CSB #8: Effect of Videos on Heart Rate

This experiment was conducted by me, Helen, and Kelly Most of us have laughed so hard watching a video that we've gone out of breath. Surely, our heart rate must have increased, right? This experiment is intended to test whether videos affect our heart rate and which ones do not.

Through this experiment, we assessed the change in people’s heart rate when watching certain videos. We created a play list of five videos: a video of a talented street dancer, an eerie video, a funny “fail” video, a song (music video), and a video of a sleepy kitten, all of which you can see here. Using a heart rate grip monitor and Logger Pro 3.0, we monitored the change of heart rate in five different people while they were watching the videos.

We hypothesized that if the videos initiated any change in heart rate at all, then the first three videos, which were fast-paced, scary, and humorous videos, would result in an increase in heart rate, while the last two, cute and relaxing videos, would lower the heart rate. Each playlist included one advertisement about insurance, which we predicted would also result in a lower heart rate. Our five test subjects were Catherine, Mr. Contini, Vivian, Sabrina, and Andrew, a variety of races, ages, and genders. The general trend that we predicted was (1) an increase in heart rate during the dance video, (2) a lowered heart rate during the ad, (3) an increase in heart rate during the “scary” video, (4)a further increase during the funny video, and finally (5) a sharp decline in heart rate during both the song and the video of the kitten.

First, before we started collecting data on Logger Pro, we made sure that the subject's heart rate was being steadily recorded, and then we began playing the playlist. The videos were played in one-minute intervals, so if they were longer than a minute, we stopped them in the middle and switched to the next video. To make sure we were comparing the change in heart rate with the correct videos, we recorded the intervals on the graph on Logger Pro which corresponded to the start and end times of each video. After the playlist was done, we stopped collecting data and started a new Logger Pro file for each test subject. After repeating this procedure for all five of our subjects, we analyzed the results.

Contrary to our hypothesis, 3 people’s heart rate increased during the music video, and 3 other people’s heart rates increased during the video of the sleepy kitten, while one person’s heart rate decreased during the scary video. In addition, one person’s heart rate decreased during the dance video and two people’s heart rates went up during the advertisement. Although there were a few exceptions, the data collected generally supported our initial hypothesis for the first three videos. More experimentation is needed to know why results varied so much during the music video, kitten video, and advertisement. The first video of a street dancer may have caused an increase in heart rate because of the loud beat, fast pace, and sharp dance moves, all possible contributors to excitement in the subjects. While watching the second video, the unsettling art style and eerie music may have triggered fear and increased the heart rate. During the humorous video, the increase in heart rate could be attributed to laughing or excitement, which would make the heart speed up. The advertisement sometimes lowered and sometimes increased heart rate, possibly showing that some people were intrigued and others were bored by it. Some of our test subjects, like Catherine, whose heart rate increased by approximately 14 BPM during the ad, smiled or laughed at the advertisement, and their heart rates went up. It is possible that measuring a person’s heart rate during an ad can measure their level of interest towards it. During the music video, people’s heart rates both increased and decreased at random intervals, which contradicted our hypothesis; we had initially expected the subjects’ heart rates to decrease because of the slow pace of the song. Although the music was calming, the some of the heart rates, like Vivian's, whose increased approximately 8 BPM, may have increased because of the nature of the song (love song) and/or because the people in the video were attractive. Additionally, the majority of the subjects’ heart rates increased during the video of the sleepy kitten, although there were a few exceptions where the heart rate decreased. This may have been because the kitten was “cute”, which may have triggered a small adrenaline rush and caused increased heart rate. For those whose heart rates went down, it could have been that they are part of that group of people who are unaffected by “cute” things or maybe it was relaxing for them.

For further experimentation, we could ask our test subjects to write down their emotions while watching the videos to see what emotions are associated with increasing and decreasing heart rate. Also, we could take a bigger and more varied group of people to be sure that our results apply to a larger scale of people as opposed to just the select group we chose. It would help to be able to control when the advertisement played because it might make a difference if it was in between two intense videos or in between two calming videos. In addition, having more time to play more videos and being able to play the entire videos might have an effect on our results as well.

