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by Sam F
Many people love the taste of hamburgers and hot dogs and other red meats. Even though red meat gives you protein, a new study shows that red meat is harmful because it can cause cancerous tumors. This research was conducted by researchers from University of California and San Diego School of Medicine.

When you eat a delicious hamburger, a molecule enters your body which causes swelling which can lead to  a tumor. Neu5Gc or glycan, or a sugar molecule which humans don’t make can combine with the tissue because you ate a hamburger. Your body then develops anti- Neu5Gc which reacts to make your tissue have swelling constantly. They found out that Neu5Gc causes tumors because they saw a lot more of it in tissues that have tumors then tissues with out it, so it must mean it causes tumors. Scientists also found out that the constant swelling from Neu5Gc can also stimulate cancer.

Scientists have tried this on mice. Scientists got a lot of mice that didn’t have much Neu5Gc. They did this because it is like a human that has not eat a hamburger yet. The scientists caused the mice to have tumors and then they gave half of the mice anti-Neu5Gc so they can mimic a human. The mice given the anti-Neu5Gc had tumors that grew even more and the other mice given this didn’t have as severe tumors. This proves that red meat can not be the best selection to receive protein from.

Is red meat the only meat that can cause this? How many hamburgers do you think you have to eat in order for you to develop a tumor? Would you be able to abandon this addictive meat?

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by Logan

Have you ever wondered how caffeine works?  In this article, I found out how caffeine can affect your brain.  Adenosine is the chemical in your brain that causes sleepiness.  Adenosine binds to receptors on brain cells, causing drowsiness by slowing down nerve cell activity.  When a person takes in caffeine it binds to the adenosine receptors in the brain.  Now the adenosine cannot bind to the adenosine receptors because the caffeine is already there.  Without caffeine the adenosine would cause the cells in the brain to slow down, but with caffeine in your body the cells will speed up.  This will allow you to stay awake longer than normal.

There are some problems in taking caffeine as well.  When the caffeine wears off you will normally feel extremely tired.  Also, if you tend to take caffeine a lot it could cause fatigue and depression.  As you could imagine, taking large doses of caffeine every day would be very unhealthy because everybody needs their sleep.

Have you ever taken caffeine in order to stay awake all night?  If so, how did you feel the next morning?  What substance do you think contains the most caffeine in it?

This is a repost.  Original post published March 6, 2008.

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by Miss Baker

Take this short quiz*. Answer yes or no to each question. There is no right or wrong answer so don’t think too hard about each question. Just answer it honestly.

1. My intelligence is something very basic about me that I can’t really change.
2. When I don’t understand something I like to slow down and try to figure it out.
3. I am intimidated by academic challenges.
4. I have been told by others that I am smart.
5. Learning is fun.
6. I often feel unmotivated to learn.
7. When I don’t do well in a subject I think that I must not be very good at that particular subject.
8. When I perform poorly academically I do not get discouraged.
9. When I don’t understand something, I get very frustrated and want to give up.
10. I shouldn’t have to work as hard in subjects that I am naturally good at.

Scoring

Give yourself four points for each of the following questions you answered YES to: 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, and 10.

Give yourself minus 2 points for each of the following questions you answered YES to: 2, 5, 8.

If you scored +15 you believe that intelligence is fixed.
If you scored 10-15 you believe that intelligence is mostly fixed.
If you scored 5-10 you believe that intelligence is somewhat fixed.
If you scored less than 5 you believe that intelligence is not fixed.

So, what does this mean? By the time students have reached the 9th grade they already have well-established beliefs about how they learn. When a student in the classroom does really well on an exam, other students will say he or she is “smart”. Those students who didn’t do so well may say their poor performance is due to not being as “smart”.

There are two ways of thinking about learning. On one hand, a student believes that some people are just naturally smart. Those people don’t have to work that hard at learning. Things just come easy to them. School comes easy to them. Their teachers have probably said things to them like, “you’re so smart” or “you’re really intelligent”. The student who believes that the ability to learn is innate or fixed is said to have a fixed mind-set. A student who believes they are not naturally smart and that there is little they can do to improve their learning ability also has a fixed mind-set. In my experience, it appears that most students have this mind-set.

