Uh, So where did my social life go?

By Amanda Nadolny ‘12

Biology Content Tutor/Supplemental Instruction Leader

 A few weeks into the semester my friends bought me a rose plant and a card. The card read, “Sorry for the death of your social life R.I.P., don’t worry mine’s dead too.” I found this highly amusing because it’s true.  When summer ends and classes begin finding time for anything, let alone a social life, is difficult. That is not to say that no one has summer responsibilities, that we are all spending our days lounging by the pool drinking fruit smoothies, but there is much more ‘down time’ for activities and sociality that enriches life.

Over the summer I was able to wake up and walk on the beach every morning and enjoy its beauty. I was able to appreciate the importance of human interaction, I was able to try something new and take on the project of restoring a Victorian-looking dresser I found at a church tag sale.

Basically, I was living life.

Then summer ended and the fall semester began and it went from appreciating life and enjoying its beauty to rush, rush, rush. Suddenly, I had too much going on to organize it in my little paper agenda, and I needed to make an online Google-calendar so I could ‘move’ things around if something came up and more often than not, it did.

Sleep was a foreign word and food? What’s that? I dropped ten pounds in the first three weeks. I am sharing this information to make a point. It is wonderful and extremely fulfilling to be involved and busy with school but recognizing boundaries, and when you have reached them, is important as well.  Managing your time is not solely about stuffing as much work as you can into 24 hours of the day, but it is about finding a balance.

            When you’re doing (or studying) something you love, it is easy to get involved in numerous activities to bulk up your resume. Others see your enthusiasm and remember it- so when there’s an internship offer, a job opening, or any other type of wonderful opportunity, you will come to mind.

 I am going to make it clear that it is extremely and utterly important to challenge yourself and expand your mind.

However, it is ok to say no.

It is ok to say, thank you for the opportunity but I am too busy to devote the amount of time it would require to do the job properly. Recognizing when you have taken on too much is difficult because you are doing everything you enjoy and are aspiring for. However, is it worth it or healthy to stress yourself to the point where eating and sleeping become weekend activities? Every now and then taking a step back, a deep breath and reflecting can do wonders and put things into perspective.

            As a student, pushing yourself to your limits is important because it demonstrates that you’re expanding your potential and challenging yourself. Don’t base your judgments of how much you can handle on other people because you do not know what situation they are in. Yes, it may seem that they can juggle 21 credits, a full time job and still have free time to rescue little fuzzy animals from distress on weekends but you are not them and they are not you.

Who knows, maybe if they were in your shoes they would never succeed at what you’re doing, in the circumstances you’re under. So when you look around and see people who are succeeding at what seems like everything they do, don’t put yourself down because you are not in their situation (and they are not in yours).

My Journey to Houston, TX- Melissa Reardon ’10

Last week I embarked on a journey to Houston, TX! I had landed myself an interview for the University of Texas Health Science Center’s graduate program. I wanted to snag some blog space to share interesting tid-bits of information I collected during my trip. The Houston medical center, taking up 21 million square feet, is the largest of its kind in the world. Comprised of 13 hospitals, patients have their pick of where to go to receive treatment. The area is visited by 4.8 million patients each year. In addition to health clinics countless educational institutions are located here including two medical schools (both of which also offer graduate programs in biomedical sciences which are regularly visited by Nobel laureates), four nursing schools, a dentistry school, a public health school, a pharmacy school, and a medical technology school. The medical center is truly the place to be for aspiring scientists and medical professionals!

 Other fun facts include:

• According to Texans, there are two types of people living in their state-Those who were born there, and those who got there as fast as they could. This is a common saying in the Lone Star state. People from Texas really like Texas.

• Everything is bigger in Texas. Take the name of the center as an example-The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. That’s a mouth full. Driving along the highway (and Texas is comprised of more than 70,000 miles of highway!), I passed about 10 consecutive miles of just car dealerships! I don’t understand how people pick places to buy anything!

