Fat Rats Starve Rather Than Eat Healthy Food
(CBS) Adding fuel to the idea that junk food is like crack, scientists at Scripps Florida say rats fed high-calorie junk food became addicted to the food and voluntarily starved when given healthy food instead of, say, cupcakes.
Repeat: The rats voluntarily starved instead of eating healthy food.
Scripps Florida scientists Paul Kenny and Paul Johnson tell the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that junk food changed the rats' brain chemistry in the same way that chronic cocaine use alters an addicts brain functions.
In the experiment, one group of rats was given healthy, nutritionally balanced food. A different group was given "unlimited access to the worst stuff Johnson could find at [the supermarket] Publix, including bacon, sausage, cheesecake, pound cake, Ding Dongs and frosting," reports the Sun-Sentinel.
The junk food group gained weight and became less active. "More surprisingly, the fat rats exhibited the sort of self-destructive behavior associated with human junkies. The rats would eat junk food even if they knew doing so would result in a mild but distinctly uncomfortable electrical shock to their feet," reports the Sun-Sentinel.
The scientists then replaced the unhealthy food with the healthy diet of the first gtoup of rats, and the fat rats refused to eat at all.
Junk food alters the brain's chemistry by releasing dopamine that would normally be released when having sex, snorting cocaine or eating a rich dessert, say the scientists. The junk food-addicted rats learned that the easiest way to experience pleasure was by eating high-calorie, high-fat food.
Kenny and Johnson hope the results of the study can help people learn to deal with food addictions.
"Food can be highly addictive," author of "The Maker's Diet" Jordan Rubin tells the Sun-Sentinel. "When people describe overeating and weight loss as a battle, this is why."
Monday, March 29, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
I lifted it from CBS News. Giftedness faces such a battle
.STORRS, Conn., March 26, 2010
Child Prodigy, 13, Claims UConn Age Bias
Youthful Sophomore Colin Carlson Tries to Legally Force University to Reverse Decision Denying Him Study Abroad
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Colin Carlson, left, speaks to fellow student, senior Alex DeFrancesco, before their Evolution of Green Plants class at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Conn., March 23, 2010. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
. In this Tuesday, March 23, 2010 photo, Colin Carlson, 13, listens to a question during an interview with The Associated Press at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
.
Colin Carlson, 13, left, and fellow student and friend Eileen Underwood, look at plants at the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Greenhouse at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Conn., March 23, 2010. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
.
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Math Prodigy, 14, Invited to Cambridge
Ten-Year-Old Prodigy Plays Carnegie Hall
(AP) Even at 13, Colin Carlson believes he's running out of time.
Colin is a sophomore at the University of Connecticut, seeking a bachelor's degree in ecology and evolutionary biology and another in environmental studies. But he's been knocked off course by the university's rejection of his request to take a class that includes summer field work in South Africa.
He and his mother say university officials told them he is too young for the overseas course. So he's filed an age discrimination claim with the university and U.S. Department of Education, which is investigating.
"I'm losing time in my four-year plan for college," he said. "They're upsetting the framework of one of my majors."
Michael Kirk, a spokesman for UConn, would not comment on Colin's case. But he said that generally, safety is the university's first concern when travel is involved.
The university would not let Colin enroll, even after his mother, Jessica Offir, offered to release UConn from liability and accompany her son as a chaperone at her own expense, she and Colin said.
Colin was 2 or 3 when he began reading on his own, Offir said, and was up to "Harry Potter" by the time he was 4. An only child, he has faced trouble before because of his brainpower. His kindergarten teacher would not allow him to take books with him at nap time, and he was ridiculed by other children who fired math questions at him to entertain themselves, she said.
"You have no idea what kids like this experience," Offir said.
Colin skipped two grades in public school and began taking psychology, history and other courses at UConn when he was 9. He graduated from Stanford University Online High School at age 11, and soon after enrolled full-time at UConn.
"I'm actually like any other student," he said. "The faculty and students have better things to do than worry about a 13-year-old holding his own."
Over the years, Colin, who said he is fascinated by natural ecosystems, has traveled extensively. He has gone sea kayaking off Nova Scotia and Ecuador, hiked in numerous national parks and, with his mother, has traveled across the U.S. by car.
"It's important to have a very wide world view," he said. "Biology is fundamentally about the diversity of life, with a focus across the planet."
Colin says the course in conservation work in South Africa would have been critical to his studies and the rejection has forced him to change his thesis plans.
He said that once he's completed his undergraduate studies, he wants a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology and a degree in environmental law for a career in conservation science. He intends to earn the two degrees by age 22.
