The Report Card Blues January 17, 2009
Posted by Mrs Weird Scientist in Easy As Pie, Human Body, Psychology and Behavior.Tags: depression, report card, school, teen suicide
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It turns out that how you handle first grade doesn’t just affect your report card in future years, but it also affects how you feel about yourself. In turn, it could link up to feelings of depression way down the line in seventh grade.
Making The Grade
Researchers at the University of Missouri kept track of 474 girls and boys from first grade right up to seventh grade. For my UK readers who may not be familiar with the North American grade system, kids in grade 1 are usually six years old while kids in grade 7 tend to be around the age of twelve.
A lead researcher – Keith Herman, an associate professor at the university – found that the kids who had a hard time with the core subjects such as reading and math were more likely to show some of the risk factors for negative thinking and depression once they hit sixth or seventh grade. Herman thinks that differences in how kids learn will still be an issue, even if a child gets help with the difficult subjects at school.
What Can We Do About It?
So, if Herman’s theory proves true and kids are experiencing depressive thoughts due to their continued struggles with school learning, then what can we all do about it? One suggested solution is to acknowledge skills and positive growth in other areas, such as sports or singing. Herman shared his thoughts on the study and explained:
Children’s individual differences will always exist in basic academic skills, so it is necessary to explore and emphasize other assets in students, especially those with lower academic skill relative to their peers. Along with reading and math, teachers and parents should honor skills in other areas, such as interpersonal skills, non-core academic areas, athletics and music.
Researchers also found that girls responded differently to boys when it comes to self-perception. How a girl performed academically had a far more significant effect on how she viewed herself.
It meant that girls who didn’t really do as well academically saw themselves as not being in control of other parts of their lives. That feeling of not having control over important decisions in your life is considered a risk factor for depression symptoms.
A Little Backtrack
I posted about teen depression and suicide back in January of 2008 – a year ago. You can read the post here. I talked about ways in which teens can get support for depression. Afterwards, I received intense, emotional responses from a range of people – teens and adults.
But one thing that struck me is how responses seemed to bring up the aspect of a person not feeling valued or appreciated – not feeling like they have a special place in this world. There was a real sense of isolation for teens who felt depressed.
Feeling Good About Yourself
When I look at this new study, it seems as though the academic focus can maybe become so overwhelming, that we as adults forget about all the other amazing and cool abilities that teens have in life. The scary thing is that if we don’t acknowledge and share our enthusiasm, respect and admiration for these abilities, how can we expect teens to experience and acknowledge those same feelings?
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The Bullying Brain December 3, 2008
Posted by Mrs Weird Scientist in Human Body, Psychology and Behavior, Think About It.Tags: Bully, Conduct disorder, Victim
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It’s an important question for loads of scientists, parents, victims of bullies and even bullies themselves – what makes someone want to bully another person? A new imaging study in the United States sheds a bit of light on the subject. It found that in aggressive teenage boys, the parts of the brain linked to reward – the amygdala and ventral striatum – light up when the boy views a video of someone inflicting pain. We already know about the effects of bullying but finding out why it happens is super important too.
Wired Up For Bullying
Jean Decety, a researcher at the University of Chicago, used a functional MRI scan to look at the brain of each teenager who participated in the study. Researchers already knew that half of the participants had a ‘conduct’ disorder while the other half had no history of being aggressive. The teens who did have a conduct disorder had done stuff such as starting a fight or stealing from a victim.
To see what happened in the brain of a boy who had a conduct disorder, each teen was asked to look at a video where a person accidentally experienced pain. So, the video would show a person having their foot stepped on or something similar along those lines. What do you think might have happened in the brain of a person with a conduct disorder? If you guessed there was a difference from the participants with no aggressive history, you got it right!
A Fired Up Amygdala
The aggressive boys had a major, intense activation of the amygdala and ventral striatum when they looked at the video clips. Researchers think the results suggest that aggressive boys gain enjoyment from viewing pain.
On the other hand, the control group – teens who didn’t have a history of aggression – showed activation of different parts of the brain. The medial prefrontal cortex and the temporoparietal junction may sound like complicated words, but they represent areas of our brain that are important in self-regulation.