• Houston has many, many restaurants. It’s estimated to contain around 11,000, and more people eat out in here than any other city in the US. Seriously, the number of restaurants is overwhelming (At least to a Northerner like me). You could attempt to eat at a different place (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) everyday for the rest of your life. You would die before you ate everywhere. Please do not attempt this.

 • In 2005, Houston was named the fattest city in America. This coincides with my previous point. Texans, however, asserted during my trip that they are doing much better (lately anyway).

 • Texas is the only state in which the state flag can fly as high as the U.S. flag.

• Ever hear of chicken-fried foods? I didn’t. I discovered that just because something is labeled “Chicken-fried” does not necessary mean it contains chicken. I order a chicken-fried steak for lunch once thinking I would eat a fried chicken sandwich. I thought that steak referred to its shape or something. It tasted a little funny to me (not to mention the meat was sort of dark), but I figured that because I was eating at a fast-food restaurant I was given cheap chicken meat. It turned out that my sandwich was actually a deep-fried hamburger. Lesson learned. Chicken-fried is a fancy way of saying fried.

 • Texas is where Dr. Pepper was invented. One Texan shared with me an issue she has with the North-restaurants are likely not serve this wonderful beverage. I, however, discovered a bigger problem in regards to beverages during my visit. Not every place in Houston serves hot tea. Anyone who knows me knows how I feel about tea. It’s a staple-equal to grain, milk, or eggs! Twice I was denied access my drink. People down there prefer to drink sweet, iced tea (and that’s what they tried to give me…yuck).

Living in the state is going to take adjustment.

That is all I can come up with for now. I’ll share more soon.

Cheers!

Mind Mapping

Mind mapping is an effective tool in developing one’s learning skills. This concept was introduced to me by a biology professor who is allowing me to facilitate constructing one in class today. It is a good study method, so I wanted to share it online.  Take a look at my presentation, and see if you can adapt to subjects you are currently learning. I have a good idea for applying it to anatomy, but more on that later….

The subject for today’s presentation is Population ecology: Density.

Density describes the number of organisms within a given area. A species density is regulated by density- independent factors, and density- dependant factors. I have organized these factors through a mind map attached to this post. I start quite general:

Density is regulated by two factors listed as…

Then, I move on into specifics as the map grows in content:

For example, toxic waste accumulation is an example of a density dependant factor…

 As the population density of an organism increases, the concentration of waste products excreted into habitats also grows. Perhaps disgusting, but think of house-training a puppy. A household has one puppy. While learning to ”do his business outside” the dog is likely to have a few accidents inside. As a consequence, the household may develop a particular odor. Now, imagine house-training 12 new puppies. Would one expect that house to become more smelly on account of increased inside urination incidents? Ekk, yes. If bacteria live among their own waste products they risk poisoning and death. This risk increases when more bacteria are around to create waste.

This is a good way to learn. Define and categorize. Once that is complete, attach meaning to a concept to increase your chance of remembering it. Look at my mind map. Under density-dependant factors toxic waste accumulation is listed. To further develop this thought I placed yeast and ethanol within the flow of arrows. Yeast undergoes fermentation to create ethanol during the production of beer. However, when one pops open a bottle of bud live yeast are not consumed. Why is that? The ethanol produced by these organisms accumulated and led to the creators’ deaths!

Notice how I connect two sub-categories of the two main categories (Density independent/dependant factors). Under either cause I  listed limitation of food resources. Distinguish between the two given examples. Densities of deer may go down in the winter time due to low availability of food. One family member may not get seconds at the dinner table, and leave for bed hungry because of a lower availability of food. What is the difference between the two? For the deer, winter may wipe out food resources (i.e. plants). Some animals may starve to death, thus decreasing population density. Climate is not aggravated by a large number of deer. A climate will do what it wanrws regardless of how mant deer are present. A big family, however,  leaves less food for seconds. How far do you think a single pie would go in family of seven versus one of three?  One factor is density independent, while the other is density dependant.

Practice this method of visual learning. Define something, categorize it, sub-categorize it, attached meanings, and make connections and distinctions. 

Cheers!

Melissa R.