On the other hand is the student who believes that they can do well in school, but only when they work hard at it. The student knows they must work hard to do well and they give their school work a great deal of care. This student is said to have a growth mind-set.

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Which of these two ways of thinking is best? Which students will end up succeeding in the long run, those with the fixed mind-set or the growth mind-set? Most people would say naturally “smart” students will fair better. They have a “gift” and are “gifted”, therefore, they will have greater success in school.

However, according to the data, they would be very wrong. Students with a fixed mind-set not only do worse in school in the long run, they also suffer more in their professional and personal life.

The fixed mind-set starts to backfire for the “smart” students as they get into high school and classes become more challenging. The December ‘07 issue of Scientific American Mind included an article summarizing over 30 years of research on the connection between student performance and the way students think about how they learn.

Research shows that an overemphasis on intellect or talent - and the implication that such traits are innate or fixed - leaves people vulnerable to failure, fearful of challenges and unmotivated to learn.

Having a fixed mind-set can lead to experiencing great disappointment when a student performs poorly because they begin to lose confidence in their ability. Since they have been repeatedly told that they are “smart”, when they do poorly, they automatically begin to doubt themselves and start to believe that they are “stupid”. Or they may begin to blame their teachers or peers for their failures. Instead of bouncing back from their failure, they continue to struggle.

A person with a fixed mind-set often feels the pressure to “look smart” and so they begin to avoid challenges, they give up easily, see effort as being wasted time, and they are easily intimidated by the success of others.

A person with a growth mind-set desires to learn and thus, they enjoy challenges, bounce back from setbacks, see effort as being necessary to progress, and they learn from other people’s success.

I bring up this research now because we’re going to be talking about animal intelligence in class tomorrow. One of the things we’ll examine is the very nature of the nervous system. As it turns out, the brain is a flexible and malleable organ. It improves with mental exercise (aka learning). Understanding this will help those with a fixed mind-set make the transition to a growth mind-set.

Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. -Albert Einstein

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Read one of these research articles below and answer the following questions:

1) What evidence in the research supports the advantage of a growth mind-set over a fixed mind-set?

2) Explain one of the quantitative findings provided by this study.

3) Will this study have any impact on the way you approach your learning in school?

Praise for Intelligence Can Undermine Children’s Motivation and Performance

Self-Discipline Outdoes IQ in Predicting Academic Performance of Adolescents

Why Do Beliefs about Intelligence Influence Learning Success? A Social Cognitive Neuroscience Model

Implicit Theories of Intelligence Predict Achievement across an Adolescent Transition: A Longitudinal Study and an Intervention

Subtle Linguistic Cues Affect Children’s Motivation

The Secret to Raising Smart Kids

*Please note that the quiz was created by Miss Baker and is not meant to substitute as an accurate method of determining learning patterns.

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by Ashley

Many of us look forward to the time of the year when the clocks are pushed back and the seasons start changing. However, for many people this can be a very difficult time. For years, mental health professionals have questioned whether or not seasonal mood swings are caused by a chemical imbalance of Serotonin. Serotonin is a chemical messenger that transmits nerve signals. It moderates one’s mood (sadness, anger, aggression, etc…) and physiological functions (mating, eating, sleeping, etc…). Low serotonin levels have been linked to depression and mood-swings. The level of Serotonin in the brain is determined by the amount of sunlight you are exposed to. When the clocks are pushed back during the fall and winter months, it gets darker earlier, which results in less sunlight exposure. When less light is received by the human body, the serotonin levels decrease, resulting in depression.