Let’s Find Out More
While this research study can teach us more about how the brain works and how it is that a teen chooses to bully another person, it was still criticized for being too small. It only looked at sixteen boys between 16-18 years old. This means that we will have to wait and see what kind of results we get from a bigger study.
Also, some scientists are worried this type of study will mean that instead of finding ways to help a bully change his behavior, we will simply use medications to ‘fix’ them. The fear comes from the fact that a study like this shows bullying has a biological basis. It’s like saying that your brain makes you harm another person, so you can’t make the choice to be nicer.
Stop Bullying!
Lots of us have dealt with bullying in school and it can really make the victim’s life miserable. Finding out how and why people bully others will help us to learn better ways to prevent it from happening and it will let us deal with bullying when it strikes. Hyperactive amygdala and ventral striatum or not – bullying has to stop!
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Be Careful With Confidence July 2, 2008
Posted by Mrs Weird Scientist in Human Body, Psychology and Behavior, Think About It.Tags: confidence, overconfidence, test
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We all know that confidence can feel amazing. It might give you that great energy where you believe you can accomplish anything at all. Confidence can encourage us to make certain decisions, meet people and take action. But what about overconfidence? Can that do more harm than good? Sometimes, it can. If a person is overconfident, they might miss some of the key details to watch out for when making a change. For example, being overconfident before a test might mean you don’t spend enough time studying. A business executive might assume an investment is a good idea without making an effort to really think the decision through.
Perhaps the important question involves how we would even go about measuring overconfidence. From a scientific standpoint, it’s not easy to assess overconfidence because this kind of study would rely on the participant to explain how they are overconfident. That’s really subjective and not a very reliable or accurate way to provide results.
Let’s Try Something New
But wait! According to Pascal Mamassian, a researcher at CNRS and Université Paris Descartes, France, overconfidence can indeed be accurately measured. Mamassian believes he has come up with a cool way to handle the problems associated with having participants assess their own overconfidence. How? With a very natural and objective visuo-motor task. If you want to get really geeky, you can check out the full version in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
Bring On The Visuo-Motor Task
So, what did these participants in Mamassian’s study do? Well, they were asked to sit at a computer and press on a key in synchrony with a ‘blob’ that would pop up on the screen. If they pressed the key in synchrony, they were given points for their success. But if they pressed the key too early or late, they lost points. Mamassian decided to use a mathematical model to analyze the way participants manipulated a key tapping strategy, which would help participants gain the most points and reduce the points lost. Now, let’s see what Mamassian found out from the participants!
The Results Are In
Mamassian discovered that the participants regularly didn’t aim for the best time. Instead, they showed overconfidence in their actions. Mamassian explained:
They underestimated the magnitude of their uncertainty and the cost of their error. Overconfidence is not limited to the realm of subjective beliefs and cognitive judgments but appears instead to reflect a general characteristic of human decision making.
So, this means that overconfidence in their abilities led participants to be less careful in assessing their own uncertainty and the consequences of mistakes when completing the task. Because they were overconfident, they didn’t take the time to think of what they needed to do to ensure no mistakes were made. Since they were so confident, they perhaps figured they would just automatically do well. On top of that, they didn’t properly estimate the points they would lose from these mistakes because – well, their overconfidence might have meant that they didn’t expect to make mistakes in the first place!
Now, I think that a little – or sometimes even a lot – of confidence can go a long way in creating good feelings of self-esteem and accomplishment. At the same time, Mamassian’s experimental model is a new and interesting way to judge if someone is overconfident. For now though, it’s not exactly a practical reality for most of us, which means we can’t just access this test to check whether we’re overconfident. A more cautious approach might be to take those confident leaps, but look where you are going. Ultimately, be confident knowing that you can reach your goals, but don’t be overconfident so that you are blinded by all the challenges along the way!
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Getting Tough With Sunbeds June 23, 2008
Posted by Mrs Weird Scientist in Easy As Pie, Human Body.Tags: sun, sunbed, tan
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It’s summertime and as you get into your shorts and t-shirt, you might be thinking to yourself that your skin is whiter than Casper the friendly ghost. While some people seek their tan by sprawling under the hot sun at the beach, others head to the tanning salon. Tans are something that many people see as attractive but the path to getting that tan can not only be an ugly one, but it can get a lot uglier with time.
