Monday (3/30)
European Imperialism: 1850 to 1914
-Notes
-Video: Guns, Germs, and Steel Episode II
HW: NONE
Tuesday (3/31)
Imperialism
-Finish Video: Guns, Germs, and Steel Episode II
-Discussion
-Notes
HW: Textbook Reading TBA
Wednesday (4/1)
Imperialism
-Discuss HW
-Imperialism Case Study: The Congo Free State
--Notes
--Readings
HW: Textbook Reading TBA
Thursday (4/2)
Imperialism
--Discuss HW
--Video: Guns, Germs, and Steel Episode III
HW: None
Friday (4/3)
Imperialism
-- Finish Video: Guns, Germs, and Steel Episode III
Current Events
HW: Three Paragraph Comparison Essay: Guns, Germs, and Steel: American vs. African Imperial Experiences
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Brain differences mark those with depression risk
CHICAGO (Reuters) - People who have a high family risk of developing depression had less brain matter on the right side of their brains on par with losses seen in Alzheimer's disease, U.S. researchers said on Monday.
Brain scans showed a 28-percent thinning in the right cortex -- the outer layer of the brain -- in people who had a family history of depression compared with people who did not.
"The difference was so great that at first we almost didn't believe it. But we checked and re-checked all of our data, and we looked for all possible alternative explanations, and still the difference was there," said Dr. Bradley Peterson of Columbia University Medical Center and the New York State Psychiatric Institute.
His study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The findings are based on imaging studies of 131 people aged 6 to 54 with and without a family history of depression.
The team was looking specifically for abnormalities in the brain that could signal a predisposition to depression, rather than changes that may be caused by the disease.
The thinning on the right side was only linked with a family predisposition to depression. People who actually were depressed also had thinning on the left side of cortex.
"Because previous biological studies only focused on a relatively small number of individuals who already suffered from depression, their findings were unable to tease out whether those differences represented the causes of depressive illness, or a consequence," Peterson said.
He said having a thinner right cortex may increase the risk of depression by disrupting a person's ability to decode and remember social and emotional cues from other people.
They did memory and attention tests on the study subjects and found the less brain material a person had in the right cortex, the worse they performed on attention and memory tests.
"Our findings suggest rather strongly that if you have thinning in the right hemisphere of the brain, you may be predisposed to depression and may also have some cognitive and inattention issues," he said.
Peterson said the findings suggest medications used to treat attention problems such as stimulants might be useful in the treatment of depression in some patients.
Brain scans showed a 28-percent thinning in the right cortex -- the outer layer of the brain -- in people who had a family history of depression compared with people who did not.
"The difference was so great that at first we almost didn't believe it. But we checked and re-checked all of our data, and we looked for all possible alternative explanations, and still the difference was there," said Dr. Bradley Peterson of Columbia University Medical Center and the New York State Psychiatric Institute.
His study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The findings are based on imaging studies of 131 people aged 6 to 54 with and without a family history of depression.
The team was looking specifically for abnormalities in the brain that could signal a predisposition to depression, rather than changes that may be caused by the disease.
The thinning on the right side was only linked with a family predisposition to depression. People who actually were depressed also had thinning on the left side of cortex.
"Because previous biological studies only focused on a relatively small number of individuals who already suffered from depression, their findings were unable to tease out whether those differences represented the causes of depressive illness, or a consequence," Peterson said.
He said having a thinner right cortex may increase the risk of depression by disrupting a person's ability to decode and remember social and emotional cues from other people.
They did memory and attention tests on the study subjects and found the less brain material a person had in the right cortex, the worse they performed on attention and memory tests.
"Our findings suggest rather strongly that if you have thinning in the right hemisphere of the brain, you may be predisposed to depression and may also have some cognitive and inattention issues," he said.
Peterson said the findings suggest medications used to treat attention problems such as stimulants might be useful in the treatment of depression in some patients.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Keep children away from violent computer games: experts
VIENNA, Mar 20, 2009 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- It is necessary to keep children away from violence-related computer games, said three Austrian psychologists based on their latest research results.
