Author: Milena Scala

Melena Scala

HON 223

Science News Article #4

One article that I found posted on CNN.com referenced a study that found that four in five parents that responded to a poll do not think their children are “as grateful as they should be.” The article examines the reasons that could be behind this phenomenon, such as whether parents are effectively teaching their children gratitude by modeling behavior or giving them opportunities to express through volunteer work, for example. Furthermore, it explores how the pandemic has possibly taken a toll on children and their behavior. I found that the article did include the sources of where its information was found in the form of hyperlinks. Something that was surprising to me was that the link to the study was not in the form of a traditional journal. Instead, the link brought me to the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital poll report on a separate website. The report consisted of different subsections that you could click on with infographics, media coverage and press release, and research methods. I wasn’t sure about how reliable this was, so I investigated the website further and found links to other academic journals and poll reports that the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital has done. I am not sure if the academic journal is not included because it was recently published, but it seems like the organization has published other credible studies previously. As for the article itself, the information included seems to match up with what the poll report found and I did not find anything that was taken out of context.

 

Sources

Liang, Sherry. “Parents Don’t Think Their Kids Are as Grateful as They Should Be, Poll Finds.” CNN, Cable News Network, 22 Nov. 2021, www.cnn.com/2021/11/22/health/parents-children-gratitude-wellness/index.html.

“Parent Efforts to Teach Children about Gratitude.” National Poll on Children’s Health, mottpoll.org/reports/parent-efforts-teach-children-about-gratitude.

Melena Scala

HON 223

Science News Article 3

This week, I found an article called, “Children who don’t eat eggs before first birthday more likely to develop egg allergy.” The title of the article is self-explanatory as it describes a study that found that 0.6 percent of one year old children and 0.8 percent of children six or younger in the study had an egg allergy. The parents of these children supposedly did not frequently feed their children eggs, suggesting that introducing eggs into the diet at an early age may prevent egg allergies. The article reports that these results were found using a survey of 2,237 parents, however I could not find an actual link to the study to verify that this was the procedure used. The hyperlinks in the article only led me to other pages on the website. When I clicked on one of the links it only took me to a page of articles on the website that were tagged “eggs;” another link led me to one with articles tagged “allergies.” Eventually, I found a link to a press release of the findings which included almost exactly the same information and wording used in the original article. The press release was posted on the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology website. The organization and doctors listed seem to be credible when I looked them up online, but I still couldn’t find the actual source for the original study in the press release.

 

“News & Resources.” ACAAI 2021 | Increased Frequency of Eating Eggs in Infancy Associated with Decreased Egg Allergy Later On, annualmeeting.acaai.org/2021/egg-allergy.cfm.

Study Finds, et al. “Children Who Don’t Eat Eggs before First Birthday More Likely to Develop Egg Allergy.” Study Finds, 5 Nov. 2021, www.studyfinds.org/kids-dont-eat-eggs-egg-allergy/.

 

Melena Scala

Science News Article Write-Up 2

In an article published in npr.org entitled, “Diet soda may prompt food cravings, especially in women and people with obesity,” the author summarizes a study that beverages with sucralose in them may make some people hungrier. It states that the research found that women and people with obesity experienced a stimulate appetite and reduction in appetite inhibiting hormones after they had sucralose, while males and those with healthy body weights did not. While reading, I found that the academic journal where the original study is found is linked in the text and one of the researchers is quoted. Though the academic journal obviously provides a more in-depth account of the specific research methods used—which included MRI scans to observe whether or not the parts of the brain that control appetite were stimulated, blood tests to investigate hormones, and a buffet table at the end of the study to observe how much individuals ate—I found that the article gave an accurate description of the procedure used in the study. Similarly, the results of the study are depicted accurately, and I think they use this study to explore and discuss the influence of these diet drinks on women and individuals with obesity and how they are intended to cause weight loss but may actually be causing weight gain in these individuals cautiously. For instance, at the end of the academic journal it states that the findings highlight “the need to consider individual biological factors in research studies and potentially in dietary recommendations regarding the use and efficacy of NNS for body weight management,” which is what the article discusses. Therefore, I do not think the findings of the study are manipulated or misused in the article, and whatever hypotheses or connections that the author includes are clarified and not passed off as a known fact. Something that I think the article is missing would be an explanation of some of the limitations of the study, such as variables like dosage, the unique chemical structure of each sucralose, and the presence of carbohydrates possibly having an influence on the results. Furthermore, I think the title is a little misleading in attempt to be attention grabbing, because the study did not examine all kinds of diet sodas, it just investigated the effect of sucralose which can be found in some diet sodas.

 

Works Cited

Aubrey, Allison. “Diet Soda May Prompt Food Cravings, Especially in Women and People with Obesity.” NPR, NPR, 7 Oct. 2021, www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/10/07/1044010141/diet-soda-may-prompt-food-cravings-especially-in-women-and-people-with-obesity.

Yunker AG, Alves JM, Luo S, et al. “Obesity and Sex-Related Associations With Differential Effects of Sucralose vs Sucrose on Appetite and Reward Processing: A Randomized Crossover Trial.”  JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(9):e2126313. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.26313

Melena Scala

Science News Article Writeup

The article that caught my attention this week was titled, “Insomnia is on the rise—and it’s ruining your social life,” by Hannah Frishberg. It describes how the pandemic has increased insomnia among Americans and how it damages relationships by making you less likely to want to interact with others. Although the article cites data for the claims they make using hyperlinks, I found it somewhat difficult to trace the information they are providing to an original source or study. For instance, the article refers to a study by Matthew Walker which found a correlation between sleep deprivation and being more antisocial. While Frishberg was describing the study, however, I only found a press release by Walker and another New York Post article linked. The other article was about loneliness and didn’t seem to have any citations, since it was mainly describing people’s experiences of loneliness during the pandemic rather than a study. In the press release posted on the UC Berkeley website, on the other hand, I was able to find a description of Walker’s study but it still did not have the direct journal included. Instead, I found it under “Related Links.” The study, titled “Sleep loss causes social withdrawal and loneliness,” describes how a lack of sleep can lead to antisocial behaviors, which ultimately supports the claims in the article about how a lack of sleep can lead to antisocial behaviors. Both the article and the journal describe how the research was gathered by examining well rested and sleep deprived individuals and how close they approached other following their night’s sleep. Ultimately, I did not find the actual information in the article to be inaccurate after reading through the journal, however some of the language used in the article seemed to sensationalize the topic slightly. For example, the first line of the article used the phrase “toxic friend” to describe the effect of insomnia on your relationship with others, which now seems like a misleading interpretation of the sources, since the original studies didn’t say anything about insomnia making you “toxic”, just that sleep deprivation may make you lonelier or less likely to hang out with others.

 

Sources:

Ben Simon, Eti, and Matthew P. Walker. “Sleep Loss Causes Social Withdrawal and Loneliness.” Nat Commun, vol. 9, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05377-0

Frishberg, Hannah. “Insomnia Is on the Rise – and It’s Ruining Your Social Life.” New York Post, New York Post, 17 Sept. 2021, nypost.com/2021/09/17/insomnia-is-on-the-rise-and-its-ruining-your-social-life-study/.

Yasmin Anwar, UC Berkeley. “How Poor Sleep Can Ruin Your Social Life.” University of California, 22 Aug. 2018, www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/poor-sleep-can-literally-kill-your-social-life.