Setting Rules
New rules are now in place for sunbed use in Scotland. The rules are meant to highlight the dangers of sunbeds. In fact, one study found that 4 out of 5 tanning salons did not meet the current safety guidelines. The ultraviolet rays went beyond the maximum standards in Britain. The new regulations are thought to put Scotland ahead of the rest of the United Kingdom.
Getting Tough
So, what happens if salons don’t abide by these new rules? Well, they can say hello to fines. If a salon allows someone under the age of eighteen to use a sunbed, they will be charged £100 (approximately $200 Canadian). Salons are generally not happy about the new rules. Responses have included comments citing that children are more at risk of skin cancer from sun exposure during a foreign holiday or that there isn’t really any evidence to show that sunbeds are being abused.
A Better Tan
If you really do want that tanned look, however, the general consensus is that fake cream or spray tans – most using a chemical called dihydroxyacetone (DHA) – are non-toxic and safe for use on the skin. DHA is a colorless chemical, which undergoes a reaction with the amino acids in your dead skin cells. The result is a brown color – a tan. One safety aspect you should note, however, is that sunscreen is even more important if you are using a topical tanning product. So, be sure to slather your skin up with a quality sunscreen!
As for me, I used to find tans attractive during my own teen years. I disliked being naturally pale and felt that I needed to have that brown glow to look good. Ironically, most of the compliments I receive now are on my “porcelain skin,” which has taught me that we all have a pretty, natural color, whether that’s light or dark. I’d rather keep my sun exposure to a minimum by wearing sunscreen, avoiding tanning salons and letting any lines I develop be laughter ones – not wrinkles from sun exposure.
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Genetic Engineering 101 June 9, 2008
Posted by Mrs Weird Scientist in Diseases, Human Body, Nutrition and Health, Science in the Media, Technology, Think About It.Tags: allergy, biodiversity, cartoons, genetic engineering
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Credit: Nick Kim.
While the cartoon above by one of my favorite cartoonists – Nick Kim – might suggest I’m against the concept of genetic engineering, that isn’t exactly accurate. I’m more a fan of cautious progress, which means that I think we need to be careful about using this technology. The cartoon is a goofy one because it exaggerates some of the real concerns about genetic engineering. You might be wondering what those concerns are? Well, read on!
A Little Primer On Genetic Engineering
I figured it would be cool to give a brief primer on all of this genetic engineering stuff for those who have heard the term but maybe still aren’t too sure exactly what it means! First, think about your genes. Your genes direct lots of neat traits about you such as your eye and hair color. Genetic engineering works to meddle with the genes in an organism, which allows for control over that organism’s traits. You’re maybe thinking about this concept for humans, but the applications for genetic engineering are really diverse.
Some Potentially Good Stuff
With genetic engineering, there are some important benefits but there are also some aspects that concern scientists, researchers and many members of the public. There are even scenarios that are particularly worrisome and the cartoon above is an extreme representation of one of these consequences. But first, let’s check out some of the positive aspects.
Food is one way that genetic engineering can be used to provide benefits for humans. Through genetic engineering, we can create genetically modified organisms (GMOs). One reason scientists create GMOs is to increase the nutritional value of a food. Think about your own diet. Hopefully, you eat lots of different kinds of foods. Even if you don’t, you probably have access to variety – fruits, vegetables, meats and many more.
For a number of countries, the population there is living on a small range of staple foods. This means that they aren’t getting all of the nutrients they need for good health. However, a food such as a carrot can be engineered to have a nutrient it would not normally have or perhaps the nutrient content could be raised. GMOs can also result in fruits and vegetables that are resistant to pests and the poor weather conditions that can reduce the yields for farmers. Not only that, but genetic engineering has applications in medicine and health. Vaccines have been created by this type of technology and synthetic human insulin was developed through genetic engineering.
Uh Oh
Still, the benefits unfortunately don’t come without problems! The creation of GMOs is thought to potentially harm biodiversity, which means that there is less variety of life in the environment. Think about it – if a vegetable is engineered to be tolerant to a herbicide, the herbicide will kill weeds around the vegetable with less impact on the crop. But wait, if nearby animals feed on those weeds, they lose a valuable source of nutrition and are unable to survive. In this way, the biodiversity is harmed.
