The Science of Curing Grey Hair

The Science of Curing Grey Hair The current cures for gray hair range from the truly promising to being downright snake oil in nature. The products and procedures that are for real are based on real science and recent research on the causes of gray hair. So recent, that as of this writing any real solutions for reversing gray hair are still pending, however, they are definitely in the works to manifest for the consumer during the next few years. What Causes Grey Hair Each individual hair follicle has pigment-producing cells called melanocytes. As the hair strand is being formed, the melanocytes cells inject pigment (melanin) into cells containing keratin, the protein structures that makes up our hair follicles, skin, and nails. Throughout our lifetime, our melanocytes continue to inject pigment into our hairs keratin, giving it color, however, after a certain amount of years of producing, our melanocytes go on strike so to speak and stop making as much melanin which causes grey hair, or make no melanin at all which causes white hair. When you ask a scientist why this happens, the common answer given us is usually genetics, that our genes regulate the predestined exhaustion of the pigmentation potential of each individual hair follicle. However, there is a more in-depth explanation about what happens when our hair turns gray or white, and understanding the science behind that is leading to innovations that will change the inevitability of having to put up with a loss of hair color. Stem Cell Research: Reversing Grey Hair In 2005, Harvard scientists were the first to propose that a failure of melanocyte stem cells to maintain the production of melanocytes caused the graying of hair. They were correct, and other scientists have expanded on their research. The simplified definition of a stem cell is a cell whose job is to make more cells. Stem cells repair and build our bodies. As explained above in this article, two different types of cell production occur when our bodies produce a non-grey strand of hair. The melanocytes stem ​cells produce the hair color, and other stem cells produce the hair follicle. Scientists have researched this coordinated production between the two different stem cell types, and have discovered a signaling protein called Wnt. Think of Wnt as a type of work foreman that oversees the production of hair and tells each different stem cell type how fast to work. Wnt has everything to do with why our hair turns gray. When our melanocytes stem cells do not have enough Wnt protein, they do not get the signal to produce hair color. Professor Mayumi and a team of researchers at the New York University Medical Center have successfully restored hair color in mice by manipulating the Wnt signaling proteins. Mayumi is confident that the research will lead to solutions of melanocyte related issues both serious and cosmetic in humans, including skin diseases such as melanoma, and of course gray hair. Researchers at the Tokyo University of Science, have also experimented with stem cells in attempts to regrow hair and restore color. The researchers injected a bald and otherwise colorless mouse with stem cells from live hair follicles and were able to grow dark tufts of hair on the injection site. The research is intended to lead to solutions for both baldness and gray hair in humans. LOreal Research: Preventing Grey Hair Doctor Bruno Bernard is the head of hair biology at LOreal in Paris. LOreal, a company known for hair and beauty products, is currently supporting research into innovative methods of preventing hair from turning gray. Bernard and his team have been studying the melanocyte stem cells found in our skin that are responsible for making skin the pigment that it is. The researchers wanted to know why our skin doesnt turn gray with age but our hair does. They discovered an enzyme called TRP-2 that is present in our skin stem cells but is missing in our hair follicle stem cells. They observed that TRP-2 helped protect the melanocyte stem cells in skin from damage, and so helped those stem cells to last longer and function better. The TRP-2 enzyme provided an advantage to our skin cells that the cells involved with hair production do not have. LOreal intends to innovate a topical treatment, such as a shampoo for hair, that will replicate the effect of the TRP-2 enzyme and give the melanocyte stem cells in hair follicles the same advantage that skin stem cells have, thereby preventing and delaying gray hair from happening in the first place. The End of Grey Hair The majority of all people, over three-quarters of the population, will have some gray hair by the age of fifty. Surprisingly, one in ten people over the age of sixty still have no gray hair. For those of us who just dont want the look, hair dye to cover the gray has always been the only option, if you exclude hats. Viable alternatives may be on the horizon.

