Is Religion Good For Your Brain?

February 5, 2014 / esfein / 1 Comment

When you think of religion does your body get invigorated? Do you feel your soul flutter? Does your brain reach a higher state of functioning? In answer to the last question, Jeffrey Anderson, assistant professor of nueroradiology at the University of Utah states that,

We think we have the tools now to do a study of brain activity during the really profound and deep types of emotional and social interactions associated with religion, and we’re really excited to try and understand more.

Religion constantly falls under the close scrutiny of science.

Anderson and other researchers are launching a new study that will examine exactly how religion and spiritual rituals impact the human brain. The study will consist of participants between the age of 20 and 30 who are currently active in their faith. An MRI scan will be performed while the participants are surrounded by faith oriented activities, such as listening to spiritual music, listening to proclamations from their religion, and acting out religious rituals associated with their particular faith. Very interesting indeed, but it will take some time before the results of the study are posted. If you believe your self to be a prime candidate for the study, and of course as long as you are in the immediate area of the University of Utah, you can apply to be a participant on the Religious Brain Project website.

Related Article: Morals or More Rails (to guide us)

The study does beg another set of questions however: can religion and belief be measured by science? Or rather, should science be used to gauge religion? Is it morally correct to accept religion over science, or vice versa? Essentially we arrive at a very pertinent question: should religion be completely replaced by science within the school system as a more viable teaching strategy?

Bill Nye (yes, the science guy) and Ken Ham (Answers in Genesis, supporting the side of religion and creationism) squared off in a debate last night about religion which addressed these issues directly. The overarching question of the debate was : Is creation a viable model of human origins in today’s modern scientific era? Both sides had their own opinions as well as evidence to back up their claims.

Which Religion is right? Which book do your prefer? sciencebasedlife.wordpress.com

In the debate, Ken Ham defends religion by stating that science should be split into two separate categories. The first would pertain to observational science (a science based on models). This category involves what we experience now and how the world works today. The second category involves historical science (a type of theoretical science of origin) which is used to define our origins and makes sense of the world around us from a historical perspective. He stresses the importance of separating the two to help with the confusion that children are being exposed to. He gives the example that by only teaching evolution, which to most starts with a random beginning for no reason other than “it happened,” we limit children to thinking that science is just as random. This randomness can crate incredible confusion when making conclusions about existential quandaries children are trying to work through. Ken Ham asserts that instead, children should be taught religion and to embrace the idea of God because it empowers them to think they are indeed special, as they are made in the image of God.

Bill Nye on the other hand focuses on accepted scientific evidence to disprove Ham’s assertions regarding religious truth. For example, he refers to the different layers in stone and snow that have been compressed to form ice which would take far longer than the amount of time Creationism allows for. He talks about the allotted four thousand years since the Great Flood and the improbability of the amount of species we see today to exist with the limited time that Creationists claim elapsed since then. He stresses the idea that we need to depend on natural law and orders, not religious or divine laws, to predict practical and accurate future theories and laws. He asserts that the basis of scientific education must be information derived through the scientific process, such as evolution, in order for children and future scientists to make reasonable scientific predictions in the future. In essence, he is claiming that one must understand and accept theories like evolution which have been supported with scientific evidence in order to understand why a fish can come to walk on land, why there are over 8.7 million different species on Earth, why layers in rocks and trees and ice exist, and so on. He stresses that by allowing religion and Creationism to thrive in academic settings we are impeding the scientific literacy of future generations and essentially stifling the United States in future scientific breakthroughs.

Related Article: Watching Evolution Occur

The debate finished with questions and rebuttals, but the underlying theme of the debate, I fear, was lost. Instead of trying to prove why one or the other is wrong in the school system, it turned into a contest of ego and the denouncing of each others ideals.

