Are video games REALLY bad for you? Yes they are, but not how you think!

OK. So here I read about video games' effects on children. Way back in the 70s and 80s, when video games were first produced, parents raised health questions on the effects of the games on children. These effects include seizures and heart rate and blood pressure changes. Then, the article talked about video games being good for hand-eye coordination and attention to detail, as well as introduce young ones to computers. Another bigger issue today, however, is the effect of violent video games on children. Video game designers Nintendo and Sega have developed a system for rating violent games, however other designers have not followed in their footsteps. Some company or organization, Funk, (I'm not sure what exactly it is) looked at the games and their effects on children. Some younger children have acted violent for a short period of time after playing violent games. Another issue here is how easily accessible violent games are to children. A 10-year-old child could walk into Target with $20 and walk out with a video game titled "Doomsday of the Deadly Gun Shooters in a Gang" with no problems or questions. I think parents should step up. Would you like your child to become influenced by such games as a young student, and attempt to reenact this behavior in school or anyplace else? I didn't think so. Today's innocent babies could be tomorrow's most infamous criminals if we let violent, uncontrolled gaming continue. I don't know about you, but I sure don't want to live in a future where we fear for our lives because of this generation's violent gamers.

Napping=Heart Healthy?

Wow. So here is a fascinating article I came across on the TIME magazine website. Did anyone ever feel like taking a quick catnap or a long midday snooze? Well, apparently, recent studies have shown that napping might reduce the risk of deadly heart conditions, especially among men. (Sorry, ladies!) Greek researchers have been conducting a study comparing the benefits of napping. They say it's possible that women can benefit from napping as well, but, fortunately or not, not enough women died in the study. Now, what's that supposed to mean? Women might not benefit from naps because not enough of us died? I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Anyway, treasure, I thought you might be interested in this...your doctor can recommend frequent half-hour naps to reduce stress, much of which comes from jobs! So you can pull out a pillow in 3rd period! ;-) And if bosses come around, you can also pull out a doctor's note or prescription for a nap! I think this is pretty cool. I read here, though, that too much sleep is bad for you! In the same medical news, that too much knowledge can be bad for your memory!
*The medical information came from Medical News Today*
That's something to ponder, isn't it, treasure? Napping in classes would be fun, judging by this article. Students could improve their heart health and take a break from classes!

Cartoon Network Hoax

This was an unbelievable thing that I heard about on my way to band...was it last week or the week before? Cartoon Network staged a big marketing stunt that resulted in disaster. The "ads" featured wires and blinking lights. Several planted throughout Boston were mistaken as bombs. Therefore, most of Boston was shut down! There were these blinking devices in other cities, too, but they didn't cause as much of a disturbance. The signs planted featured a box-shaped cartoon character from the show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" giving commuters the finger. Two men were arrested for putting the signs up, and Cartoon Network is now part of a huge controversy. Some of the show's fans say that it was just a sign, how could it be mistaken as a bomb? But many others are furious for the network, saying that the signs scared them to death of a 9/11 repeat.
*The article used came from woai.com*
I believe that networks a)shouldn't have these stupid shows on. I mean really, the show is about a talking milkshake, a box of fries, and a MEATBALL!!! Also, b)networks shouldn't create a false public alarm. The police knew nothing of the signs, and the network should have talked to them to reassure that it was a mere marketing stunt. Even if they didn't talk to police, the network should at least make a regular ad, not a freaky, rude, wirey one that resembles a bomb! The citizens of Boston are furious for the shutting-down of many bridges, subways, and buildings.

Gummi Bear DNA

Two days ago in science class, we made DNA strands out of gummy bears and licorice! It was SO much fun...especially when we got to eat them! What we did was thread chocolate and strawberry licorice pieces onto thread. Brown licorice was phosphate sugar molecules. Red licorice was pentose sugar molecules. Then, we correctly blended green "guanine" gummy bears with yellow "cytosine" gummy bears and red "adenine" gummy bears with orange "thymine" gummy bears, put them on toothpicks, and stuck them on the sugar molecules. Before, I did not know that pentose sugar molecules contained nitrogen bases and phosphate sugar molecules didn't. Also, did you know that you can only mix guanine with cytosine and adenine with thymine? I didn't know that either! Oh, yeah, and I didn't know that guanine, cytosine, adenine, and thymine were represented in different shapes, so that only the matching pieces went together. Did you know those three things??? I still believe that I will never fully understand genetics, although through creating this DNA strand model I have gotten a little closer...I mean, I just learned about adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine, pentose sugar molecules, and phosphate sugar molecules!!! Here, I found the directions to almost the same lab that we did! Did you know that "if the total DNA in one person were laid in a straight line, it would stretch to the sun and back over 600 times."? That information was from this site. (I made it from document form to html form for your access.) Also from the same page, I found out that humans are 99.9% identical and only 0.1% of our genetic makeup differs! How amazing is that? So again, still stating this from my last post, I believe I have a lot of catching up to do to get totally up-to-date with genetics. However, it's also important to start from the beginning, so we know some background things. (Thanks again, treasure, for the help!)

Science Class--Punnett Squares

So in science class we're working on Punnett Square posters now. I'm doing one on the Jellybean/George hamster cross. This is a cool site I found where you can make your own interactive Punnett Squares! It helped me understand the layout of dihybrid squares better. And this explains all about how Punnett Squares work, just in case you're a little confused. I learned more about how to set up a dihybrid square, and that they're used to determine the probability of two different genes appearing together. While searching the site, I also found an eye color genetics activity. It was kind of like the pea plant crossing we did in class a couple of weeks ago. I think genetics is a very vast field, and we can learn a lot more. In the news, they constantly talk about the subject. For example, I found an article about cloning DNA repair genes here from 1990! As searching, I also found many words I have NEVER heard of from this site, such as "Sapl promotes the association of the replication fork protection complex with chromatin and is involved in the replication checkpoint in Schizosaccharomyces pombe," "Cytogenetic and molecular characterization of heterochromatin gene models in Drosophila melanogaster," and "Type IV procollagen missense mutations associated with defects of the eye, vascular stability, brain, kidney function and embryonic or postnatal viability in the mouse Mus musculus: An extension of the Col4a1 allelic series and the identification of the first two Col4a2 mutant alleles" to name only a few! If anyone out there understands that, please let me know! I also believe that genetics is very confusing unless you catch up with it all from the moment you begin studying, for that reason entirely! Pretty much the only word I understood was allele. (Thanks, treasure!) I guess some of us will be behind for a while...;-) AFN, TTYL!