What Is AP Seminar Should You Take It

What Is AP Seminar Should You Take It SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips If your school offers AP Seminar, you might be wondering what it's all about. This AP class is great for students who want to challenge themselves and learn more about the independent research process before starting college. In this guide, I'll give you an overview of what AP Seminar entails, a sample course outline, advice on whether you should take the course, and some tips on how to do well in it. What Is AP Seminar? AP Seminar is one of the course requirements for the AP Capstone Diploma and the AP Research and Seminar Certificate, both of which were introduced by the College Board in fall 2014. If you take and pass AP Seminar, AP Research, and four other AP courses and exams, you will earn the AP Capstone Diploma. If you take and pass just AP Seminar and AP Research, you'll earn an AP Research and Seminar Certificate.Both of these actions are impressive accomplishments that demonstrate your ability to successfully manage college-level academic challenges. AP Seminar offers studentsan introduction to conducting independent analysis of complex ideas across various disciplines.It involves reading and understanding advanced source material in the form of texts and other media. You are expected to synthesize information from different sources, and formulate research questions based on these source materials. You'll elaborate on these ideasthrough essays, oral presentations, and team projects.The goal of AP Seminar is to provide students with the tools to evaluate information accurately and make compelling, evidence-based arguments. Your seminar curriculum might be connected to another AP course you take,meaning you'd explore themes that relate to that course when constructing research projects for AP Seminar. For example, your school might offer aclass titled "AP Seminar: American Studies" that is for students who are concurrently enrolled in AP US History. AP Seminar can also function as a stand-alone class. For example, it could be called something like "AP Seminar: Networks" and offer a focus on the impacts of societal networks from various perspectives. AP Seminar: Social Networks. You must write your research paper in the form of a series of tweets. Wait, that actually sounds kinda fun. What Will You Do in AP Seminar? The AP Seminar curriculum is framed around what the College Board callsfive "Big Ideas."These ideas are all pretty buzzword-y (their first letters spell Q.U.E.S.T.- need I say more?), but they cover the main educational goals of the class. Below are the five Big Ideas of AP Seminar and what they mean: Big Idea 1: Question and Explore This idea is about encouraging students to embrace intellectual curiosity and develop their own points of view.Learning to consider issues from different perspectives is also an important part of this. You'll be introduced to the complexity of societal problems and learn how to view them in a larger context. This is where you start to build a strong foundation for the process of coming up with meaningful research questions. Big Idea 2: Understand and Analyze This Big Idea is about learning to read critically and reach the heart of an author’s argument. You'llpractice avoiding oversimplification and generalization when describing the points made by others. You'll alsolearn how successful arguments are formulated as well asthe importance of counterarguments, context, and the ability of an argument to influence behavior. Big Idea 3: Evaluate Multiple Perspectives With this idea, you'll learn that a person’s perspective is heavily informed by his or her background and worldview. You'llalso consider your own biases and how these might impact your reading and interpretation of an argument. Big Idea 4: Synthesize Ideas This is about creating an effective argument from your ideas.You'lllearn how to formulate a clear line of reasoning and how to avoid overgeneralizations. In addition, you'llbe taught how to collect evidence while steering clear of plagiarism. Big Idea 5: Team, Transform, and Transmit This one is about teaching students how to do their best work in a team environment (as you might've guessed from its cringeworthy name). The main focuses here are self-reflection, revision, and developing both good communication and effective presentation skills. Class discussions also play a large role in AP Seminar in the form of debates, group discussions, and reflection on open-ended questions associated with the course material. How These Big Ideas Are Put Into Practice These five Big Ideas manifest in AP Seminar in a series of tasks and lessons, whichinvolve the following: Exploring one or more different themes by making connections across subjects and looking at them from various perspectives Learning to fully appreciate and understand issues by viewing them in different contexts and across different types of sources (writing, performances, broadcasts, etc.) Learning to avoid plagiarism (very important for college!) while using the ideas of others for support in your own work Working collaboratively on a team project to evaluate a real-world issue and present the findings in a written report and presentation Working independently to come up with a research question and to formulate an argument that culminates in a written report and presentation AP Seminar will teach you many core skills that are important for college-level research,and it'll give you the tools you need for the AP Research course (which most students take the following year). In the next section, I'll give you an example of how a real AP Seminar course might be structured. Team, Transform, and Transmit: stage one of a bizarre cult initiation, Big Idea, or both? AP Seminar Sample Course Outline AP Seminar is a class that often weaves through many different subject areas. Since the goal is to gain a better grasp of the complexity of opinions on societal issues and to use your newfound understanding to do more effective, self-driven research, it covers a lot of ground. In this example (which I'm basing off a real syllabus I found online), the AP Seminar course was divided into three units for the first semester: Unit 1: Questioning Modernity This unit's focus is on introducing the main concepts behind AP Seminar. This includes learning about the process of inquiry, understanding complex arguments, and becoming familiar with rules for avoiding plagiarism.This particular unit is graded based on participation, a 250-word reflection paper, and a group presentation. In keeping with the theme of contemporary culture, source materials include the famous T. S. Eliot poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," a book by Steven BesttitledThe Post-Modern Turn, and an article fromForbestitled "Is Facebook Making Us Anti-Social?" Unit 2: Perception- Arguing Money This unit is a continuation of the learning experience in the first one but with a focus on advanced topics related to wealth and poverty. This unit also emphasizes viewing issues from different