Here is our data:

(Click to enlarge)

Here are the graphs:

(Click to enlarge)

CSB #7 Resilience and Treatment

After being in a stressful situation, such as a family member dying or fighting in a bloody war, the ability to bounce back to normal after the event is what we call resilience. Nobody knows for sure the science behind it, but neurologists and psychologists are trying to figure out what causes it and how to treat those who are having a hard time resiling (yes, that is a word). When someone is in a stressful situation, his hypothalamus reacts, sending out a hormone called CRH (corticotropin-releasing hormone). Then, the pituitary gland responds by releasing ACTH (adrenocorticotropin hormone), which causes the release of cortisol from the adrenal glands. Cortisol helps you decide "fight or flight" and execute your plan fast. If a person is put under stress too much, the body keeps pumping out cortisol, which can damage parts of the brain that control memory and emotion, "[s]o you end up an emotional and physical wreck." Resilient people tend to send out hormones and chemicals that counteract the stress signal faster and "more readily." DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) and neuropeptide Y are among the many chemicals which lessen the effects of cortisol. George A. Bonanno (heh) of Teachers College at Columbia University took videos and analyzed the emotions and facial expressions of some who had recently lost a loved one. He saw "sadness but also anger and happiness." However, different people respond differently afterwards stressful situations to cope with them. Some of them behaved in a way "that, in other circumstances, may have bordered on narcissism" to prove to themselves that they could not have done anything to prevent the tragic event from happening. Others denied their feelings and some "repressed negative thoughts and emotions" and "convinced themselves that they could handle whatever came their way." It is believed that 90% of all people can cope naturally by themselves without any long-term damage to their emotional health.This leads researchers to think about new ways they could treat (or not treat) people to overcome or even train them to be less impacted by stressful situations. There have been cases where people have suffered longer and more pain than they had to because they were told that it was normal to feel sad for that long. Also, studies show that the classic "talk-it-out" psychology therapy may not be as helpful as previously thought and might actually make the person feel worse. The National Center for PTSD has "developed an approach designed to encourage a person's own coping abilities rather than introspective delving into psychopathological reactions." All in all, the process of resilience is different for everyone, our "innate capacity to bounce back means that most of the time things turn out all right."

Stix, Gary. "The Neuroscience of True Grit." Scientific American Mar. 2011: 
     29-33. Print.
http://www.daviddarling.info/images/CRH_ACTH_and_cortisol.jpg

CSB #6: Refilling the Dead Sea with the Red Sea

What happens when the balance between freshwater in the Dead Sea and evaporation gets disturbed by man's destructive actions? The Dead Sea lives up to its name. It slowly fades away, its sea level dropping and its shores receding little by little. Right now, the sea "lies 424 meters below sea level" and "could sink to -550 meters by 2200." Water pumped from the the Jordan River, the Dead Sea's source of freshwater, for agriculture and mining have reduced the amount of freshwater flowing into the Dead Sea "from about 1,300 million cubic meters a year to 30 million cubic meters a year." Sinkholes, such as the small holes seen in the picture, can actually be quite large, measuring "up to 25 meters wide and 15 meters deep." They are caused by the receding shorelines of the Dead Sea and can swallow everything on top of it without warning, as they can open quite quickly, causing a danger. Also, those who live near the Dead Sea are afraid of "losing a valuable natural and cultural resource," so they are debating whether to start a program which would cost $10 billion. This program would involve taking water from the Red Sea, using desalination plants to take out the right amount of salt from the Red Sea's salty water, and putting that treated water into the Dead Sea. The goal of this program would be to recreate the balance between freshwater and evaporation by 2050. Although it seems like a good idea, it could create some problems. The Red Sea contains organisms and types of algae that the Dead Sea does not have, and the mixture of the two seas might turn red because of too much algae. Additionally, the two seas may not mix and create two different layers, and that would not work out as planned. While humans are clearly making a negative impact on the Earth, in this case, there is a way to reverse the changes, like this $10-billion project. Notice that the people writing this article did not even mention stopping the pumping from the Jordan River because it is too important to the economy of the people. Now it is the decision of whether to sacrifice the economy by spending $10 billion or to sacrifice the Earth by continuing to do what humans need without repairing the damage they made to the environment.


Haddok, Eitan. "Can the Dead Sea Live?" Scientific American Apr. 2011: 60-65.
     Print.
 http://www.scientificamerican.com/media/inline/can-the-dead-sea-live_1.jpg

CSB #5: Honeybees and the Colony Collapse Disorder

Source: Stephen Ausmus. USDA/ARS.