The Unexpected
Another fear is that GMOs could have unpredictable results. So, this could mean that the food might trigger allergies in a person allergic to nuts even though that person is eating soybeans. How can this happen? If a gene from nuts is inserted into soybeans – perhaps to increase the nutritional value of the soybean, then people who are allergic to nuts would think the soybean is fine to eat. Nope! The gene could prompt changes that trigger an allergic reaction.
Monsters Or Not?
Now, back to that cartoon! Ever seen the scary movie or read the book ‘Frankenstein?’ One of the perceptions of genetic engineering is that it might create a Frankenstein-like organism – a monster that has all sorts of creepy traits. While it’s true that there are issues around genetic engineering and unexpected or uncontrollable results, the comparison to Frankenstein is considered by some people to be a scare tactic that is far from accurately representing the risks of genetic engineering.
Genetic engineering is a complicated and controversial subject and you might have your own opinion about whether you support some or all of its applications. As with many types of technology, it is rapidly changing and we’re constantly learning new bits about genetic engineering. Whatever you think about it, try to get involved by learning more from the news, school, friends or your parents. One of the most powerful ways to improve the safety of genetic engineering is to be informed and challenge the stuff that worries us!
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A Lonely Set Of Teeth June 4, 2008
Posted by Mrs Weird Scientist in Easy As Pie, Human Body.Tags: brushing, dentist, kids, teeth
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When it comes to teeth, being lonely is a bad thing! A new survey carried out by the British Dental Health Foundation (BDHF) has found that more than 1 in 5 under-fives in the United Kingdom (UK) were left to brush their teeth alone. Not only that, but a quarter of parents thought that children didn’t need to brush their teeth twice a day. Three quarters of parents also thought that brushing for one minute was enough. What? Don’t tell me you thought the same thing!
The Wrong Idea
The results get even more worrying. Twenty-three percent of parents thought that fizzy pop and similar drinks were fine for kids to consume, even though these drinks have been associated with dental decay. Overall, the results aren’t good but fortunately, they at least give us some clarity about why over half of all kids in the UK experience tooth decay.
Grab Your Toothbrush And Get Foamy
So, how do we sort out all of this tooth decay and poor brushing habits? According to Nigel Carter – chief executive of the BDHF – good hygiene and preventative habits need to start at a young age. The hope is that if a kid forms excellent dental habits early on, these habits will continue into adulthood. That being said, somebody needs to teach a child how to brush properly and for the recommended two minutes. This means that in the case of teeth, company is a good thing! Parents need to supervise their young kids when they brush their teeth each morning and evening. In fact, if you’re already a master brusher, maybe you can help supervise a younger brother or sister brushing their teeth? Perhaps even show them a few silly tricks. I personally enjoy making goofy faces when I have foam dripping over my lips. It’s a good way to scare people while also showing off my pearly white teeth!
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Blame Your Brain For Temper Tantrums March 9, 2008
Posted by Mrs Weird Scientist in Human Body, Psychology and Behavior, Tough Stuff.Tags: brain, teenagers, temper
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Temper tantrums aren’t just a reaction that young kids exhibit when they get upset or angry. Teens can also go berserk over all sorts of issues. Yet, some teens seem to keep their cool while others fly off the handle at just the slightest aggravation. Now, a study suggests that the connection may lie in a teenager’s brain.
Checking Out Families
Nicholas Allen from the University of Melbourne, Australia investigated 137 children between the ages of 11 and 14. As part of the experiment, he also observed their parents. Allen and his team of researchers used questions – such as curfews – that were expected to trigger arguments. They videotaped these disagreements and found that there were loads of differences between the families. Some families kept calm while others were more aggressive and could barely even speak to one another.
What An Enormous Amygdala You Have
When researchers took scans of the children’s brains, they narrowed in on three specific areas. The first was the amygdala, which is what gets people fired up to react impulsively to situations. The other parts they checked out were pre-frontal regions known as the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) – areas of the brain that play a role in the more thoughtful types of responses. The results were really interesting!