Carl Schlichting, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology who has taught Colin in two courses, said he is not only an outstanding student, but is unusually certain for a 13-year-old about where he is headed professionally.
"He has very strong ideas about what he wants to do," he said. "His self-confidence is very high. It's a very unusual package to see the intellect and confidence at that age."
To be eligible to study abroad, students may not be on university probation or academic probation and must have earned a grade point average of at least a "C" - no problem for Colin, who's an honor student with a near-perfect 3.9 GPA.
The study abroad office and faculty member leading the trip ultimately decide who may go, Kirk said.
Brian Whalen, president and chief executive officer of the Forum on Education Abroad, a nonprofit member association of 400 schools, agencies and other groups, said he has not heard of another case where a college student Colin's age had tried to study abroad. When accepted into a college or university, a student generally is assumed to have access to academic programs, he said.
Although Colin was barred from the South African field trip course, he will participate in a National Science Foundation-funded research group that also will take him to South Africa to study plant ecology.
Colin and his mother say they would be satisfied if the university ensures that the NSF-funded research trip and a seminar fulfill the academic requirements of the course he originally sought. They also have asked that $5,000 in stipend and expenses be reimbursed.
Their lawyer, Michael Agranoff, said he wants to negotiate a solution. He and a lawyer for the state have scheduled their first meeting Friday, he said.
Colin says he would prefer not to have to fight, but he has no choice.
"When people are drawing lines in the sand, you're going to have to cross them," he said. "I'm not going back."
© MMX, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed
Child Prodigy, 13, Claims UConn Age Bias
Youthful Sophomore Colin Carlson Tries to Legally Force University to Reverse Decision Denying Him Study Abroad
Font size PrintE-mailShare1 Comment .Like this Story? Share it:
Share On Facebook..
Colin Carlson, left, speaks to fellow student, senior Alex DeFrancesco, before their Evolution of Green Plants class at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Conn., March 23, 2010. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
. In this Tuesday, March 23, 2010 photo, Colin Carlson, 13, listens to a question during an interview with The Associated Press at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
.
Colin Carlson, 13, left, and fellow student and friend Eileen Underwood, look at plants at the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Greenhouse at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Conn., March 23, 2010. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
.
Previous slide
Next slide
0.
1.
2.
.
State Fast Facts
Connecticut
Learn about the people, economy and geography.
.
Interactive
Education In America
Backpack ready? Learn more about education in America through fun facts, national statistics and unusual schools.
.Stories
Math Prodigy, 14, Invited to Cambridge
Ten-Year-Old Prodigy Plays Carnegie Hall
(AP) Even at 13, Colin Carlson believes he's running out of time.
Colin is a sophomore at the University of Connecticut, seeking a bachelor's degree in ecology and evolutionary biology and another in environmental studies. But he's been knocked off course by the university's rejection of his request to take a class that includes summer field work in South Africa.
He and his mother say university officials told them he is too young for the overseas course. So he's filed an age discrimination claim with the university and U.S. Department of Education, which is investigating.
"I'm losing time in my four-year plan for college," he said. "They're upsetting the framework of one of my majors."
Michael Kirk, a spokesman for UConn, would not comment on Colin's case. But he said that generally, safety is the university's first concern when travel is involved.
The university would not let Colin enroll, even after his mother, Jessica Offir, offered to release UConn from liability and accompany her son as a chaperone at her own expense, she and Colin said.
Colin was 2 or 3 when he began reading on his own, Offir said, and was up to "Harry Potter" by the time he was 4. An only child, he has faced trouble before because of his brainpower. His kindergarten teacher would not allow him to take books with him at nap time, and he was ridiculed by other children who fired math questions at him to entertain themselves, she said.
"You have no idea what kids like this experience," Offir said.
Colin skipped two grades in public school and began taking psychology, history and other courses at UConn when he was 9. He graduated from Stanford University Online High School at age 11, and soon after enrolled full-time at UConn.
"I'm actually like any other student," he said. "The faculty and students have better things to do than worry about a 13-year-old holding his own."
Over the years, Colin, who said he is fascinated by natural ecosystems, has traveled extensively. He has gone sea kayaking off Nova Scotia and Ecuador, hiked in numerous national parks and, with his mother, has traveled across the U.S. by car.
"It's important to have a very wide world view," he said. "Biology is fundamentally about the diversity of life, with a focus across the planet."
Colin says the course in conservation work in South Africa would have been critical to his studies and the rejection has forced him to change his thesis plans.