According to Friday's reports of Austrian media, in their latest research titled "Violence and Violence Prevention," three scientists from the Psychology Department of Austria's University of Vienna suggested that a "zero-tolerance" attitude should be adopted in dealing with youths who play violent computer games. Youths should stay away from those violent games as they "do no good but only harm."
The research results proved that those youths who often play violence-related computer games tend to be more aggressive than those who only play games with less or no violence, for which the scientists explained that violent games not only tempt imitation, but the gaming environment also easily leads to a reactive or imaginary aggressive mentality.
"Children who play violence-related computer games will easily show aggression when irritated, unsatisfied or angry," so they are more aggressive than children who do not play such games. The research also found that especially among the 16-year-olds surveyed, boys who like to play computer games with brutality- related contents have even reached 60 percent.
Therefore, the scientists suggested that parents and teachers should begin related education in primary schools to keep children from violent computer games.
On March 11, a world-shocking campus shooting happened in Germany, leaving 17 people dead. The murderer was only a 17-year- old boy, who, according to investigation, is enthusiastic about violent computer games.
I hope everyone is having a great vacation or staycation!
According to Friday's reports of Austrian media, in their latest research titled "Violence and Violence Prevention," three scientists from the Psychology Department of Austria's University of Vienna suggested that a "zero-tolerance" attitude should be adopted in dealing with youths who play violent computer games. Youths should stay away from those violent games as they "do no good but only harm."
The research results proved that those youths who often play violence-related computer games tend to be more aggressive than those who only play games with less or no violence, for which the scientists explained that violent games not only tempt imitation, but the gaming environment also easily leads to a reactive or imaginary aggressive mentality.
"Children who play violence-related computer games will easily show aggression when irritated, unsatisfied or angry," so they are more aggressive than children who do not play such games. The research also found that especially among the 16-year-olds surveyed, boys who like to play computer games with brutality- related contents have even reached 60 percent.
Therefore, the scientists suggested that parents and teachers should begin related education in primary schools to keep children from violent computer games.
On March 11, a world-shocking campus shooting happened in Germany, leaving 17 people dead. The murderer was only a 17-year- old boy, who, according to investigation, is enthusiastic about violent computer games.
I hope everyone is having a great vacation or staycation!
Friday, March 20, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
BREAKING NEWS
Due to constraints, the Industrial Revolution ID Exam will now be a 5 question short answer question test. Each worth 10 points, you have about 7 minutes per question.
Cheers!
Caro
Monday, March 16, 2009
To Work Your Brain, Work Your Body
The problem: I lost my car keys. What kind of training will make my brain work better?
The solution: Brain-boosting software programs are a booming business. And studies show that both computer exercises and old-fashioned mental activities-reading or crafting - can affect memory.
But the best thing you can do for your brain is to move your body.
"If I had to pick between fitness training and brain training, I'd go with fitness," said Sam Wang, an associate professor of neuroscience and molecular biology at Princeton University. So far, he said, exercise has been shown to have an effect several times larger than computer-brain exercise.
But Wang noted that "fitness training only lasts as long as the benefit to your cardiovascular system." Brain exercise, on the other hand, "might last longer."
Why not combine mental and physical fitness? That's the idea behind Brain Center America's NeuroActive Bike, which allows people to select from 22 brain-stimulating exercises while they pedal.
Wang said he would never shell out $3,995 for the bike, which is available in the U.S. only in South Florida, but it could be a double workout for the brain.
What he would really like to see is a computer that works only if he's moving on an exercise bike or treadmill.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
The Week Ahead
Monday (3/16)
1. Discuss HW and the defense of the factory system
2. DBQ: Assessing the Industrial Revolution's effects
3. Reforming the industrial world
--Notes
HW: Reading in Textbook - TBA
Tuesday (3/17)
1. Discuss HW
2. Review Communism, Socialism, and Capitalism
3. Prepare for Socratic Seminar I
HW: Soc. Sem. Readings
Wednesday (3/18)
1. Introduce Extra Credit Option
2. Socratic Seminar I:
Round 1: Child labor, minimum wage, labor rights, etc.
