Heart stroke is no joke
7/29/11 7:51 PM
When I walk outside, it’s as if heat and humidity wage war on my body. I feel lethargic, dehydrated and occasionally I get headaches from the change in temperature of outside heat to inside cool. The media is using words like “brutal” and “oppressive” to describe the heat wave, and they’re not far off. Recently, the heat index of Washington, D.C. reached 121 degrees. I imagine people were collapsing on sidewalks and busting open fire hydrants. I think we all know that the extreme heat of summer can make us sick. However, most people assume heat stroke affects only athletes and construction workers. The scary fact is that around 400 people die of heat stroke each year in America, according to a report by WLWT in Cincinnati, Ohio. The majority of...World Cup spurs compelling research
7/24/11 3:02 PM
The fast-paced, adrenaline-fueled games of the FIFA World Cup finals have captivated the world. Aside from the competition of speed and skill, the most interesting part is the surfacing of scientific research. One particular study is rooted on a phenomenon that has me paying close attention to people’s actions. That phenomenon goes a little something like this: dogs, when they see their owner, wag their tail more toward the right. Toads, more often than not, will strike to the right when they attack prey. Humans will turn to the right to kiss a loved one. Clearly there is some type of right-side bias. So it comes as no surprise that a goalkeeper playing a soccer game is subconsciously predisposed to rightness. The study was inspired when researchers at the University of...Overloading memorization
7/8/11 11:24 AM
Over the years, I’ve encountered classmates who are able to look at several pages of notes, memorize everything they see, and ace a test. I, on the other hand, am far from having a photographic memory. In college, being able to memorize every bone in the body or every formula in a chapter can sometimes make or break your grade in a given class. Everyone is looking for the easiest way to memorize with the least amount of effort. After all, we are lazy, yet ambitious, college kids. New research from Psychological Science may have the answer to our memorization flaws: picture a dead cat or a dental exam. The researchers found pictures that stir up negative emotions and feelings, like a pointed gun, improved memory of recently learned information. A group of 40 college...Harm in too much laughter
7/1/11 7:41 PM
Humor is contagious, joyful, amusing, even healing. It increases happiness, lightens your mood and helps strengthen bonds between people. There are times I have laughed so hard that my knees buckled and I literally rolled on the floor laughing. I have laughed so hard tears flooded my eyes while I clutched my aching stomach muscles. Afterward, the feeling of euphoria as endorphins dance through my bloodstream is incomparable to anything else. That’s why I was surprised to hear that the healing power of laughter isn’t always healing; laughing too hard can kill you. When you laugh really hard, the “fight or flight” part of your brain is activated and the hormone adrenaline starts pumping. Adrenaline can be toxic to organs, particularly the heart, for large...Sucking up can solve workplace problems
6/22/11 2:47 PM
Eventually, if not already, you will venture into the workforce with a college degree in hand. You will be ambitious, hardworking and altogether confident. But sometimes your expectations won’t pan out quite the way you dreamed. Sometimes, your work environment will be anything but friendly and comfortable. A new study in the Journal of Management Studies claims to have a solution to your future workplace woes: suck up to the boss. Specifically, the researchers found that people who suck up to their bosses were more likely to move up the corporate ladder of success and have less “psychological distress” than their co-workers who did not partake in butt-kissing. The psychological distress the researchers are referring to is defined as job tension, emotional exhaustion...
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