Part of our ‘Team’ jerseys for the annual APS presentation in NYC! If you are there, come and say ‘HI’ to us!
Coming to WPA in Las Vegas?? We’ll be there too!
Here’s what we are reading today:
“Dr Pradipta Biswas, Senior Research Associate in the Department’s Engineering Design Centre, and the other researchers provided two major enhancements to a standalone gaze-tracking system. First, sophisticated software interprets factors such as velocity, acceleration and bearing to provide a prediction of the user’s intended target. Next, a second mode of input is employed, such as a joystick.”
“”We’ve watched live taste cells capture and process molecules with different tastes,” said biomedical engineer Dr Steve Lee, from The Australian National University (ANU).
There are more than 2,000 taste buds on the human tongue, which can distinguish at least five tastes: salty, sweet, sour, bitter and umami.
However the relationship between the many taste cells within a taste bud, and our perception of taste has been a long standing mystery, said Professor Seok-Hyun Yun from Harvard Medical School.”
“The report, produced by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), contains analysis from leading experts in the fields of economics, neuroscience, national statistics, and describes how measurements of subjective well-being can be used effectively to assess national progress. The report is edited by Professor John F. Helliwell, of the University of British Columbia and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research; Professor Richard Layard, Director of the Well-Being Programme at LSE’s Centre for Economic Performance; and Professor Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute and SDSN.”
“The results will be published in the June print edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
“These findings clearly indicate that humans are acutely sensitive to the harmful effects of excess dietary sugar over a broad range of consumption levels,” said Kimber Stanhope, the study’s lead author and a research scientist in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.”
“The convergence of the new dates with the DNA and fossil evidence also shows that there is now “a period of overlap of at least 3000 years between Neandertals and modern humans,” says Jean-Jacques Hublin, a paleoanthropologist at Max Planck and senior author of the paper.”
“We are excited to show, for the first time, that reading exposure during the critical stage of development prior to kindergarten seems to have a meaningful, measurable impact on how a child’s brain processes stories and may help predict reading success,” said study author John Hutton, MD, National Research Service Award Fellow, Division of General and Community Pediatrics, Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. “Of particular importance are brain areas supporting mental imagery, helping the child ‘see the story’ beyond the pictures, affirming the invaluable role of imagination.””
diabetes drugs in ground water
“A study by Rebecca Klaper at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee determined exposure to the diabetes medicine metformin causes physical changes in male fish exposed to doses similar to the amount in wastewater effluent.
In addition to intersex conditions, fish exposed to metformin were smaller in size than those not exposed, said Klaper, a professor in UWM’s School of Freshwater Sciences.”
better thinking when you are on your feet
“Standing desks – also known as stand-biased desks – are raised desks that have stools nearby, enabling students to sit or stand during class at their discretion. Mark Benden, Ph.D., CPE, associate professor at the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Public Health, who is an ergonomic engineer by trade, originally became interested in the desks as a means to reduce childhood obesity and relieve stress on spinal structures that may occur with traditional desks. Lessons learned from his research in this area led to creation of Stand2Learn™, an offshoot company of a faculty-led startup that manufactures a classroom version of the stand-biased desk.”
16 Comments
meteresi · April 25, 2015 at 7:26 pm
Thanks for the article about high fructose corn syrup. It sounds like once again there is proof that it is really bad for your body. I keep seeing all the time about how diet soda and high fructose corn syrup are bad for us. It is kind of scary some of the things that the FDA allows companies to put in the food we consume. There are many things in our food anymore that we have proof are detrimental to our bodies. I really need to kick my diet soda habit but it is really hard with my college and busy single mom lifestyle. I haven’t seen anything about nutrition and brain health in the biopsychology text yet. If there are no references to nutrition that could be a great addition for future editions!
slbonill · April 26, 2015 at 5:59 pm
I chose to read the article on high fructose corn syrup because I am quite informed about corn syrup and its effects. One thing I found particularly interesting was that corn syrup has a greater effect in men than in women. The greater high fructose corn syrup in one’s diet, the greater chance for cardiovascular disease for that individual. There is a high correlation between high fructose corn syrup and cardiovascular disease. Finding a substitute for high fructose corn syrup is difficult to find as nearly all packaged foods contain it. My dad used to be a huge diet coke drinker, as he used to consume a diet coke with every meal, but he discontinued drinking it when my younger sister informed my dad on aspartame. Ever since then, my soda intake has decreased greatly if not completely. It’s relieving to know that my dad doesn’t drink diet coke anymore, knowing that large amounts of high fructose corn syrup can lead to cardiovascular disease.
