Author: Shirley

Environment Issues in Science Public Engagement

Biodegradeability: (Bio)Plastic and its (re)use

Post author By Shirley
Post date November 8, 2011
4 Comments on Biodegradeability: (Bio)Plastic and its (re)use

Plastic Bags and Landfills: A Perspective from SJSU NEWS on Vimeo.

Even though plastic, which is present in many aspects of our lives, has many applications and usages, it is not biodegradeable. The reason of the continuation of manifacturing plastic is that it “only takes up 5 percent of the world’s oil supplies and, in doing so, provides us with an exhaustive supply of material”. You might think “what about replacing plastic with biodegradeable material?” Aluminum and glass are more expensive and not as versatile as plastic. Wood processed products also have their downsides, such as the chemical treatment and clear-cutting.

Today, researchers are working on the synthesis of bioplastics that are based on “renewable biomass resources”. Some of the bioplastics are made to be biodegradeable, and their main applications are: packaging, easily-discarded items (e.g. utensils, bottles), and storage (e.g. food containers). The other that are produced to be nonbiodegradeable are used in areas that need endurability.

While bioplastics will eventually provide a clean, recyclable, nontoxic alternative, energy and environmental analyst Christopher Flavin, author of “The Future of Synthetic Materials” insists that oil-based plastics aren’t going anywhere just yet. He predicts that the next 20 years will see bioplastics absorb a mere 5 percent of the global plastic market [source: Kahn].

Meanwhile, we can use daily plastic products in an environmental friendly manner. For example, we can re-use plastic bags. I recommend you to read “10 Smart Uses for Old Plastic Bags” and “5 Unusual Uses for Plastic Bags” for ideas of re-using old plastic bags.

According to 2007 estimates, most plastic bags are only used an average of 12 minutes and then discarded. Consider that the world uses a staggering 1 million bags a minute and you begin to see how big the problem is [source: Batty].

Take action and conserve the world!

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Music Training: Brain Plasticity

Post author By Shirley
Post date October 17, 2011
3 Comments on Music Training: Brain Plasticity

Music and Neuroscience

“Music relates to many brain functions like perception, action, cognition, emotion, learning and memory and therefore music is an ideal tool to investigate how the human brain is working and how different brain functions interact.”

Music is a research area for neuroscientists – scientists who study nervous system – because of its relation to various brain functions mentioned above. I came across a very interesting video on YouTube on Music Processing. The video demonstrates the basic knowledge of the processing of music in the brain.

About Neuroplasticity and Means to Investigate

The brain develop much quickly at early childhood of a person’s life; however, the development of the brain does not stop at early childhood. The brain continues developing and being modified by experiences. To investigate and observe the changes within the brain, non-invasive scientific methods are developed, such as electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG).

Music and Plasticity

Both long-term and short-term music trainings have effects on brain plasticity. Experiments were done on musicians and non-musicians. Some interesting findings are:

Musicians are generally better in recognition of tones, especially in instrumental tones (piano), than non-musicians. The longer the music training, the large the difference in representation between pure tones and piano tones.
Musicians can much readily distinguish the timbre from their trained instruments than from an untrained instrument.
When non-musicians were exposed to short-term music training, the ones that had practiced on piano performed better than the ones that only had auditory training.
etc.

Those are wonderful things associated with music on the topic of neuroplasticity. Nonetheless, there is a “dark side” to it, because maladaptive reorganization in auditory nervous system can result tinnitus. This condition can severely affect people’s quality of life in a negative way. Through music training, the effects of tinnitus on subjects can be dramatically decreased.

“The effects of training on cortical plasticity involving music hold promising prospects for neuronal rehabilitation, as shown in the last tinnitus study”.

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“Go” health benefits of “Bananas”

Post author By Shirley
Post date September 26, 2011
5 Comments on “Go” health benefits of “Bananas”

Bananas are common fruits that one can fine in grocery stores. Many people dislike banana for its taste, its texture, or other reasons. I am a person who do not eat banana for its taste until I came across this video: Dole Banana Nutrition Facts. It makes me think twice about it. Is it the taste of banana much important than the health benefits that it provides?

Here are some nutritional facts of bananas:

Bananas have resistant starch that aides the digestion of fat. Including bananas in diet helps weight loss.
Stroke is a leading cause of death in Canada, and bananas prevent stroke because the ratio between the content of potassium and the content of sodium in banana is ideal.
Potassium also helps the body regulate hear rate and water balance.
The high content of iron content in bananas can prevent anemia, a low level of red blood cells in blood.
Vitamin B6 that are present in bananas helps to repair DNA and prevent cancer.
Eating bananas in prenatal stage can decrease the chance of baby’s being born with leukemia.
Consumption of bananas can help children build a good immune system.
Tryptophan, an amino acid, in bananas decreases the chance of getting depression.

It is said “do not judge a book by its cover”, and I think it is true that I cannot dislike banana for its taste, because it has a lot of health benefits.

With these information in mind, be sure to consider including bananas in your diet!

Sources:

Banana Nutrition Facts, Health Benefits of Bananas, Banana Nutrients

Dole Banana Nutrition Facts

WHFoods: Bananas

Tags Banana, Cancer, Fruit, Nutrition and Health, Stroke, Vitamins