A study conducted by Nicole Praschak-Rieder, M.D., and Mathaeus Willeit, M.D. of the the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and the University of Toronto involved taking 88 healthy people around the age of 33, and doing PET (positron emission tomography) scans to detect the amount of Serotonin in the brain. These tests were done between December 1, 1999 and December 9, 2003. The test results of the serotonin levels were then related to meteorological data. These tests also show the amount of activity of the Serotonin transporters. Serotonin transporters help regulate the mood-altering neurotransmitter of Serotonin in the brain. The higher the transporter activity, the lower the Serotonin level is.  This study showed that brain scans taken at different times of the year varied.

In the fall and winter months they found a higher transport activity in the individuals tested at that time, than the individuals tested during the spring and summer months. The potential value of the serotonin transporters in the fall and winter months compared to the spring and summer months were .01 to .001. “The binding potential values showed negative correlations with average duration of daily sunshine in all brain regions. (p= -.021 to -0.39, P= .05 to <.001)."  Since the values of the transporter activity were higher, the Serotonin circulated less in the brain. Since we are exposed to the sun less during the fall and winter months, the Serotonin levels are less. This study has shown that low Serotonin levels in the brain during the colder months with less sunlight exposure, may result in the seasonal blues.

So, fall and winter months=less sunlight= high transporter activity= lower serotonin levels.

Do you think this study is accurate? Would gender play an important part in determining the results of the tests done? Would other health conditions affect the results? What about the environment and temperature? Do you feel the effects of low serotonin levels in the winter months?

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by Leah

October is my favorite month, and do you know why? SCARY MOVIES!!! How many of you are scared of horror movies? I personally am not, and there is nothing I like more than Halloween scary movie marathons on TV. But, I did not see my first scary movie until I was in high school.

Researchers from the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York-Presbyterian and Columbia University Medical Center studied how a mother’s violent past will effect her relationship with her children, and what effects it has directly to her children. Dr. Daniel S. Schechter was the study’s principal investigator. The study included 41 inner-city mothers of very young children, ages 8-50 months, from New York City with a history of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The mothers included both untreated and treated PTSD that was related specifically to violent experiences such as physical and sexual abuse, assault, and family violence before the age sixteen.

Schechter focused on studying what impact the mother’s PTSD has on the development of their child’s emotional regulation and social cognition during their first four years of life. They were looking for ways to develop treatments that could stop the violence in families due to the parents’ violent past. Schechter was looking for connections between the mother’s PTSD and their response to their child, specifically when their child was in distress.

During the experiments, Schechter measured the salivary cortisol levels before and 30 minutes after a videotaped play that showed their children. Twice during the movie, the child was brought in to the mother and then taken away. They also measured the cortisol levels 30 minutes after the mothers were separated from their children. Cortisol is a hormone involved in stress.

The results showed no definite conclusion. The baseline salivary cortisol values were not linked with their childhood violent traumas. The cortisol levels were also not linked to their current psychiatric symptoms, including their current PTS symptoms. None of the variables in the study showed significant association with pre-stress or post-stress salivary cortisol levels.

Schechter concluded that cortisol reactivity was not correlated with violent trauma during their analysis. Schechter still believes that violent, trauma-associated emotional problems may increase the risk for transmission of emotional instability from parenting behavior to young children.

Another part of the study included how the mothers react to their children’s exposure to violence, and the effects of violence in the media on children. Schechter found that these women with PTSD watched more violent movie, and more television, as children than mothers without PTSD. Schechter also found that mothers who tried to avoid reminders of their violent past were more drawn to violent media. Schechter believes that, “…mothers with violence-related PTSD, who wish to shield themselves and their children from violence, inadvertently expose themselves and their children to violence…perhaps as a way of feeling a sense of control in the present over very frightening memories….”

By trying to sensor what they are exposed to through being able to choose what they watch, the mothers get a false sense of control, and end up exposing their children to violence and horror. Media rated appropriate for children often is not.

They concluded that children under the age of five, though they are not able to understand scary movies, are psychologically affected by the scenes they are exposed to. Children are not able to distinguish reality from fantasy, and this can cause long-term behavioral effects.

