Listening, besides the point
According to recent studies and contrary to popular belief, children do not believe everything they hear. As they grow, children are exposed to a vast amount of new information, and must sort fact from fiction. By age four, children consistently use the context in which they receive information to evaluate its truth. In the recent studies, children aged three to six were given information in either a scientific context (“Doctors use surnits to make medicine”) or a fantastical context (“Fairies use hercs to make fairy dust”) and then asked whether it was real or not. The findings suggest that the ability to use contextual cues as reality checks develops significantly between ages three and five.
Source: Child Development
-Mayce Al-Sukhni
Blood-boosters in choco-choosers
A recent biochemical analysis into the veins of chocolate lovers may be the first to explain why “chocoholics” have a lower risk of heart attack. The study looked at 139 people rejected from a Johns Hopkins study looking at the effects of aspirin on blood platelets because they had been unable to abstain from eating chocolate-known to affect platelet activity and lower blood pressure. Platelet samples from “offenders” and “non-offenders” were run through a mechanical blood vessel system that measures the time it takes for platelets to clump together. The platelets of chocolate lovers were found to be less reactive, taking longer to occlude the blood vessels than those who refrained from eating chocolate. Platelet-clumping in the bloodstream may lead to a clot that blocks blood flow, causing a heart attack. Flavenoid, the key anti-clumping ingredient in chocolate, can also be found in other food, like black and green tea and grapes. Investigators cautioned that because chocolate candy often contains large amounts of sugar, butter and cream, as little as two tablespoons a day of dark chocolate should be the chocolate of choice.
Source: Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions news service
-Abigail Slinger
