Here is what I am reading today:
“Tomatoes are high in the antioxidant lycopene. The study found that people with the highest amounts of lycopene in their blood were 55 percent less likely to have a stroke than people with the lowest amounts of lycopene in their blood. The study involved 1,031 men in Finland between the ages of 46 and 65. The level of lycopene in their blood was tested at the start of the study and they were followed for an average of 12 years. During that time, 67 men had a stroke.”
“Named in a scientific paper for the first time in 1979, bulimia nervosa has been studied extensively since. But while researchers explore its causes, diagnosis and treatment, the origins of the condition have attracted considerably less attention. Chrissie Giles meets two researchers who were instrumental in establishing bulimia nervosa as an eating disorder to find out more about their thoughts on its history.”
“First impressions are powerful and are formed in all sorts of social settings, from job interviews and first dates to court rooms and classrooms. We regularly make snap judgments about others, deciding whether people are trustworthy, confident, extraverted, likable, and more. Although we have all heard the old adage, “don’t judge a book by its cover,” we do just that. And at the same time that we are judging others, we in turn communicate a great deal of information about ourselves – often unwittingly – that others use to size us up.”
“NME report that the vintage rock’n’rollers will release ‘Doom And Gloom’ tomorrow. The track will be given its first radio airing on BBC Radio 2 at 8.15am BST, and will be made available for download immediately afterwards. The track was recorded during recording sessions in Paris earlier this year.
‘Doom And Gloom’ is plucked from a new Stones best-of compilation, titled GRRR!. The 50 track whopper of an album is due on November 12, and will also feature a further new track, entitled ‘One More Shot’.”
“Phylogeny: Rewriting evolution Tiny molecules called microRNAs are tearing apart traditional ideas about the animal family tree. (Credit: Elie Dolgin) #NPG #NaturePubGrp”
17 Comments
LeahMonteleone · October 10, 2012 at 6:09 pm
As I read the article regarding bulimia, I was brought back to a research paper I wrote last year about anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. It is alarming to me how much emphasis scientific research and the media puts into obesity and type II diabetes while a whole new dimension of problems is on the rise on the other extreme side of the spectrum. Moving from Fresno to San Luis Obispo I have witnessed an array of beliefs regarding body image and weight. It baffles me how conscious and almost obsessed people in both cities are with their body image and how many diets, pills, and exercise workouts they try to “lose five pounds” or stay “skinny”. It is worrisome that these young women are (and yes, I have witnessed a copious amount of personal stories) engaging in anorexic and bulimic behaviors to lose weight and fit the body image they think is attractive or appealing. Some college women I have interacted with have ruined their ability to have children and have developed osteoporosis. I think this topic should not be taken lightly, and frankly, I think it is time to start addressing these delicate issues and making the consequences for them profoundly known.
AlexandraKanemaru · October 12, 2012 at 2:15 pm
In the article “A Burst from the Blue – Is Bulimia Nervosa really a Modern Disease?” I was able to formulate my own beliefs about this eating disorder. First, although the article bases some belief that this disease may be biological, I primarily was influenced to think that society has impacted women’s perception of their self image. The counter argument for this ideology is that there exists some cases in the 1930’s where women had symptoms of Bulimia Nervosa, however, evidence proves that it became much more prevalent in the mid 1970’s. During this time I have been primed to believe that media became more prevalent. With more exposure and advertisement aimed at what society deemed as “beautiful” women felt the pressure to stay thin, this same thought process is seen in current times. Where women now days more then ever are thought to believe that beauty is a number on their scale or the calculation of our BMI Index. With articles like this circulating the internet, it makes me question the media and their reasoning behind air brushing and distorting celebrities in movies and magazines. In conclusion, I reiterate that my belief is that Bulimia Nervosa is a Modern Disease based upon the perversion of the definition of beauty in the current era.
AlexandraKanemaru · October 12, 2012 at 2:31 pm
This article was especially intriguing to me because it builds upon the ideas the Malcom Gladwell touched upon in his newsworthy book, “Blink.” Gladwell as well as the author of, “What Does the Way You Walk Say About You?” Cindi May, both make references to studies on “thin slicing” or “slicing.” I first found “slicing” to be interesting when I read “Blink” and had time to think about the idea that I am constantly making judgments about people based on their simplest attributes even on a subconscious level. This article reinforced my already established beliefs, that judging a book by its cover is not a brash outlook on life, but a subconscious one that helps the human mind make quicker and seemingly accurate decisions. As a bit of an personal anecdote my friend the other day pointed out a person walking and made a snap judgment about them. We then continued to discuss the alternate ways people can walk and what we thought of the ways each different style of stride speaks about the walker in different ways.
BenSimon · October 13, 2012 at 2:57 pm
The link to the article about the Rolling Stones no longer works. Also I disagree with the idea that bulimia is a “later stage of anorexia.” While the demands of society upon women undoubtedly causes both eating disorders, it is completely possible to be bulimic and have never been anorexic, just as it is vice versa.