Round 2: Communism vs. Capitalism
Round 3: Technology and Today
HW: STUDY & Prep Journal
Thursday (3/19)
1. Review for Exam II
HW: Study
Friday (3/20)
1. Exam II
2. Journals DUE
HW: NONE!
HAPPY SPRING BREAK!
1. Discuss HW and the defense of the factory system
2. DBQ: Assessing the Industrial Revolution's effects
3. Reforming the industrial world
--Notes
HW: Reading in Textbook - TBA
Tuesday (3/17)
1. Discuss HW
2. Review Communism, Socialism, and Capitalism
3. Prepare for Socratic Seminar I
HW: Soc. Sem. Readings
Wednesday (3/18)
1. Introduce Extra Credit Option
2. Socratic Seminar I:
Round 1: Child labor, minimum wage, labor rights, etc.
Round 2: Communism vs. Capitalism
Round 3: Technology and Today
HW: STUDY & Prep Journal
Thursday (3/19)
1. Review for Exam II
HW: Study
Friday (3/20)
1. Exam II
2. Journals DUE
HW: NONE!
HAPPY SPRING BREAK!
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Scientists able to read people's minds
Brain scanner translates thoughts of participants in maze experiment
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
An MRI scan of a brain. By observing neural activity, scientists will be able to translate thoughts,
Having the ability to read someone's mind with a "thought machine" has come a step closer after scientists showed that they could guess a person's memory simply by looking at the electrical activity of their brain.
Scientists have found that spatial memories can be "read" by a brain scanner so that it is possible to predict automatically where someone imagines themselves to be (the exact location in a maze, for instance) without actually asking them.
"It's also a small step toward the idea of mind reading, because just by looking at neural activity, we are able to say what someone is thinking," said Demis Hassabis of University College London.
It may one day be possible to do the same with other types of memories and thoughts, although the possibility of using a mind-reading machine to solve crimes or to fight terrorism is still a distant prospect, Dr Hassabis said.
"It's at least 10 years, probably more, from getting anywhere near that kind of technology, where you could literally read someone's thoughts in a single short session when they don't want you to," he said. "We might be about 10 years away from doing that, so it might be useful to start having those ethical discussions in the near future in preparation for that – but we're still a long way from doing anything practical," Dr Hassabis said.
The study was led by UCL's Professor Eleanor Maguire who had already shown that a small area of the brain behind a region called the hippocampus is enlarged in male taxi drivers who had done "The Knowledge" – memorising the maze of London streets. Professor Maguire trained a different set of male volunteers to navigate themselves through a virtual maze on a computer while their brains were being scanned by a functional MRI machine. "We know that the hippocampus underpins our ability to navigate, to form and recollect memories and how to imagine the future. But how the activity across millions of hippocampal neurons supports the functions is a fundamental question in neuroscience," Professor Maguire said.
The scientists found that certain nerve cells in the brain's hippocampus, called "place cells", became stimulated in definite patterns of activity that the researchers could analyse to guess where in the maze each man imagined himself to be.
"Remarkably, using this technique we found that we could accurately predict the position of an individual within this virtual environment solely from the pattern of activity within their hippocampus," she said.
In contrast, previous research on animals suggested that there were no particular patterns of activity within the nerve cells of the hippocampus that could be used to predict spatial memory. "Our technique, which looks at the picture over many thousands of neurons, shows this cannot be the whole story," Professor Maguire said. "If we're able to predict spatial memories from brain activity, this means there must be a structure to how it is coded in the neurons."
The study, published in the journal Current Biology and funded by the Wellcome Trust, the world's biggest medical research charity, could help scientists to understand the fundamental memory problems behind some neurological diseases. "Understanding how we as humans record our memories is critical to helping us learn how information is processed in the hippocampus and how our memories are eroded by diseases such as Alzheimer's," Dr Hassabis said.
The future: Ethical questions
Being able to read someone's mind has been the stuff of science fiction, but how far are we away from the reality of visualising the secret thoughts of people without them knowing?