     In recent years, honeybees have been suffering from what scientists have called the colony collapse disorder (CCD). This is when bees leave their hives and die somewhere else, leaving a small to non-existent hive. Bees are crucial to several industries, including agriculture: "In California, the almond industry alone needs 1.3 million colonies of bees to keep going!" Apiologists, scientists who study bees, have been puzzled by this strange disorder. Many experiments have been conducted to almost no avail. Scientists have found common factors between some collapsed hives, but many of the healthy hives also had them. Results of studies have led to a large group of viruses and parasites accused of contributing to CCD, but none of the studies clearly pinpointed exactly what caused it. A research team found a virus, the invertebrate iridescent virus (IIV), and a fungus, Nosema apis, which when found together seemed to cause CCD. Interestingly, they were found separately in healthy hives. The team did an experiment and the results showed that bees could survive normally when there was only one of the two present. Only when both the virus and fungus were put together, they could not survive. It was mentioned in the article that just because the results may make it look like they cause CCD, it may not actually be. The bees may first be infected with another disease then "Nosema and IIV come along to deliver the coup de grace." In order to be certain that the virus and fungus are the causes, more experiments are needed. Furthermore, because honeybees are so vital to our agriculture, researchers will continue to collect data and scientists will continue to conduct experiments to find out exactly which pathogens are causing CCD and what we should do to save the bees.

Poltrack, Katya. "Honeybee Colony Collapse." Science Online. Facts On File,
     Inc., Nov. 2010. Web. 1 Mar. 2011. <http://www.fofweb.com/
     activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE40&SID=5&iPin=TSs1800120&SingleRecord=True>.

Functions of the Human Genome: CSB #4

Definitions
determinism - the idea that behavior and personality is determined and cannot be changed
telomere - the sequence of TTAGGG at both ends of the DNA strands
retrotransposons - a viral genome that has the ability to copy itself and insert them anywhere in the chromosome
eugenics - selective breeding especially in humans to create better offspring 
Summary
Around the turn of the century, the scientists working on the Human Genome Project managed to map part of the human genome. In Matt Ridley's Genome , the author discusses the discoveries of those scientists and what they could imply. The scientists discovered that only 3% of the human genome is actually genes, which is a surprisingly small amount. Ridley goes on to discuss each genome in detail, inferring that language is an instinct caused by several genes, including one on chromosome 7 and one on chromosome 11. Those with changes in those genes have specific language impairment (SLI) and Williams syndrome, respectively, which are genetic conditions affecting one's speech and ability to understand grammar. Also, viral genomes that jump from person to person make up a big part of the human genome, about 1.3%. Also, there are 'retrotransposons' which are viral genomes as well. The difference between them is that retrotransposons do not try to go from person to person, but rather stay on the genome and can reproduce itself and attach it onto the human genome. Because of this unique ability, it can copy itself many times and now makes up about 14.6% of the human genome. Ridley also discusses the way cortisol, the chemical released when one is stressed, suppresses the immune system. He does not know why this happens and no one does. Also, Ridley argues that personality, or at least part of it, is based on genes. On chromosome 11, there is a gene named D4DR that controls the dopamine receptor in the brain. When there is a little dopamine in the brain, the person is quiet and reserved, and when there is a lot, that person is adventurous. The scientists discovered that all the genes for making body parts in flies, mice, and humans, called the Hox clusters are all in a row. In addition, scientists think that they have found the reason that people age. When copying DNA, polymerases do not start from the ends of the strand, but rather a tiny bit from the end. So, each time it copies, it leaves off a little bit from the beginning and the end. That is why there are telomeres, the sequence TTAGGG repeated about two thousand times on each end of the strand. It is meaningless, but as we get older, the amount of telomere decreases and soon when it copies, the polymerase is cutting off actual genes, which explains how we get old. Finally, Ridley discusses that the behavior and personality of a person is determined right from the start, in a paradoxical way. He says that some against determinism argue that society is what makes a personality, but that is not able to change, so that is as deterministic an idea as being determined by genes. But people know they have free will; they can move as they like and think as they like. Behavior is "unpredictable, but not undetermined." 
Discussion
I think Ridley inferences and the scientists' discoveries are very interesting. When they find the genes that cause certain disorders, they can treat people genetically, rather than using either using damaging treatments or no treatments at all. Also, scientists could develop a way to make people not age as fast and to fix birth defects, as well as other imperfections. It is fine to fix flaws that could be detrimental to the person in life, but we do not want a repeat of the early 1900's with a craze about eugenics, where thousands of people with slight disabilities were convinced by their doctors to be sterilized. Genetic treatments could be used to cure many diseases, especially cancer, where current treatments are extremely inefficient and harmful. Genes could be used to explain many things, including personality, which surprised me. 
Questions
Eventually, when human beings are able to alter their genome to have the traits they want, would it be accepted as morally right?

Can one gene code for multiple traits, for example an eye color gene and a receptor trait being represented by the same gene?  
Resources
Ridley, Matt. Genome. N.p.: Harper Perennial, 2006. Print.

http://www.biojobblog.com/uploads/image/dna_500.jpg