Researchers found that the boys and girls who reacted more aggressively to the family discussions had bigger amygdalas. As for the temperamental boys, they had smaller ACCs on the left side of the brain, which researchers think explains why they remained aggressive for a longer period of time. On top of that, the boys who had smaller OFCs on the left side were more likely to respond to mopey parents by acting just as moody!
Making Sense Of The Results
Basically, what the results show is that those grumpy, tantrum-prone teens aren’t getting enough control from the pre-frontal parts over the amygdala. So, the impulsive behaviors end up ruling over the thoughtful and more reflective areas of the brain. What’s the end result? You got it – temper tantrums! The results also suggest that the areas of the brain controlling emotions and aggression are different in boys and girls.
My title for this blog entry is actually a bit misleading because it implies that the structural differences in the brain are fully responsible for aggression, when this just isn’t the case. The research gives us helpful clues to one contributing factor in the puzzle of temper tantrums. Learning more about why some teens are calm when others can freak out so easily and intensely can perhaps allow researchers to find better strategies for helping teens handle their aggression. As for my teenage years, I didn’t blame my brain for temper tantrums – I usually just blamed my parents, as most of us teens do!
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Good Hearing Is Always In Fashion March 5, 2008
Posted by Mrs Weird Scientist in Easy As Pie, Human Body, Psychology and Behavior.Tags: damage, ears, hearing, sound
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Good hearing is fashionable. Or at least, it should be. Unfortunately, ear plugs aren’t generally considered an attractive and stylish accessory. The ugly reputation of ear plugs, however, will hopefully change. In fact, that change better come soon because hearing damage can happen more easily than you may think!
According to the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), just a single night out listening to loud, booming music is enough to experience the initial signs of hearing loss. Generally, if a person is repeatedly exposed to 85 decibels or more of noise, they can sustain hearing damage. Given that loads of music concerts and other places have noise well above this amount, you can see how easy it is to harm your hearing.
Listen Up!
So perhaps you have been exposed to some loud noise already and you’re wondering what kinds of symptoms you might experience? Check out the list below to read about some of the symptoms of hearing damage:
- Ringing or buzzing in your ears
- Muted, dull or muffled sound
- Straining to hear someone speaking
Sometimes, you might experience the first signs of hearing damage immediately after exposure but the symptoms eventually resolve. If you keep getting exposed to the loud noise, however, symptoms can become a lot more uncomfortable and damage is likely to result.
Looking Cool
The RNID conducted a survey of young folk aged 16 to 30 and the results showed that a large proportion of the respondents were not into wearing ear plugs. Why not? A third of them thought ear plugs looked silly, which meant they were not down with wearing them. Did anybody wear them regularly? Unfortunately, a mere 3 percent said they consistently wear ear plugs.
Changing An Image
While knowing that ear plugs are important to prevent hearing damage is one thing, wearing them and not caring how they look (or pretending that you don’t care!) is quite another. I remember when I was in school and I had to get braces for my teeth. I had them in my final year of high-school and I thought they were absolutely hideous. For our class photos, I kept my mouth closed while smiling. Although avoiding braces (crooked teeth) versus not wearing ear plugs (hearing damage) can obviously have hugely different consequences, the idea of image and looking cool still has a major influence on both.
Today, for instance, I see kids choosing funky, bright colors for their braces and the entire image has changed quite a lot since I wore them. Snazzy, neon ear plugs? Well actually, it’s not a bad idea at all. In fact, if you have any fabulous ideas for an ear plug design, why not consider entering the contest created by RNID? After acknowledging that young people just don’t like the look of ear plugs, they decided to start a competition that challenges design students to create a fashionable and appealing alternative to the traditional ear plug. The students who show the most engaging and innovative ideas will receive work placements with some of the nation’s top design agencies. Since pink is my favorite color, I’m hoping someone makes a fashionable, pink ear plug!
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Gene Mutations Can Mean Longer Life March 4, 2008
Posted by Mrs Weird Scientist in Genetics, Human Body, Tough Stuff.Tags: aging, centenarian, longevity
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While they won’t make someone live forever, researchers recently identified some variations in genes that can allow people to live longer. Your genes are your special and unique instructions that determine things like your hair and eye color.