Some surprising statistics about religion and science. blog.faithlife.com

I wonder, why not accept both ideas? Why not teach every child in every classroom the idea of science, and then, on your own time, teach your children your worship, your religion, and your belief. Allow for both religion and science to be taught in their own settings (in schools and at home/place of worship respectively) and allow for the child to then choose which idea they support and believe. What is with this unyielding hatred between the two schools of thought? What ever happened to being free and allowing for choice? Most importantly though: can’t we all just get along?

In the end, much of the issue is largely based on opinion, some opinions stemming from facts, others stemming from observed information. One thing is for certain, all this debate and speculation on religion is definitely causing your brain to function at an elevated level. Maybe you’ve been unintentionally participating in Anderson’s experiment this whole time!

To feed your own opinions further, or for the sake of debate itself, check out the Bill Nye and Ken Ham debate on Creationism vs. science in the video below!

Cheers!

Sources:

Religious Brain Project

Deseret News: What’s the effect of religion on the brain? U. launches new study

University of Utah

Youtube: Bill Nye Debates Ken Ham

Youtube: Bill Nye: Creationism Is Not Appropriate for Children

Youtube: Ken Ham Responds to Bill Nye “the Humanist Guy”

Answers in Genesis – Creationism

Wikipedia: Genesis flood narrative

Backreaction: Models and Theories

Models, Theories, and Laws

How many species on Earth? 8.7 million

Wondergressive: Watching Evolution Occur

Wondergessive: Morals or More Rails (to guide us)

Wondergressive: In 1610 God Was a Binary, Fractal, Self-Replicating Algorithm

Child’s Cells Found in Mother After Birth

July 11, 2013 / esfein / Leave a comment

According to Scientific American, a woman, after giving birth, retains some of her child’s cells in her brain. Did you ever wonder why your mom knows exactly what you’re thinking or what you are about to do? Well this is not the answer to that question, she just knows. This has to do with your DNA and what it can do for your mother. More specifically, these left over cells can both help and harm the mother through lung, liver, kidney, heart, and skin defects. This process is known as microchimerism, where cells that are left over are adapted naturally by the mother and used for different reasons. Scientists are still unsure whether or not these cells are actively being used or if they are participating in harming or helping the mother.

Why is this relevant? Let us imagine they are indeed harming the mother after birth, in fact that they are affecting her lifestyle and worsening her response to disease. Maybe the cells are increasing the mother’s risk for cancer, or maybe they are simply causing a slower response time to what would be an easily curable sickness. In this case it is extremely important to help find a way to get rid of the cells after a female gives birth, rather than waiting on a side effect to develop. Side effect, only of course, if it in fact deals with harming the mother.

On the flip side, lets say its not a side effect but a blessing; some research suggests that the mother benefits from having cells left over after birth. They can even help with autoimmune disorder and rheumatoid arthritis. There is some research being done that suggests it may be similar to stem cells in that they help with regenerative properties. In fact, these stem cells may even help with the creation of new eggs for future births.

The biggest thing to gather from all of this is that it isn’t just males that are thought to imprint themselves on women’s brains because of their rowdy and reckless behaviors. Now all of you girls are also held accountable for actively being on your mother’s mind. Literally.

Research:

PLOS ONE: Male Microchimerism in the Human Female Brain

Beyond Birth: A Child’s Cells May Help or Harm

Scientists Discover Children Cells Living in Mother’s Brain

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Autoimmune Disorder

The otherness of Self: Microchimerism

Women Can Make New Eggs

Wondergressive: Women have Male DNA in Brain

Babies and the ‘Cost of Inaction’

May 10, 2013 / esfein / Leave a comment

http://www.globalpost.com/photo/5816033/20130415-cost-inaction

I, Healthyheartbeatz, a grown man of 25, have a soft spot for children in need. Me, with all of my bravado and manliness, me with all of my outspokenness and inclination to argue, YES I still cringe every time I see a helpless child in need on TV or displayed in an advertisement. That may have to do with my ridiculous sensitivity and sympathy, not to mention I am also very much so captivated by puppies, but that is besides the point of course! Children are our future and taking care of them is priority! We can’t let them turn into mindless zombies, something must be done!