Maria Kourjanskaia · October 14, 2012 at 2:30 pm
The article about tomatoes, mentioned how tomatoes contain the antioxidant lycopene and how it helps prevent stroke. Its good to hear that something as common as a tomato can help prevent something as scary as a stroke. A lot of medications, and pharmaceutical drugs are so expensive these days that it can be very discouraging for people who are sick or who have a genetic predisposition for a certain disease. Although tomatoes are obviously not going to prevent stroke 100%, its still good to know that research is being done on an easy and cheap way to be a healthier person.
Maria Kourjanskaia · October 14, 2012 at 2:52 pm
In the article “learning about you… by the way you walk” I was surprised at how accurately we can judge people in a 2 second window. I have always believed that first impressions aren’t everything and that 2nd impressions are equally important if not more, so it was discouraging to hear that studies have shown that people can accurately predict a person’s personality in a brief amount of time. What I thought was even more strange was that in the actual “walking study” (when people observed stick figures walking), people typically did not predict the person’s persona correctly, but they did have the same hypothesis. This means that the majority of people are thinking the same thing about a person’s personality whether its right or wrong on a daily basis, and that is a bit of a scary thought.
ndjohnson · October 14, 2012 at 5:48 pm
In reading the article “learning about you…by the way you walk,” it was interesting to realize how affective a first impression can really be. When people think of reading body language, subtle movements such as hand gestures and facial expressions come to mind as being more telling than just a simple walk. However, it seems as though people are able to gain information and speculate about the person you are based on your signature strut. The way a person carries themselves can indicate personality traits like strong-willed, emotionall stable, calm, etc. People are able to find familiarities between strangers and people in their own life that cause them to draw parallels between the two. There really is more to be learned by what we do rather than what we say.
ndjohnson · October 14, 2012 at 5:58 pm
Through investigation of the “bulimia in history” article, I became more focused on the news about depression. The article was expanding on the realization that psychological disorders such as bulimia, bipolar disorder, depression, and others have been prevalent and affecting many people for a while. It is most likely becaus of the recent developments in how to treat these disorders that it seems as though these are new conditions. It is obvious that there are physical tolls on the body associated with depression (sleep deprivation, loss of apetitie), but it is interesting that these can cause an increase of stress in the person. We have heard that stress can overwhelm and kill a person, but it is scary to think that a psychological disorder, with its varying degrees in severity, can be as destructive to a person as heart disease. Through imaging techniques, professionals have centered in on a target region of the brain, the anterior cingulate gyrus, that could be investigated for treatment of depression.
LeahMonteleone · October 15, 2012 at 10:11 am
In reading the article regarding the way we walk depicts certain preconceived ideas about us as individuals, I couldn’t help but relate. We are all guilty of immediately judging an individual as they walk in a room and create conceptions about them. In watching the presidential debated between President Obama and Governor Romney, we too create ideas of their personality and character as they spend 90 minutes debating about the future of our country and the policy they tend to implement. I immediately begin to analyze their gait, confidence at the podium, speech style, route of persuasion, and credibility. When Governor Romney goes off on a tangent and interrupts the moderator or President Obama, I immediately view him as aggressive but also passionate about his ideas. In everyday life, the simple smile of a barista at Starbucks or a hint of friendliness from one passing by speaks to you whether they realize it or not. We conceive them as friendly and in a good mood or one who may have had a bad day. This interests me, and I wonder what people in our psychology class think of each other now versus our first day of class impressions.
crfan_21 · October 15, 2012 at 5:23 pm
I found the article about tomatoes and the powerful antioxidant lycopene to be quite interesting. This article really accentuates the importance of having our daily dose of fruit and veggies. Because the study was only done on men, I wonder if their results would also apply to the health of women? I looked up other foods that are high in this same antioxidant and pink grapefruit, watermelon, and guava also had high levels of it. I also read that lycopene helps to reduce risk of getting cancer, heart diseased, and macular degeneration.
vylu · October 16, 2012 at 3:09 pm
Maybe I’m the only one (or at least I’m the only one commenting on it) but I found the dueling family trees article to be really interesting. I’m not sure whether or not I can support the Dr. Peterson’s research fully, especially since it hasn’t been published yet, but I think it’s really interesting to say that we are more closely related to dogs and elephants than we are to rodents. This could explain why we feel a much closer emotional tie to these animals. I also read somewhere, although I’m not sure if it’s true or not, that elephants are one of the most emotional creatures. I’m not sure if you can recreate history and all of evolution based on just microRNA, but it definitely cannot be discounted either. I look forward to reading on more of this subject as further research is done.
matthahn · October 17, 2012 at 7:06 pm
Body language is something I really believe in and am interested in. The “Way You Walk” article was intriguing and at the same time, made me question the means that they used to test the subjects on their perceptions of the “people” who were walking. The subjects were asked to rate stick figures that “walked” on multiple personality categories, to eventually determine if one’s gait and posture could reveal enough about them without even being seen by the person judging them.
