Laura’s Psychology Blog

Keep Calm and Carry on! the Doctor is In!

Here is what I am reading today:

• blame it on the lamprey!

“The sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) is an aggressive parasite that is considered a pest in many regions, including the US Great Lakes. An ancient vertebrate, its lineage diverged from that of humans about 500 million years ago. The lamprey is now our earliest vertebrate ancestor to have its whole genome sequenced and assembled. Credit: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.”

• digital learning for teachers and students

“As politicians and academics debate the future of higher education, it is already happening — in dorm rooms, off-campus apartments and living rooms around the world.

Estela Garcia, a working mother from Menlo Park, attends class at her kitchen table after she puts her daughters to bed; Tim Barham, a UC Berkeley senior, takes statistics at home after a day at work; and Oakland teenager Sergio Sandoval studies a college course while in high school.”

• the brain can protect itself from damage

“The Oxford University researchers hope that harnessing this inbuilt biological mechanism, identified in rats, could help in treating stroke and preventing other neurodegenerative diseases in the future. ‘We have shown for the first time that the brain has mechanisms that it can use to protect itself and keep brain cells alive,’ says Professor Alastair Buchan, Head of the Medical Sciences Division and Dean of the Medical School at Oxford University, who led the work.”

• top 10 paying college degrees!

“- Computer engineering, $70,400
- Chemical engineering, $66,400
- Computer science, $64,400
- Aerospace engineering, $64,000
- Mechanical engineering, $62,900
- Electrical/Electronics and communications engineering, $62,300
- Civil engineering, $57,600
- Finance, $57,300
- Construction science/management, $56,600
- Information sciences and systems, $56,100″

Today is the 27th Anniversary of the Legend of Zelda…. I have enjoyed this series immensely!

Here is what I am reading today:

• implants go WIRELESS??

“Retina Implant AG, the leading developer of subretinal implants for patients blinded by retinitis pigmentosa (RP), announced results from part of its multicentre study were published today in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The research found that, during the course of a three to nine month observation period, functional vision was restored in the majority of nine German patients implanted with a subretinal microchip as part of the first module of the Company’s second human clinical trial. In addition, visual acuity for two of the nine patients surpassed the visual resolution of patients from the Company’s first human clinical trial.”

• heroes saving strangers

“Three men jumped onto the subway tracks to save a man who fell off a Manhattan platform early Sunday, barely avoiding the next train rolling into the station. 

“Bacon” flowers for St. Valentine’s Day!

Here is what I am reading today:

• cookwares and carpets and arthritis

• do you eat your dessert first? it may depend on your age

“Will you save the best chocolate in the box until last? Do you want the good news first or the bad? Your preferences may depend on your age, reports a Cornell study published in Psychology and Aging. In a series of experiments, younger adults preferred to get aversive experiences out of the way and save the most positive ones for last, confirming prior research. However, preferences for the timing of emotional experiences differed by age. Older adults would rather intersperse the good with the bad, and this may have implications for financial planning, medical choices and work life, the authors say. “Our research is the first to systematically examine age differences in preferences for emotional sequences,” said Corinna Loeckenhoff, assistant professor of human development in Cornell’s College of Human Ecology, who authored the study with former students Andrew Reed, Ph.D. ’11, and Skye Maresca ’11.”

Here I am living in a VIRTUAL world at UCSB’s lab!

Here is what I am reading today:

• do we ‘eat to dream?’

“You are what you eat,” the saying goes, but is what you eat playing a role in how much you sleep? Sleep, like nutrition and physical activity, is a critical determinant of health and well-being. With the increasing prevalence of obesity and its consequences, sleep researchers have begun to explore the factors that predispose individuals to weight gain and ultimately obesity. Now, a new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania shows for the first time that certain nutrients may play an underlying role in short and long sleep duration and that people who report eating a large variety of foods – an indicator of an overall healthy diet – had the healthiest sleep patterns. The new research is published online, ahead-of-print in the journal Appetite.”

• how do we view MS today?

“Multiple sclerosis, a brain disease that affects over 400,000 Americans, causes movement difficulties and many neurologic symptoms. MS has two key elements: The nerves that direct muscular movement lose their electrical insulation (the myelin sheath) and cannot transmit signals as effectively. And many of the long nerve fibers, called axons, degenerate.”

• ‘light’ sodas and diabetes

“Artificially sweetened sodas have been linked to a higher risk of Type 2 diabetes for women than sodas sweetened with ordinary sugar, a French study unveiled on Thursday found.”

• what to do on a first date?

“First dates are generally the date where you get to know each other. So, dinner and something where the two of you can talk would be good. Some would say movie, but I’d say not. You can’t talk during a movie……”

Do you recognize this? If you do chances are someone around you plays ZELDA! Video games are great for family fun and great for your brain! Yes, I caught this fish!

Here is what I am reading today:

• Writing a better paper… using your phone!

“CHICAGO, Jan. 15, 2013 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Questia ( www.questia.com ), the premier online research and paper-writing tool for students, today announced the release of its new iOS app designed specifically to provide a compelling mobile research experience, allowing students to write even better research papers faster.

According to a recent Questia survey, students spend an average of seven hours researching each term paper, while many spend 10 hours or more! The same survey also discovered that, after researching, the average college student spends a total of 6-10 hours writing their research paper.”

• web heroes

“Usually, when a waiter refuses to serve someone at a restaurant, customers complain. In this case, customers cheered.

The waiter in question, Michael Garcia, has been receiving goodwill and friend requests on the restaurant’s Facebook page since word spread that he stood up for a child with special needs.

Garcia, who works at the Houston restaurant Laurenzo’s, was waiting on a family, regulars with a 5-year-old child, Milo, who has Down syndrome. The server said that another family at the restaurant commented on Milo’s behavior, which Garcia described as “talking and making little noises.” Garcia moved the complaining family to another table, but they were still unhappy. “Special needs children need to be special somewhere else,” the father reportedly said.”

• boosting a child’s IQ

“Supplementing children’s diets with fish oil, enrolling them in quality preschool, and engaging them in interactive reading all turn out to be effective ways to raise a young child’s intelligence, according to a new report published in Perspectives on Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.”

my brother on Wikipedia

(A friend pointed out that my brother had a Wiki page)

“Leroy Sievers (June 16, 1955 – August 15, 2008) was a journalist who won 12 national news Emmy Awards, two Peabody Awards, and two Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards.^[1][2] He was a commentator for National Public Radio, served as a bureau chief for CBS news, served as an executive producer for the ABC program Nightline, and covered a variety of global conflicts as a war correspondent. Sievers was also was part of the Discovery Channel program entitled Living with Cancer, hosted by his friend Ted Koppel. This show was taped at the Discovery Channel Headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland on May 6, 2007″

• top concerns of parents and students entering college

“…..Parents most worry about: 1. Losing touch with the student. 2. Forging a new parent-child relationship. 3. The perils of drugs and alcohol and poor judgment. 4. The student’s inability to handle 24/7 freedom (read: sleeping through classes). 5. Not being able to let go of knowing what’s going on with the child. 6. The student’s safety in an unfamiliar environment. 7. Changes in the family dynamic due to the student’s departure. 8. Not being able to keep up with tuition and expenses. In contrast, students’ top worries are:….“