Why must you bother me with all of this? Well, I stumbled upon a series of recent studies put together by (FXB) Center for Health and Human Rights that of course made me cringe and fired up my synapses in order to reach out to you, our Wondergressivers (ererers). But let’s take it easy, I am not in any way trying to make you, our loving reader, pay anything or donate anything. This is a news group dedicated to researching and informing others! Naturally that is exactly how this will all play out, and without any final request other than for the lot of you to be “in the know”-

Onwards! The studies discussed were particularly interesting because they emphasize that poor kids that are suffering around the world are specifically suffering from inaction even when we are wasting 40% of our food as well as 25% of our freshwater daily. Sudhir Anand, speaking on a panel at The Forum at Harvard School of Public Health

Failing to intervene nutritionally to aid malnourished children can stunt them for life and failing to provide antiretroviral drugs to parents can turn their children into orphans, putting them at increased risk of falling into crime, drug abuse, prostitution, and other societal ills.

Just think, all of our non-action towards the kids of tomorrow acts as a catalyst for failure in the future. Who knows when the next Einstein will be neglected or the next Copernicus will starve to death or the next Socrates will be condemned by society… wait, just a second. Countess Albina du Boisrouvray, a passionate supporter of helping the children of the world and founder of (FXB) Center for Health and Human Rights, said in an interview:

There are more than a billion of these children around the world, they are living in extreme poverty. They live by codes of conduct completely divorced from ours, and the older they get, the harder it will be to reintegrate them, even at great cost. Each day, they drift further and further. A huge percentage of the world’s adults are going to be almost a different species. This is terrible for society and for the economy — for everything officials are supposed to be worried about — as well as terrible for the kids.

But of course it’s not only the poor who are suffering, we have kids suffering daily from our public school failures as well as neglected children of our country.

There is no link to donate, there is no outcry to change your ways, its a simple message, a pass off of knowledge. So don’t forget our youngins. Babies are our future, past, present, and just about everything else. Without babies we wouldn’t exist. Some babies are super lucky being thrown into traffic and surviving unscathed. Other babies are watched over by angels as they simply survive unforeseen complications at their birth. Just a little baby power to end on a high note. Preacher OUT!

Research:

(FXB) Center for Health and Human Rights

The Cost of Inaction

Cost of Doing Nothing

Wasted Resources

Forum at Harvard School of Public Health

Neglect – American Humane Association

Wondergressive: Public School Failure in America

Wondergressive: TV and the Brain

Wondergressive: Fat Poor Kids

Babies (film)

Baby Survives Car Crash in Russia

Baby Born With Heart Out of Body

Laughing Baby – Caution You Will Laugh/Giggle/Tehehehe

Fat, Poor Kids Just Got A Little Less Fat. Still Poor.

December 27, 2012 / esfein / Leave a comment

Child size please, no ice.

America, we are a fat nation – the fattest in the world, in fact. I’m willing to live with that designation. No matter which way my bulbous belly stumbles, there’s a dollar menu waiting to be ravaged and a maximum drive-thru limit to be tested. I’m not ashamed to have used all 8 of my car’s cup holders, are you?

Numerous studies have linked the poor with obesity. It’s not science, it’s a common sense mentality – poor quality, horribly processed food is within the grasps, and wallets, of many Americans. However, the CDC recently reports…KIDS ARE LOSING WEIGHT!

Well, POOR KIDS ARE LOSING WEIGHT! The rich ones were always doing alright.

We’re gonna celebrate with a cereal bath.

This study, based on data collected from 30 states and the District of Columbia, shows a marked decline in the prevalence of obesity in preschool-aged children in the lower income brackets. Extreme obesity, defined as a BMI of over 120% the 95th percentile, went down to 2.07% from 2.22% . Regular ‘ol obese kids dropped to 14.91% from 15.21%.