maggisamson · April 29, 2015 at 7:29 am
I really appreciated the link to the article about the Standing Desks. This is really interesting to me because a lot of the time I study standing up or kneeling. I find that it keeps me more awake and focused, and allows me to study more efficiently, rather than when I’m slumped in a desk, usually half asleep and subsequently working at a much slower pace. This would be great addition to elementary schools and be a smart measure to take to aid in the fight against childhood obesity. I’m interested to see if these standing desks catch on!
michellevanriper · April 29, 2015 at 10:44 am
I read the article on the association of reading to kids at an early age and brain activity. I’ve always heard about this theory but never knew it wasn’t proven. So I think that it’s great that they was finally a study on it using reliable machinery like the fMRI to prove the theory. I’m curious to know more about the association about children coming from a low income background, because the article mentioned that was a large portion of their sample but never really went into detail on the results for that population. This article also made me think about my own personal experience as a reader. I know I have always had trouble picturing the story and my interest in books have always been non fiction or even textbooks because it’s hard for me to imagine a story, which is kind of necessary when reading a novel. So, I may have to interrogate my parents and ask how much they read to me when I was little and see if there is a correlation.
michellevanriper · April 29, 2015 at 10:59 am
I also read the article on standing desks. I never really knew the point to standing desks until I read this article. I knew some people had them in their offices but I thought it was because they had back problems. Standing desks actually make so much sense though. As a college student, I am on campus so much and when I am not in class, I go to the library to get homework done. I constantly find myself moving locations every hour almost to chairs, couches, or bean bags, and often getting up to go refill my water bottle and just walk around. Even though the study didn’t talk about the benefits of standing desks to college students or adults, I think it could be extremely beneficial, especially to those like me who feels so constrained sitting in a chair all day. Also, I think the fact that standing desks not only help the kids stay attentive in class but also can help with childhood obesity is a huge benefit and I think this innovative way of classroom set up should be enforced in many more schools.
anniethacker · April 29, 2015 at 12:33 pm
I read the article on the Swiss being the happiest, and I thought that was pretty interesting. I never really thought that the government would play much of a role in my happiness, but I guess it does since everything the government does affects everyone around us. I remember reading a while back about how the Swiss treat their prisoners, and they use a lot more of a rehabilitation philosophy than we do in America. I thought that was very cool and I bet that is one of the factors that plays into their country’s overall happiness.
aijarami · May 2, 2015 at 6:46 pm
The article that caught my attention was the one on well-being. I’m working on my senior project that has to do with well-being and a lot of the things that were said are true. There are less things that those counties mentioned have to worry about. I remember reading something about how Norway I think it was has the supplies that are given to new parents for their babies and knowing that their government is willing to help them out like must definitely give then something less to be stressed out about and increase their well-being.
OwenHevrdejs · May 2, 2015 at 8:44 pm
Hello!
I enjoyed the article about what could have caused the extinction of the neanderthals. I think a lot of people are under the impression that all humans gradually evolved at the same rate. It’s really interesting that the two different branches of humanoids could have been in the same area competing with one another for food. 🙂
I definitely want to look more into this era of human history.
Thanks for posting! 🙂
slbonill · May 2, 2015 at 11:48 pm
I read the article on the topic of the Neanderthals and the probable reason for their extinction. I was very fascinated by this article because although I’ve always heard people refer to the Neanderthals, I’ve never understood what it actually was–or who they were. The Neanderthals are an extinct species of humans, considered to be the most advanced group of primates. Today, Archaeologists seem to theorize that the Neanderthals and humans existed at the same time at some point. With the extractions of a tooth, DNA and fossil evidence, archaeologists believe that there was an overlap in existence between the two species. Because Archaeologists found similarities between the two species, it is probable that the Neanderthals and modern humans interbred at some point. It can then be thought that the entry of modern humans was most likely the cause for the extinction of the Neanderthals.