Say Hello To Centenarians
Nir Barzilai and his team are from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, which is part of Yeshiva University in New York. Their work involved research subjects of Ashkenazi Jewish descent who were all 100 years of age or older. The fancy term we like to use for people in this age bracket is centenarian. Barzilai and his colleagues identified two gene mutations in the centenarians. If you’re a keen bean, you can read the full, more technical version in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Mutations Can Be Good
You might be wondering to yourself that it seems odd for a mutation to result in greater longevity – something we consider beneficial! The word mutation can leave us thinking of disease, death and just generally bad stuff. While this is often the case, genetic mutations can also lead to positive changes. It’s thought that these changes occur to help humans or other organisms evolve and better adapt to their environment.
Looking Inside The Body
In this study, researchers found that the two mutations affect a receptor for insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). What does IGF-1 do? If you’re thinking it might influence growth, you’re definitely on the right track. IGF-1 is a guiding force in your body’s growth and maturity. It’s especially dominant during puberty and directs the intense growth and development that occurs during the adolescent years. So, what if the receptor stops working properly, as in the case of the centenarians? If the receptor is just a wee bit faulty, the result is that IGF-1 doesn’t effectively bind to the receptor. Low and behold, the pathway to aging and maturation doesn’t proceed at the same pace and ultimately, it is slowed.
For my male readers, don’t get too hopeful you’ve got the gene mutations. Thus far, the carriers identified are all women. Even more interesting is that the centenarians were shorter than an average woman. These women were approximately 2.5 centimeters shorter than the rest of the population. It makes sense, however, given the role of IGF-1 during the huge pubertal growth spurt.
Our Obsession
In westernized societies, we’re absolutely obsessed with anti-aging and finding the next product to decrease aging – whether it’s the visible, aesthetic signs of aging or the internal, physiological ones. Ironically, people have been getting injections of growth hormone for many years now, with the belief that it slows down the aging process. Given that Barzilai’s study showed it was the people with lower levels of growth hormone who are living longer, these injections could potentially be quite dangerous.
We’re Not Alone
Another thing to keep in mind is that humans are not the only ones with these types of mutations. Worms, flies and mice have similar faulty genes that increase longevity. In the coming years, researchers will probably be in a mad flurry to investigate the genes in other centenarian populations around the world. One of the hopes is to discover strategies to reduce aging in the general population. I guess for now though, I’ll just have to fake it by sticking with my anti-aging face cream!
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Better Air From Greasy Hair February 29, 2008
Posted by Mrs Weird Scientist in Environment, Human Body, Think About It.Tags: hair, ozone, pollution
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It may not always look and feel so pretty, but greasy hair might actually reduce how much ozone you breathe in. It’s thought that the oils in hair are somehow reacting with ozone in the environment.
Investigating Greasy Hair And Ozone
In a recent study, Lakshmi Pandrangi and Glen Morrison from the University of Missouri in the United States tested out their theories about ozone and hair. They exposed sixteen samples – eight washed and eight unwashed pieces of hair – to ozone for 24 hours. The results? Overall, the unwashed hair absorbed roughly seven times as much ozone as the freshly washed hair. Morrison explains:
For dirty hair, the ozone concentration around the head is likely to be substantially lower than the level in the room.
This means that when the unwashed hair absorbs more ozone, less is available for you to breathe in.
Ozone Is A Respiratory System Enemy
Ozone at ground-level is one of your respiratory system’s enemies. It can cause a bunch of respiratory ailments and is thought to increase mortality. So, it’s important to figure out ways to reduce our exposure.
Don’t Throw Out Your Shampoo
I wouldn’t chuck out that shampoo just yet though! The researchers also discovered that the unwashed hair samples caused a greater number of secondary-reaction products. One of these is 4-oxopentanal, which is a known respiratory irritant. It’s produced when the ozone reacts with the oils in hair. For people who are more prone to air pollution – such as the elderly or those who have compromised health from illness – reducing ozone exposure can be particularly important. It’s best, however, that they do it through an air filter. As for my readers, I certainly hope I don’t get emails from your parents complaining about your unwashed hair and birds nesting in your coiffs!
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