Although the raters were consistent in rating the stick figures, they were consistently wrong about the personalities. It’s my opinion that the study could have been more beneficial had the person’s actual body been observed so that certain traits about someone’s gait that couldn’t be observed in a stick figure could be seen. Certain characteristics like rotation in the horizontal axis could be more helpful in attempting to determine the personality of the walker.
LauraGregorich · October 20, 2012 at 12:55 pm
In the article regarding tomatoes, I found this very interesting. I have never heard about tomatoes as a possibility to lower the risk of a stroke. If this is true, I think that more people should definitely be informed of all the benefits of the antioxidant lycopene, especially for older generations and the elderly. It is a commonly known fact that eating fruits and vegetables is good for the body and leads to positive health. This helps supports that tomatoes, along with other fruits and vegetables, plays a role in lower the risk of stroke by having an association on blood levels in the human body. It appeared as if lycopene had an association with blood clots; I believe that this antioxidant helps reduce the risk of blood clots, which ultimately helps lower the risk of strokes. If further supported and more well known, this could help save many lives and future health problems for people in the United States.
LauraGregorich · October 20, 2012 at 1:35 pm
I found the article “Way you walk” very accurate in this day and age. As much as we hate to admit, most people are guilty of judging people before actually meeting them, whether its by their facial or body expressions, the way they dress, or how they present themselves out in public. I found it interesting that when the teachers were videotaped and their voices muted, the audience and raters were still pretty accurate in describing the personalities and judgments about these teachers, even though they only saw video clips for approximately 30 seconds. Judges were then asked to judge after eliminating other factors, such as clothes, age, gender, etc. Testing was simply based on dots representing stick figures, which represented walk and gait. Based on this factor alone, some impressions were wrong. But the people that added unseen characteristics, such as masculine or calmness, often associated them with other factors. For example, masculine was associated with being stable, attractive was associated with being approachable. These types of characteristics were related among the judges, who all seemed to have agree. People often do associate these personality traits with physical characteristics. For example, if a person is walking briskly or frantically, we somewhat assume they are stressed or in a rush to get some where. If someone appears calm and approachable, they would probably have a slower and more relaxed walk. This almost makes me want to start observing the way people walk around campus and see what type of interpretations I can guess from it. very interesting article.
EricaOhye · November 7, 2012 at 5:33 pm
As soon as I began reading the article “What Does the Way You Walk Say about You?” I found a point in it to be relatable to my own life. The experiment done by Norman and Goldberg in 1966 where they described college students rating their peers’ personalities on the very first day of class was something that my communications professor actually did last quarter as well. My professor later told us that she had us do this exercise in order to help us feel more comfortable around one another knowing that ultimately everyone judges each other. As she explained it, the immediate judgments we make about one another is something that is almost inevitable and shouldn’t be taken so personally.
One thing I found to be extremely interesting and somewhat controversial about the article was the idea that behavior could be judged based off of 2 seconds of a non-verbal visual. In previous psychology classes I have learned an idea that contradicts this experiment, which states we take about 9 seconds to come to a decision about a person upon immediately meeting them. After reading the article fully however I would say I am a believer of this overall theory and research.
EricaOhye · November 7, 2012 at 5:43 pm
I decided to read the article about eating tomatoes and how it can help lower the risk of stroke because personally I prefer to not eat tomatoes however, after reading the article and the study I might just consider trying to incorporate more of the fruit into my diet. To me it seemed remarkable that something as simple as having a diet high in the antioxidant lycopene could lower your chances of getting a stroke by over 50%. This led me to read a few outside articles not on the blog and research lycopene further. From my reading I found that lycopene could be found not only in tomatoes but pink grapefruits, watermelon and papaya as well. In addition lycopene is also known to help prevent against the aging of skin, prevent against osteoporosis and also boost sperm count in men. From my childhood I vaguely remember sitting at the kitchen table eating lunch with the ketchup sitting in front of me and seeing the words “Lycopene: What is it?” on the back of the bottle. So despite the fact that I never took the time to read the back of the bottle fully, at least now I know what it was trying to teach me!
fionachung. · November 26, 2012 at 5:16 pm
“Eating Tomatoes and Why” article was a fun read for me. Growing up, my parents would always tell me to eat more greens and fruits, and I always asked why, but all they would say is because “it’s good for you.” I’ve read many articles on how fruits are good for you like blueberries reduces the risk of cancer, but I never knew eating tomatoes can help decrease the chances of getting a stroke. What I wonder is since ketchup is made from tomatoes, can it and will it have the same affects as eating tomatoes?
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