she collaborated with in order to do her job well: two attending physicians, two registered nurses, one other social worker, as well as an intern. As I remember from my day, all of the aforementioned caregivers met to discuss all areas of a patient’s care. It seems that the collaboration between health care professionals is not the lacking piece that is making end-of-life care such a difficulty to handle. All health care professionals, from the interaction between techs and nurses to those between primary care physicians and specialists, are vital to the ability to help a patient. It wouldn’t make sense that a lack of interaction or collaboration is what is leading to the lack of quality care for patients at the end of life. So it might be that those interactions are lacking in respect to the professionals’ willingness to understand each other’s roles and goals, and that idea is scary. The idea is that hours of time have been spent in meetings aimed at helping the patient, without an understanding the necessity of a treatment over a lack of treatment, or the value of pulling back on treatments over pushing harder. If there are prejudices about the place or role of either professional or a lack of understanding in these interactions, then both health care professionals are failing their patients. 12/3/2014 0 Comments Clothes in a Can?By Trishanya Raju While I’m a proponent of almost anything that brings the movie world to real life, this I’m a little skeptical of. Remember the Spray-on-Shoes from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs? Well, it looks like scientists have channeled their inner Flint Lockwood to produce canned clothing. Yes, I said canned clothing. As if it weren’t already mass-produced enough. The formula is comprised of short fibers bound to polymers and a solvent that dispenses the fabric in the form of a liquid. The product is sprayed onto a person’s skin, and dries almost instantly. This makes it easy for the “clothes” to be peeled off, because the polymers wouldn’t bind to skin. A big plus is the fact that these clothes can apparently be recycled by simply cutting them up and dissolving them in a solution. The features of the material depend on the type of fibers mixed into the solution. This means that types of fibers could range from natural fibers such as wool, cotton, or silk as well as synthetic fibers such as nylon. The team that invented this product is trying to adapt the technology to create spray on, lightweight, waterproof casts alongside military staff, to help those who have lost limbs in combat, displaying the many potential uses this product could have in different aspects of society. However, my guess is that it will be largely monopolized by the fashion industry. I, for one, am scared to be too hopeful about this technology. While I think it could revolutionize fields like emergency care (instant, sterile, canned bandages), it is very likely that this technology could be misappropriated into more commercial industries. This video highlights what I’m afraid the future of this technology looks like: 12/3/2014 0 Comments Why all girls should be nerdsBy Anna Cook “Nerds” Geek, Dweeb, Nerd, Dork, in America, these are terms used slightingly to refer to unique and often academically inclined individuals. But is one’s “nerdiness” such a bad thing? According to a sociology study examining a self-identifying social group, “‘Nerds’ seem to be more intellectually motivated, valuing science, math, and studiousness" (1). 50 years ago, no one was calling themselves a nerd; it was used to label and belittle others. I am suggesting an enlistment of nerd ownership. ***Disclaimer: I am not endorsing the negative perpetuation of stereotypes or bully tactics but rather the takeover and a connotative shift of the title “Nerd”. Problems with Women’s Progress In today’s society, women make up almost half of the workforce, yet represent only a small fraction of science, engineering and political occupations. Only a fifth of physics Ph.D.’s are awarded to women, and only about half of those women are American (2). At this rate of governmental and educational progress, it is projected, “women will not achieve fair representation for nearly 500 years,” says Cynthia Terrell, in the “Representation 2020” project (3). If you do not plan to personally run for government office or obtain a physics Ph.D., what can you do? Be a nerd. Someone Needs You Developmental studies have shown, that kindergarten boys and girls equally express a want to be the president when they grow up. Years later, when asked again, many boys still maintain a desire to be president, while the proportion of aspiring girls astronomically drops. Why? In early childhood, children undergo a process referred to as “Gender Socialization”, during which they look to adults of the same sex and begin to model their behaviors. Dismally, young girls begin to look at current and past presidents and realize they aren’t “what a president looks like”. The same occurs for many aspiring rocket scientists, chemical engineers, and CEOs. If we want our youth to reach for greatness, we must first grasp our own inner greatness. Be a Nerd Be a nerd because one of the primary ways nerds differ from other groups is through the high value they place on individuality (1). Because you have the power to inspire the next Marie Curie, Emilia Earhart, or Emily Dickinson. Because exploring outer space is cool. Because for ethnically diverse nations, having a woman in top national leadership was correlated with a 6.8% greater increase in GDP growth in comparison to nations with a male leader (3). Because gifted girls, even more so than boys, usually camouflage their mathematical talent to fit in well with their peers (4). Because I’ll be the first to say it, I would rather watch jeopardy over any hit TV drama, I have an extreme ardor for all things Abraham Lincoln, and running reactions in my research lab gives me more gratification than most social accomplishments. One day someone is going to look at you with young, questioning eyes for the signal, make sure you have your nerd flag ready to fly. As Gandhi once said, “Be the nerd that you wish to see in the world”…or something like that. 1.http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/but-not-simpler/2013/08/07/whats-in-a-nerd-a-treatise/ 2.http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/magazine/why-are-there-still-so-few-women-in-science.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 3. http://www.thenation.com/article/178736/why-does-us-still-have-so-few-women-office 4.http://www.linguistics.ucsb.edu/faculty/bucholtz/sites/secure.lsit.ucsb.edu.ling.cms_bucholtz/files/docs/publications/Bucholtz1999-LinS.pdf |
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