The latest research is strictly limited to a certain set of nerve cells in the brain – specifically the hippocampus region – that are known to be involved in memorising spatial awareness and navigation.
Professor Eleanor Maguire of University College London, who led the study, said that the finding opens up the possibility of understanding how other kinds of memories are encoded in the brain, although we are still a long way from seeing inside someone's head. "We can rest easy in terms of mind-reading. While technically in this study we were able to predict someone's spatial memory from their brain activity, there was nothing intrusive about what we did," Professor Maguire said.
"It's not that we can put somebody in a brain scanner and suddenly read their thoughts. It's quite an involved process that's at a very early stage."
But in science you can never say never, and the technique could be adapted for other kinds of memory infiltration. "It's probably quite far away from having social, ethical and probably forensic implications," Professor Maguire said.
YES! Radiohead does New Order!
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
An MRI scan of a brain. By observing neural activity, scientists will be able to translate thoughts,
Having the ability to read someone's mind with a "thought machine" has come a step closer after scientists showed that they could guess a person's memory simply by looking at the electrical activity of their brain.
Scientists have found that spatial memories can be "read" by a brain scanner so that it is possible to predict automatically where someone imagines themselves to be (the exact location in a maze, for instance) without actually asking them.
"It's also a small step toward the idea of mind reading, because just by looking at neural activity, we are able to say what someone is thinking," said Demis Hassabis of University College London.
It may one day be possible to do the same with other types of memories and thoughts, although the possibility of using a mind-reading machine to solve crimes or to fight terrorism is still a distant prospect, Dr Hassabis said.
"It's at least 10 years, probably more, from getting anywhere near that kind of technology, where you could literally read someone's thoughts in a single short session when they don't want you to," he said. "We might be about 10 years away from doing that, so it might be useful to start having those ethical discussions in the near future in preparation for that – but we're still a long way from doing anything practical," Dr Hassabis said.
The study was led by UCL's Professor Eleanor Maguire who had already shown that a small area of the brain behind a region called the hippocampus is enlarged in male taxi drivers who had done "The Knowledge" – memorising the maze of London streets. Professor Maguire trained a different set of male volunteers to navigate themselves through a virtual maze on a computer while their brains were being scanned by a functional MRI machine. "We know that the hippocampus underpins our ability to navigate, to form and recollect memories and how to imagine the future. But how the activity across millions of hippocampal neurons supports the functions is a fundamental question in neuroscience," Professor Maguire said.
The scientists found that certain nerve cells in the brain's hippocampus, called "place cells", became stimulated in definite patterns of activity that the researchers could analyse to guess where in the maze each man imagined himself to be.
"Remarkably, using this technique we found that we could accurately predict the position of an individual within this virtual environment solely from the pattern of activity within their hippocampus," she said.
In contrast, previous research on animals suggested that there were no particular patterns of activity within the nerve cells of the hippocampus that could be used to predict spatial memory. "Our technique, which looks at the picture over many thousands of neurons, shows this cannot be the whole story," Professor Maguire said. "If we're able to predict spatial memories from brain activity, this means there must be a structure to how it is coded in the neurons."
The study, published in the journal Current Biology and funded by the Wellcome Trust, the world's biggest medical research charity, could help scientists to understand the fundamental memory problems behind some neurological diseases. "Understanding how we as humans record our memories is critical to helping us learn how information is processed in the hippocampus and how our memories are eroded by diseases such as Alzheimer's," Dr Hassabis said.
The future: Ethical questions
Being able to read someone's mind has been the stuff of science fiction, but how far are we away from the reality of visualising the secret thoughts of people without them knowing?
The latest research is strictly limited to a certain set of nerve cells in the brain – specifically the hippocampus region – that are known to be involved in memorising spatial awareness and navigation.
Professor Eleanor Maguire of University College London, who led the study, said that the finding opens up the possibility of understanding how other kinds of memories are encoded in the brain, although we are still a long way from seeing inside someone's head. "We can rest easy in terms of mind-reading. While technically in this study we were able to predict someone's spatial memory from their brain activity, there was nothing intrusive about what we did," Professor Maguire said.
