Author: Richelle Antonythasan
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Protein or Poison: The Rise of the Glorified Candy Bar
Marketed as a convenient source of nutrition for busy and health-conscious individuals, protein bars have sky-rocketed in popularity on the global market. Although initially intended to boost post-workout recovery for physically active individuals, the abuse of protein bars as low-carbohydrate meal replacements or snacks by all consumers has become prevalent (Jovanov et al. 2021). However,…
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Beyond Bioinvasion: Uncovering the Mutualistic Benefits of Human-Ornamental Plant Relationships
The symbiosis between humans and ornamental or “domesticated” plants should be studied for insight regarding mutualism and the negative effects of exploitative relationships. Mutualism, as defined by modern ecological scientists, provides evolutionary fitness benefits and increases the likelihood of genetic transfer (Herre et al. 1999). Since the Neolithic period from around 8000 BC to 3000…
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Sleep Deprivation: Voluntary Biological, Neurochemical, and Psychological Starvation
Although not commonly named alongside food, water, and shelter, sleep is a basic need that many misclassify as a neglectable desire. From maintaining immunological function and hormonal balance to emotional and neurological health, sleep optimizes the efficiency of biological processes (Stickgold, 2015). In the realm of psychology, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is an anthropological theory…
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The Dangers of A Broken Heart: “Takotsubo” Syndrome
Love can be thought of as the act of giving one’s heart, wholly and unshielded, to another and willingly losing emotional control. Although love has a temporary nature due to the temporality of life and the unpredictability of psychological changes associated with human growth, grief is the permanent remnant of love. In the extreme sense,…
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Misdiagnosis of Physical Illnesses as Mental Disorders
Multiple studies conducted in the 1980s and 1990s concluded that up to 80% of patients who received psychiatric treatment were misdiagnosed (Klonoff & Landrine, 1997). Diagnostic shadowing is the attribution of a person’s symptoms to a psychiatric illness without testing for the potential existence of underlying physical disorders (Happell, et al., 2016). Frequent diagnostic errors…
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A Glimpse Into the Earth’s Future Demise: Death at the Hands of Its Creator
Some may find it poetic that the Sun from which Earth originated 4.5 billion years ago will likely consume the planet five billion years from now (Clery, 2023), as the star becomes a white dwarf. The Zwicky Transient Facility, or ZTF, is a wide-field camera attached to the Samuel Oschin Telescope at the Palomar Observatory…