He said that once he's completed his undergraduate studies, he wants a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology and a degree in environmental law for a career in conservation science. He intends to earn the two degrees by age 22.
Carl Schlichting, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology who has taught Colin in two courses, said he is not only an outstanding student, but is unusually certain for a 13-year-old about where he is headed professionally.
"He has very strong ideas about what he wants to do," he said. "His self-confidence is very high. It's a very unusual package to see the intellect and confidence at that age."
To be eligible to study abroad, students may not be on university probation or academic probation and must have earned a grade point average of at least a "C" - no problem for Colin, who's an honor student with a near-perfect 3.9 GPA.
The study abroad office and faculty member leading the trip ultimately decide who may go, Kirk said.
Brian Whalen, president and chief executive officer of the Forum on Education Abroad, a nonprofit member association of 400 schools, agencies and other groups, said he has not heard of another case where a college student Colin's age had tried to study abroad. When accepted into a college or university, a student generally is assumed to have access to academic programs, he said.
Although Colin was barred from the South African field trip course, he will participate in a National Science Foundation-funded research group that also will take him to South Africa to study plant ecology.
Colin and his mother say they would be satisfied if the university ensures that the NSF-funded research trip and a seminar fulfill the academic requirements of the course he originally sought. They also have asked that $5,000 in stipend and expenses be reimbursed.
Their lawyer, Michael Agranoff, said he wants to negotiate a solution. He and a lawyer for the state have scheduled their first meeting Friday, he said.
Colin says he would prefer not to have to fight, but he has no choice.
"When people are drawing lines in the sand, you're going to have to cross them," he said. "I'm not going back."
© MMX, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Somethings
It's always ironic how just the right words fall into our hands at just the right moment. Just a bit of background information, I've been reading a wonderful book called, Guiding the Gifted Child, and I just finished the section on; Meltdown and Burnout.
Here around the house Katie has been flying through projects. She has so many projects pulling at her attention, and she is trying to finish all of them. The anticipated melt down finally arrived. Thankfully I understood how to help, some words to reassure Katie. "Not everything started is worth finishing."
What a wonderful concept.
What might start out as a wonderful idea, might turn out to be overwhelming, not worth our time, or a in truth a complete failure. But, that's okay! Knowing how and when to let go, is just as important as knowing when to persevere. Real wisdom is being able to discern the difference and follow the path that is right for you.
Here around the house Katie has been flying through projects. She has so many projects pulling at her attention, and she is trying to finish all of them. The anticipated melt down finally arrived. Thankfully I understood how to help, some words to reassure Katie. "Not everything started is worth finishing."
What a wonderful concept.
What might start out as a wonderful idea, might turn out to be overwhelming, not worth our time, or a in truth a complete failure. But, that's okay! Knowing how and when to let go, is just as important as knowing when to persevere. Real wisdom is being able to discern the difference and follow the path that is right for you.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Growing
She's growing up. The old saying about blink and your baby is gone, blink again and your child is gone, blink again and they are walking down the aisle, is certainly true. A friend was talking today about her toddler and memories came rushing back.
The memories of not knowing what to do, what to say, how to say it. Most of all, wanting to help my little one become the person that I knew she could be. Little did I know how truly amazing the journy would be.
Now, she is peeking out the door, and independence is just a few years away. Without a doubt I'm not ready even if she thinks she is.
The memories of not knowing what to do, what to say, how to say it. Most of all, wanting to help my little one become the person that I knew she could be. Little did I know how truly amazing the journy would be.
Now, she is peeking out the door, and independence is just a few years away. Without a doubt I'm not ready even if she thinks she is.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Women throughout history
Sometimes we forget, we get busy, we look the other way, or we are afraid. This video takes a moment and gives a well deserved nod to those who made a difference.
Not my first thought, just my first blog
Welcome,
If you are reading this post hopefully you know me. If you don't please look about, register and introduce yourself.
I wanted to create this blog a couple of years ago. And, as with many other things life somehow managed to "get in the way". But this journey has been filled with important people, thoughts and revelations, as well as events. I felt that the time has come to document it, share it, and reflect upon it.
To my friends and family, thank you!
To newcomers welcome.
If you are reading this post hopefully you know me. If you don't please look about, register and introduce yourself.
I wanted to create this blog a couple of years ago. And, as with many other things life somehow managed to "get in the way". But this journey has been filled with important people, thoughts and revelations, as well as events. I felt that the time has come to document it, share it, and reflect upon it.
To my friends and family, thank you!
To newcomers welcome.
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