Those numbers don’t look too promising, but as Heidi M. Blanck, a co-author of the study, puts it:

The declines we’re presenting here are pretty modest, but it is a change in direction. We were going up before. And this data shows we’re going down. For us, that’s pretty exciting.

It’s a change of direction. That is what is important. This is the first study that has showed such progress, especially in the most sensitive of the population – our children.

How we’ve reached this point is uncertain, but we do know from another of Dr. Blanck’s studies, this one focusing on food marketing, that:

The amount of money spent on food marketing to children declined nearly 20% from 2003 to 2009.
Cereals marketed to children have averaged one less gram of sugar per serving than before.
Marketing of the unhealthiest of cereals (between 13 and 19 grams of sugar) has been nearly eliminated.

Not only has that helped, but things like fast food places placing nutritional content on menus and Michelle Obama’s new Let’s Move! Child Care initiative providing healthy alternatives to child care centers, all can help us curb childhood obesity from ever happening.

America, keep up the good work. Soon we won’t be the laughing stock of the entire world with our jumbo sized beverages and the fashion abomination that is Jeggings.

But until then, I’ll take the large.

Sources and further reading:

io9

NYTimes

American Medical Association

CDC

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/13/business/mcdonalds-to-start-posting-calorie-counts.html

http://www.healthykidshealthyfuture.org/welcome.html

http://www.watoday.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/the-new-fashion-monstrosity-20100407-rrd9.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/22/obesity-rates-rising-developed-fattest-world_n_1294212.html#s716476title=1_United_States

http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/60/11/2667.full

http://money.msn.com/family-money/does-being-poor-make-you-fat.aspx

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/08/17/toddlers-tiaras-mom-could-lose-custody-daughter-because-puts-her-in-pageants/

http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1487493

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/26/health/study-finds-modest-declines-in-obesity-rates-among-young-children-from-poor-families.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1369626954-wwBEC4RM4X0vAdqyKKCg5w

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2012/12/foodmarketing.shtm

Rapists Have the Same Parental Rights as Any Other Father In Majority of States

August 31, 2012 / esfein / Leave a comment

Yeah, you read that correctly. In a total of 31 states men who impregnate a woman through rape are allowed to assert the same parental custody and visitation rights as any other father. Shauna Prewitt, a woman who has experienced this reality first hand, states that “When no law prohibits a rapist from exercising these rights, a woman may feel forced to bargain away her legal rights to a criminal trial in exchange for the rapist dropping the bid to have access to her child.”

This is just not right. Shauna Prewitt actually went to law school to find out what she could do about it. Prewitt explains that “when faced with the choice between a lifetime tethered to her rapist or meaningful legal redress, the answer may be easy, but it is not painless. For the sake of her child, [a] woman will sacrifice her need to see her once immensely powerful perpetrator humbled by the court.”

Why is this injustice allowed? Prewitt blames ignorance. She goes onto say that “opponents argue no woman would ever choose to raise the child she conceived through rape. The only two studies to analyze the choices made by pregnant raped women indicate otherwise — at least 30% of women who conceive by rape make this choice.”

She adds that many people claim that a rapist would never request custody of their child, yet this opinion is historically untrue.

Let’s be honest, Senator Akin’s recent comment that if rape “is a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,” doesn’t help the problem if ignorance at all. Apparently Akin missed science class, or maybe school altogether.

How the hell do people like this become leaders? Most importantly, why are people voting for them?

Early Exposure to Antibiotics Linked To Increased Body Mass

August 31, 2012 / esfein / 2 Comments

A study from the International Journal of Obesity has found that ingestion of antibiotics in the first 6 months of life is associated with ” consistent increases in body mass from 10 to 38 months. ” It is unclear whether this increase is linked to cardiovascular problems later in life but it is definitely something worth investigating.

Children all around the world are given antibiotics nearly right away. It may be time to rethink this practice.