Visual Learning for Anatomy & Physiology

Last semester, I completed a year-long course of Anatomy and Physiology. I considered it quite a feat since the class required so much effort to memorize bones, muscles, tissues, veins, arteries, etc! I’ll provide an example:

Chapter 5 of a particular anatomy textbook discusses histology. It lists seven types of connective tissue (CT) within eight pages: adipose CT, fibrous CT, elastic CT, reticular CT, cartilage, bone, and blood. You have to memorize what these look like, as well as what sort of fibers (i.e. collagenous, elastic, and reticular fibers) and cells (i.e. fibroblasts, macrophages, mast cells, etc) they contain, where they are found in the body, and role they play within their location. Once that task is completed, you must go over other topics within the chapter including epithelial cells (i.e. simple squamous, stratified squamous, simple columnar, pseudostratified columnar, simple cuboidal, transitional, etc.), glands, as well as muscle (skeletal, visceral, and cardiac) and nerve tissue.

Overwhelmed? I’m starting to sweat just typing out all these concepts! Reading through an entire chapter front to back is not useful in preparation for exams-your brain cannot retain the enormous amount of information contained in its pages in one attempt. Textbook authors realize that their pages contain A LOT of information. This is why they include so many pictures and diagrams condensing a subject they spend four pages explaining. My advice to students is that they take full advantage of these useful tools.

I am going to share how I learned to study for this course using images contained within my anatomy and physiology text. Anatomy and physiology courses are comprised of two segments: lecture and laboratory. Lecture exams focus on a student’s level of knowledge with material covered, while laboratory exams require one to visually identify what is discussed in lecture. During my first semester, I spent too many stressful hours attempting to study for the two separately. I learned to condense by combining visual study with definitions. Here is an example. Below is a photo of adipose connective tissue.

The explanation for this connective tissue spanned two pages. I skimmed through it once, never had to back to it again, and received an A on both the lecture and laboratory tests covering this subject. How did I do it? Whenever I study a topic in anatomy, I seek to answer these four questions:

What is this?

Where is it found?

What is it comprised of?

Why it is it important?

When a solution to these problems was discovered, I immediately wrote it down next to the picture. For example, the adipose tissue contains collogen, elastic, and reticular fibers, as well as fibroblast cells. I would label these items, and under it write their definitions. Within the margins of my text next to this page I also wrote “ located under epithelial tissue,” “surrounds capillaries” “has macrophages” “plays role in inflammation” “holds tissue fluid.” My method worked for me because it combined and condensed. Time and energy were spared when two pages (out of a 30-page chapter) of an explanation were reduced to a single picture with some words around it. Whenever I needed to prepare for an exam, I would refer not to my text, but the photos within my text. In addition, my studying style allowed me to combine preparation for lecture and laboratory exams. I learned what adipose tissue was, and why it was important simultaneously.

 This is a great visual tool for studying-try it!

In summary: Find a diagram or photo within a chapter that condenses a particular discussion within the text. Find the information you need (What is this? Where is it found? What is it comprised of? and Why it is it important?), write it in/around that picture or diagram, and refer back to it when studying instead of the text.

Photo from: Hoehn, K., & Marieb, E. (2007). Human anatomy & physiology. Pearson: New York

The Future of Energy Production?

The Future of Energy Production?

E. coli does not merely exist to infect our water stores, petting zoos, and, more recently, America’s supply of tomato and jalapeño pepper crops. These virulent types of E. coli give the bacterial species a bad name. E. coli, in actuality, contributes greatly to human health. For example, did you know that the organism colonizes within your large intestine? It synthesizes vitamin K (you need this to coagulate your blood), and provides protection from pathogens within the bowels since its presence leaves little resources for harmful bacteria to grow and thrive. In addition, E. coli is utilized to produce vital medications such as insulin and penicillin. E.coli is cool.

I came across a recent article that discusses a recent breakthrough in biotechnology concerning E.coli. Researchers have found a way to program the bacteria to produce gasoline as a by-product of metabolism. It’s one way to reduce our dependence on foreign oilJ.  Check it out:

 

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/08/12/bug.diesel/index.html?iref=newssearch

 

-Melissa Reardon