They also found in the study that watching any television is problematic. Schechter advises that children should not watch more than two hours of television for school age children, and no more than 30 minutes for children under the age of six. Children can not comprehend that what they see is not real.

Effects on children exposed to violence are limitless; violence, anxiety, night-terrors, sleep disorders, and self-endangering behaviors are just some. Scary movies have that title for a reason, they are scary. Expecting a child to watch a horror film and not be scared is unreasonable. Children under the age of 13, I believe, are not able to understand that  movies are made up and are not real.

Would you show your little brother or sister a scary movie? Should gender be a factor in this research? Should mothers without PTSD and mothers with PTSD brought about from causes other than the once listed be added to this study? Why do you think all the results were inconclusive?

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by Jenna G

Have you ever heard a fan say “Well, my baseball team is at a disadvantage because they aren’t playing at their home field.” Did you look at them and say that has nothing to do with how they play. Well if you did, you were wrong! A new study shows that baseball players don’t necessarily play as well when they travel from one time zone to another. Researchers at the Martha Jefferson Hospital’s Sleep Medicine Center in Charlottesville, Va . have studied over 5,000 MLB games in over 10 years.

Everyone needs a full day to get used to the different time zones, to get in the groove of how they would normally act physically and mentally. Some people use the term “jet lag” which refers to body rhythms.  It is kind of like waking and sleeping.  Being disturbed can affect you in your physical capabilities and your mental abilities as well.

From one side of the country to another, such as California to New York, is a three hour difference. When it is 9 a.m. in Los Angeles, it is noon in New York. In this case, when the L.A. Dodgers travel to New York to play the Yankees, the Dodgers are at huge disadvantage.   When the team arrives they still feel as if they are in the Los Angeles time zone. If the Yankees haven’t been traveling as well, then that would mean that the Dodgers are at a disadvantage, or as scientists would say “Circadian”.

Do you think other sports are affected in this way as well? What should they do to prevent from being affected by this in a game?

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by Hope

Gymnastics is continuously overlooked as not being a dangerous sport, but a study shows that gymnastics has the highest injury rate of all girls’ sports. This study was conducted by researchers at the Center for Injury Research and Policy (CIRP) at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.  It was published in the April electronic issue of Pediatrics and looked at children from age 6 to age 17. These children were treated in hospital emergency departments for gymnastics-related injuries between 1990 and 2005. According to the research, there have been on average 27,000 injuries this year, and nearly 426,000 injuries in a 16-year period.

“Many parents do not typically think of gymnastics as a dangerous sport,” said study senior author Lara McKenzie, PhD, MA, principal investigator in CIRP at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “In fact, many parents consider it an activity. Yet gymnastics has the same clinical incidence of catastrophic injuries as ice hockey.”

The majority of gymnastics injuries -40 percent- occurred at school or in recreation/sports. Girls had more upper extremity injuries, and boys were more likely to have head and neck injuries. Fractures and dislocations were more common with children ages 6 to 11. Strains and sprains were more common with ages 12 to 17.

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“Our study suggests prevention and reduction of gymnastics injuries may be achieved by the establishment and universal enforcement of rules and regulations for gymnasts, coaches and spotters,” said McKenzie, also an assistant professor at The Ohio State University College of Medicine.

Data for the study were obtained from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to calculate national estimates of injuries. The analysis included cases of gymnastics-related injuries treated in emergency departments across the country during the 16-year period.

What other sports have a high injury rates? How many people are in the hospital because of those sports? Are those injuries long or short term injuries and can the injuries affect you when you get in your 50’s or 60’s?

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by Jenna P

The secret to Michael Phelps’ success is his amazing ability to mimic the movement of a dolphins kick. The dolphin kick is a wave like motion that starts at the head of the dolphin with a dip of the head, and the wave goes to the hips and then to the flukes (the fins on the back of the dolphin). The flukes are what give the dolphin propulsion and speed.