"It's not that we can put somebody in a brain scanner and suddenly read their thoughts. It's quite an involved process that's at a very early stage."
But in science you can never say never, and the technique could be adapted for other kinds of memory infiltration. "It's probably quite far away from having social, ethical and probably forensic implications," Professor Maguire said.
YES! Radiohead does New Order!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Sunday, March 08, 2009
The Week Ahead: 3/9 - 3/12
This Week: The Industrial Revolution
Monday (3/9)
1. Discuss HW from textbook - (assigned last Wednesday and stamped last Thursday)
2. Lecture and Notes
3. Video clip: Metropolis
HW: Primary Source Packet with Questions in Journal
Tuesday (3/10)
1. Discuss HW
2. Video Clips
3. Class reading and discussion
HW: NONE
Wednesday (3/11)
1. Class Reading 2
2. Finish Notes
HW: DBQ
Thursday (3/12)
1. Discuss DBQ
2. Child Labor and working conditions debate
3. Current Events!
HW: TBA
Friday (3/13)
NO SCHOOL - Conferences
Monday (3/9)
1. Discuss HW from textbook - (assigned last Wednesday and stamped last Thursday)
2. Lecture and Notes
3. Video clip: Metropolis
HW: Primary Source Packet with Questions in Journal
Tuesday (3/10)
1. Discuss HW
2. Video Clips
3. Class reading and discussion
HW: NONE
Wednesday (3/11)
1. Class Reading 2
2. Finish Notes
HW: DBQ
Thursday (3/12)
1. Discuss DBQ
2. Child Labor and working conditions debate
3. Current Events!
HW: TBA
Friday (3/13)
NO SCHOOL - Conferences
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Congratulations Bre!!!
Taken From:Saturday, March 07, 2009 YUXING ZHENG
The Oregonian
Portland Rose Festival names its first suburban princess Tigard High senior Breanna Rose Burnett will represent the metro area Tigard High's Breanna Rose Burnett is the first metro princess
A girl whose middle name is Rose will be the first princess on the Court of Rosaria who represents a Portland suburb.
Breanna Rose Burnett, a senior at Tigard High School, was selected as the first metro princess Friday.
"I didn't believe it at first," Burnett, 17, said after hearing her name announced. "I'm surprised I even made it this far. I'm extremely excited."
Burnett was the fifth princess named to the 15-member court. The princesses will travel throughout Oregon in the next few months representing the court at public events and volunteer gigs.
In an effort to reach a wider audience, Rose Festival organizers this year opened up one spot on the court to suburban students. Seventy-one applicants representing 18 metro area schools began the process. Judges then narrowed the field to five finalists, who attended Friday's announcement at the Lakewood Center for the Arts in Lake Oswego.
Burnett, who has been dancing since she was 5, is a captain of the varsity dance team. She is also active in student government, humanitarian clubs, and speech and debate. She is a member of Solid Rock Jesus Church in Tigard and spent two weeks in Uganda last June through a local ministry.
Family: Parents Sandy and Brian Burnett, brothers Tyler, 21, and Daniel, 24
Favorite song: "The Fear" by Lily Allen
Perfect day: "Being able to go back to Uganda, where I have a lot of friends."
Bookmarked Web site: mrcaro.com, her psychology teacher's site
Favorite class: International Baccalaureate psychology and chemistry 2
Where her money goes: Clothes. "I love shopping."
Dream holiday: To travel around the world, possibly through Europe
Little-known fact: "I'm extremely flexible."
Favorite book: The Bible and "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
University plans: Gonzaga University in Spokane to study psychology or the humanities. Also hopes to be on the dance team.
Friday, March 06, 2009
PRIVACY
Hey bloggers! It is recommended that when you post to this blog (or others for that matter) you avoid using your full name. Your first name with last initial is fine. Using your full name may put you at risk of losing your privacy.
Cheers!
Caro
Cheers!
Caro
Thursday, March 05, 2009
It's The Weekend...