rachel_wallin · May 3, 2015 at 2:13 pm
I read about thinking better on our feet instead of in our seat. This was a really interesting finding! Just by standing we can increase our academic performance, probably our attention, and reduce obesity. If this is as promising as it sounds, I wonder why the stand-biased desks aren’t used across the US yet. Also, why stop at elementary school aged children? I think this would help middle school aged children as well, or even more! Adolescents have a huge issue with attention and keeping themselves entertained in the classroom, so this sounds like a promising solution. I also wonder if this study could apply to college students. While I often struggle with keeping my mind on track, I wonder if standing would help myself focus. I’m interested to see what comes out of this study.
rachel_wallin · May 3, 2015 at 2:30 pm
I also read the “taste cells in action” piece. This was really intriguing to me since we just learned about gustation in BioPsych, and because taste is such a unique thing. Not everybody has the same tastes for certain things and we don’t really know why, at least the biological reason behind why. This new finding about how blood circulation plays into the taste bud’s perception of taste is almost out of left-field. I would like to know more about what they find in regards to this research because I want to know the meanings behind what our blood has to do with our tasting.
aalvar52 · May 4, 2015 at 11:37 am
I read the article regarding risk taking and learning. I totally agree with the statement that animals go with what is comfortable and predictable in an environment. It was super cool to get a scientific basis to this phenomenon of human behavior. The charting of how the circuit in roundworms uses information from the animal’s senses to figure out how predictable the environment is was great. I also found it interesting that increased amounts of dopamine can be associated with an increased chance of taking risk. It was a bit long for the article, but still a good read.
aalvar52 · May 4, 2015 at 11:52 am
Who knew happiness could be measured? The article regarding the Swiss being the happiest people in the world was an interesting one to me. At first, when I read the title, I thought to myself “Oh, this probably won’t be an accurate article because you can’t measure happiness.” However, once I read the criteria and things that they based happiness off of, my thoughts slightly changed. It was good to see that economic and political statistics were not the only things used. Actual people were surveyed and it was all based off real GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, perceived freedom to make life choices, freedom from corruption, and generosity. I feel like these were all good measures of overall well being. Maybe it is true that the Swiss are the happiest.
mehicks · May 7, 2015 at 4:00 pm
Just the other day I went to my professor’s office hours and I was surprised because he had a standing desk. I was shocked since I’ve never seen a standing desk only lab benches. When I asked him why he chose to have this desk he said, “I think better, I feel like I’m not constrained to my desk but I can move around and be a little more hands on with my work, just like a lab”. After speaking to my professor and then reading the article about standing desk’s, I strongly agree with the positive implications of standing desk’s. I think that when children are able to stand up while learning, they don’t have the urge to get up and move around like they would in a seated desk (which would lead to distraction and therefore reduced participation). Also, the article mentioned that when standing students burn 15% more calories, which can help reduce obesity rates. I think that these desks, although not the solution, are a great step in the right direction to fighting obesity in children.
hannahburgardt · May 8, 2015 at 1:13 pm
Wow I found two of those posts extremely interesting. I can’t believe that humans and Neandertals lived on the earth together for 3000 years! It really makes me wonder what killed them off. How come humans today aren’t developing into a different species? How can two different forms of human live together at the same time? Also, I plan to teach Elementary school and I think reading in Kindergarten is very important. I know some children don’t go to Kindergarten and it is terrible to think that those children are behind on their reading abilities and that they missed out on a very important step in learning reading. If I teach Kindergarten, I will make sure to introduce reading to them since it is such a precious time for reading.
rjoslin · May 9, 2015 at 12:54 pm
The article regarding reading to children from an early age is interesting, especially to understand how reading is processed by children. One of the more interesting things about the article was the mention of when children are listening to stories it activates a part of their brain that allows them to visualize the story. The researcher said that this use of imagination essentially lets them process the story helping them understand it leading to better reading comprehension later. I suppose when one actually thinks through reading, that is essentially what happens we picture it in our heads. I wonder how reading comprehension is compared to stories that are fictional and comprehending non-fictional material that arguably does not have a story to picture.