This dolphin kick has been used in swimming since the invention of the butterfly, and has always been known as the strongest most powerful kick. A swimmer is aloud to use the butterfly kick in any stroke except the breaststroke whenever he or she is submerged under water. In 1996 at the Olympic Games, Russian swimmer Denis Pankratov found a loop hole in the rules and swam over half the length of the pool in underwater dolphin kick. The officials quickly closed the loop hole by allowing a swimmer a maximum of 15 meters of underwater dolphin kick but they almost never use that much (source).

Phelps’ dolphin kick is unlike any other, mainly because of his personal physique. He is 6 foot 4 inches tall, but his legs are the same size of a man who is 5 foot 11 inches. This makes his legs much shorter than his upper body, much like a dolphin. He also has size 14 feet which he can hyperextend beyond the point of a ballet dancer. Phelps practically has built in flippers, which are very much like a dolphins flukes. Swimmers also mimic dolphins in the simplest way, they put their arms above their head and put their feet together to create streamline, and wear special swim suits that are made of a material that has less drag the human skin, it is much like a dolphin’s skin (source).

Michael Phelps has been named the fastest thing in the water. This is true for the human race. However, dolphins can swim up to 25 mph, and Phelps can swim up to 6 mph. So, in reality Michael Phelps is more human than dolphin.

Have you ever used dolphin kick and then regular kick to swim? If so could you tell the difference if how fast you were going? Michael Phelps’ legs are short compared to his body, why do you think this makes him go faster?

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by Miss Baker

Let’s discuss the upcoming election and what it means for the future of science.

Some sites to check out:

• Science Debate 2008 includes 14 science-based questions asked of both candidates and includes their answers side-by-side.
• Scientific American lists the scientific challenges the next President will have to deal with and includes some information on how each candidate views those challenges.
• Scientists are adding videos to a YouTube thread called A Vote for Science.  You can read more background regarding these videos on this website.

In your comment to this post you must answer one of the questions below:

1. Pick one of the questions asked of the candidates in the Science Debate 2008.  Summarize the statements of both candidates and identify both the advantages and disadvantages in each candidates response.  Comments that list the advantages or disadvantages only of just a single candidate will be deleted.
2. Research a scientific challenge listed on the Scientific American website and discuss the way in which both candidates expect to deal with that particular challenge.
3. View a couple of the videos found on the YouTube page.  Which candidate do the majority of scientists appear to support in the 2008 election - McCain or Obama?  Why?  Do you agree or disagree with them?  Explain why.

*As always, comments are moderated for content.  Make sure your comment is fact-based and is backed by a credible source.  Opinions only will be deleted.

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by Jennifer

A research team at the University of Cambridge recently discovered that there is a link between antisocial behavior in adolescent males and reduced levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Levels of cortisol usually increase when people experience something stressful to them, like public speaking and taking tests. Increased cortisol helps with memory foundation and to regulate emotions, especially their temper and violent impulses. Their research found that adolescents that show antisocial behavior do not have the same cortisol increase as normal people when under stress. This shows that some cases of antisocial behavior can be seen as a kind of mental illness linked to physiological symptoms like a chemical imbalance of cortisol. The research suggests that antisocial behavior is more biologically-based than previously thought.

Cortisol is an important hormone in the body, performing several tasks. It makes sure you have the proper glucose metabolism, regulates your blood pressure, releases insulin for maintaining blood sugar levels, and helps your immune system function. It is ordinarily present in higher levels in the morning and is lower at night. Since levels also rise under stress, with a fight of flight response, it can give you a boost of energy, heighten memory, increase immunity, and lower sensitivity to pain. Prolonged high cortisol levels can hurt you, too. That has negative effects such as blood sugar imbalances, decrease in muscle tissue, higher blood pressure, and lowered immunity. To keep cortisol levels healthy, the body’s relaxation response should activate after the stressful activity is over.

What helps you relax after doing something that stresses you out? Do all people who show antisocial behavior have a lack of cortisol increases in stressful situations, or is this only in severe cases? Does cortisol play a role in diabetes?