BRUSSELS, March 5 (Reuters) - A Canadian filmmaker plans to have a mini camera installed in his prosthetic eye to make documentaries and raise awareness about surveillance in society.
Rob Spence, 36, who lost an eye in an accident as a teenager, said his so-called Project Eyeborg is to have the camera, a battery and a wireless transmitter mounted on a tiny circuit board. www.eyeborgblog.com/
"Originally the whole idea was to do a documentary about surveillance. I thought I would become a sort of super hero ... fighting for justice against surveillance," Spence said.
"In Toronto there are 12,000 cameras. But the strange thing I discovered was that people don't care about the surveillance cameras, they were more concerned about me and my secret camera eye because they feel that is a worse invasion of their privacy."
Spence, in Brussels to appear at a media conference, said no part of the camera would be connected to his nerves or brain.
He does not intend to create a reality TV show and the camera will be switched off when not needed, he said.
"I don't want to go into a locker room. I don't want to show the world me going to the bathroom either ... I'm not a life-caster and I don't plan to be one," he said. (Reporting by Bate Felix; Editing by Louise Ireland)
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Sunday, March 01, 2009
The Week Ahead
Monday (3/2)
Unit Exam I Review
--Responding to IDs
--Practice Exam
HW: Study
Tuesday (3/3)
Unit I Exam
HW: NONE
Wednesday (3/4)
Industrial Revolution
--Introduction
--Revolutionary Invention
HW: Textbook Reading - TBA
Thursday (3/5)
Industrial Revolution
--Lecture
--Reading
HW: Primary Source Packet Readings and Questions
Friday (3/6)
NO SCHOOL
Face of moral disgust has primitive roots
University of Toronto researchers say they've found a link between moral disgust and disgust related to unpleasant tastes.
While morality is considered a pinnacle of human evolution, disgust is a primitive emotion that played a key role in evolutionary survival, researchers said.
"Our research shows the involvement of disgust in morality, suggesting that moral judgment may depend as much on simple emotional processes as on complex thought," lead author Hanah Chapman, a graduate student in psychology, said Thursday in a release.
The research team found that people make similar facial movements when tasting unpleasant liquids or viewing disgusting objects as they did when they were subjected to unfair treatment in a laboratory game.
"These results shed new light on the origins of morality, suggesting that not only do complex thoughts guide our moral compass, but also more primitive instincts related to avoiding potential toxins," psychology professor and principal investigator Adam Anderson said. "Surprisingly, our sophisticated moral sense of what is right and wrong may develop from a newborn's innate preference for what tastes good and bad, what is potentially nutritious versus poisonous."
The findings are published in the journal Science.
Unit Exam I Review
--Responding to IDs
--Practice Exam
HW: Study
Tuesday (3/3)
Unit I Exam
HW: NONE
Wednesday (3/4)
Industrial Revolution
--Introduction
--Revolutionary Invention
HW: Textbook Reading - TBA
Thursday (3/5)
Industrial Revolution
--Lecture
--Reading
HW: Primary Source Packet Readings and Questions
Friday (3/6)
NO SCHOOL
Face of moral disgust has primitive roots
University of Toronto researchers say they've found a link between moral disgust and disgust related to unpleasant tastes.
While morality is considered a pinnacle of human evolution, disgust is a primitive emotion that played a key role in evolutionary survival, researchers said.
"Our research shows the involvement of disgust in morality, suggesting that moral judgment may depend as much on simple emotional processes as on complex thought," lead author Hanah Chapman, a graduate student in psychology, said Thursday in a release.
The research team found that people make similar facial movements when tasting unpleasant liquids or viewing disgusting objects as they did when they were subjected to unfair treatment in a laboratory game.
"These results shed new light on the origins of morality, suggesting that not only do complex thoughts guide our moral compass, but also more primitive instincts related to avoiding potential toxins," psychology professor and principal investigator Adam Anderson said. "Surprisingly, our sophisticated moral sense of what is right and wrong may develop from a newborn's innate preference for what tastes good and bad, what is potentially nutritious versus poisonous."
The findings are published in the journal Science.
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