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by Hope

75% of parents let their child skip an exam for an important game, and only 47% of musicians’ parents would let them skip an exam for a concert or performance. A study conducted at the University of Haifa by Sharon Yaniv, Prof. Ron Lidor and Prof. Avigdor Klingman looked at 203 students in 7th to 12th grade in northern Israel in four different schools who play in sports leagues, seventy parents, six coaches, four team managers, ten educational counselors, and five school study counselors. Some of the students were on the school all-star teams, others were on active sport leagues, and the rest as the control group, were student musicians. This study not only looks at how many parents would let their child skip an exam, but it also looks at teenagers’ moods, disappointment, frustration and if they receive preferential treatment.

The teenagers’ moods had different effects with the participation of sports. All three groups had a high percentage of being in a good mood; 97% of all-star sports; 92% of those in sport leagues; and 88% of musicians. However, 80% of all-star sportsman reported that the sports might cause them to be in a bad mood, while 51.1% of those in sports leagues and only 28% of musicians. Participation in sports also causes athletes more disappointment; 70% of all-star athletes; 60% of players in sports leagues; and only 28% of musicians. Disappointment is also related to frustration; 66% percent of all-star athletes; 50% of those in sports leagues and 32% of musicians.

Athletes who represent the school receive preferential treatment. 63% of all-star athletes said that schools gave them special consideration, compared to 52% of musicians, and 40% of those in sport leagues. Also, the all-star players said the schools help give them extended deadlines for essays, homework, reports, etc., while the musicians only had 44% and the sport leagues 33%. In addition, 63% of all-stars said the schools helped them with tutoring sessions, while those in sport leagues had 11% and only 8% musicians.

After those facts, it is no surprise that the principals interviewed said,” Sports is one of the most popular interests in the school. This can be seen by the fact that the athletes’ needs are met through designing special programs, consideration of their needs, consideration of their teachers, competitions and placing the school athletics program high on our list of priorities…Sports is as popular a subject as communications and electronics, but sports raise school pride while other areas of study do not.” But the guidance counselors said exactly the opposite,” They are cognizant of their own needs but not the needs of others. It’s not a good part of their character, or their personality; the contempt for others, their condescending behavior and their feeling of superiority.”

The researchers summarized,” For young athletes, those that are active in sports leagues and primarily those that represent their school, there are unique needs that require special handling. Given that, the focus on athletic achievements and the pride they bring the school could harm other educational values that students should be taught.”

What Do You Think? Do You Think Being An Athlete Affects Your Personality? Do Athletes At Your School Get Special Treatment Like The Ones Above? Does Being An Athlete Affect Your Mood?

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by Samantha H

Have you ever been so tired, you feel like you might fall asleep at school? But you manage to stay awake all day?

In your brain, there is a chemical called dopamine that keeps you from passing out whenever you are completely drained from sleep. It is a complicated chemical, but somehow it influences the way you work and think.

Some scientists in Maryland and New York tested fifteen healthy people on the study of sleep loss and the amount of dopamine in their brains. They tested each person by letting them get a full night’s sleep and then kept them up all night the next night. This experiment was testing their memory and focus after each night and the amount of dopamine in their brains.

The scientists observed that when the people stayed up all night, the level of dopamine in their brains increased in the striatum which is the part of the brain that responds to motivations and rewards, and the thalamus which controls how alert you feel. From this observation, the scientists concluded that higher level of dopamine means it can keep you awake even if you feel tired and they also think that dopamine can help control how well you function without a lot of sleep.

Even though this may help you feel more awake, some brains are better at letting them concentrate with high levels of dopamine. You should not have too much dopamine, but you can’t have too little; you have to have the perfect amount, says sleep researcher Paul Shaw. Also, you should still get a good night’s sleep before a test because even if you might feel okay, you should still stay away from sleep deprivation and exhaustion.

Have you experienced the effects of dopamine when you are very tired and you were able to focus better? Do you think that you remember things and focus better when you are exhausted or when you get a good night’s sleep?