perspectives. It is assessed based on participation, a 400-word reflection paper, and another group presentation. Source materials for the unit include Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations,The Communist Manifesto,and Andrew Carnegie's essay "The Gospel of Wealth." Unit 3: Mastering Education This final unit in AP Seminarbrings together concepts learned in the previous units to discuss topics in education. It is graded based on participation, a 500-word argumentative paper, a 500-word reflection paper, and another group presentation. Source materials for this unit include the film Waiting for "Superman" and several scholarly articles on The Common Core. "Oh, is that what I'm supposed to be doing?" Education is complex. In the second semester of the class, students will use the skills they learned in the first three units to take on larger challenges in the form of two research projects and the final exam. Each of these assignments makes up a portion of the final AP score. Team Project and Presentation (25% of AP Score) The first assignment is a team project and presentation, worth 25% of the final AP score. Students collaborate in teams of three to six to identify a problem or question they want to research. Each student does research individually and presents his or her findings to the group. The group then works together to compile a written report and an approximately 10-minute class presentation, followed by a defense of their argument based on questions posed by the teacher. Each student will also write a reflection on the project as a whole, detailing their collaborative process and approach to both research and problem-solving. The entire project takes place over the course of about two months. Individual Research-Based Essay and Presentation (35% of AP Score) The second assignment, worth 35% of the AP score, is an individual project. For this part of the course, the College Board releasessource materials on a certain topic or theme that students are expected to use in their research.The final paper must use at least one of these sources. Students are expected to produce a 2,000-word written argument, a six- to eight-minute oral presentation, and a defense of their argument based on two questions posed by the teacher. Students will have around two months to complete this project. Final Exam (40% of AP Score) The final exam for AP Seminar consists of three short-answer and two essay questions. The short-answer questions ask students to analyze an argument from a single source. For one essay question, students must compare arguments from different authors, whereas for the other, they must formulate their own evidence-based argument. Seven sources are given to students for use on the final exam questions. If a featureless white blob creature can do research, so can you. You can see from this outline that AP Seminar stretches across a variety of topics, and there's quite a bit of freedom to choose what you want to research in the second half. Overall,AP Seminar is focused on teaching you how to think critically,which is a big departure from many high school courses that just serve to convey specific information. AP Seminar is clearly a more abstract course- but also potentially a more valuable one. Should You Take AP Seminar? If you hope to earn an AP Research and Seminar Certificate or an AP Capstone Diploma, you need to take AP Seminar.The AP Capstone program culminates in a 5,000-word research paper that is completed in the AP Research class- an impressive accomplishment for a high school student! Even if you don't go on to earn the AP Capstone Diploma, you will learn highly valuablecritical- thinking and research skills in AP Seminar.Students who take itmight place out of introductory college courses or earncollege credits. AP Seminar can also help you avoid academic shock when you get to college.Many high school students have never done in-depth research and therefore don’t know how to begin when they’re tasked with their first big project in college.If you take this AP class, you'll be ahead of the curve in understanding proper research methods and in learning to avoid both unreliable information and plagiarism. Lastly, AP Seminar can be a fun experience because it gives you the opportunity to debate important issues with your classmates and work on a project that interests you.There is a level of independence in the seminar-style classthat is absent in most other high school classes, which might appeal to students who prefer to explore ideas on their own terms. If you're an independent, driven student who ishoping to attend a competitive college, AP Seminar might be a great course for you. AP Seminar will allow you to start forging your own academic path before you even get to college. How to Do Well in AP Seminar: 3 Essential Tips What you'll need to do to succeed in AP Seminardepends partly on the format and subject area of the class since ithas a lot of flexibility in its structure, teaching methods, and topics.Here are some general tips for success: #1: Be Open-Minded AP Seminar mainly deals with analyzing differing perspectives, so try toapproacheach reading with a willingness to listen and think critically about the author’s opinion, even if it doesn’t align with your own.This will enable you to adopt a wider view of issues and appreciate their complexity.These skills are critical if you hope to be successful in your research projects. #2: Participate in Class Class discussions are very important in AP Seminar.Even if you’re not usually big on participation, you should make an effort to contribute to every discussion. Being able to actively engage with your peerswill enhance your understanding of the material and allow you to carry out productive conversations with others in your class who might see things differently. #3: Keep Up With Assignments This is important in any class, but it's especially critical in AP Seminar.Since you’ll be reading and absorbing a lot of material, it’s important not to fall behind the rest of the class.Participation relies on a thoughtful reading of the course material, and it’s hard to do that if you’re trying to play catch up with assignments that were due earlier. Because you’ll be doing research projects both independently and with a team, always stay on top of deadlines to avoid getting overwhelmed or letting down your teammates! Learning how to communicate ideas effectively is a major part of AP Seminar. Conclusion: The Benefits of Taking AP Seminar Critical thinking and the ability to logically evaluate arguments are key skills that'll help you in all aspects of your life. AP Seminar can be a very practical course if you're up for the challenge. You'll have three major assessments: A team research project An independent research project A final exam Throughout the course, you'll be asked to read a variety of source materials and participate in class discussions. You'll learn about proper research methods, argumentative techniques, and the importance of looking at issues from all sides. Students who take AP Seminar can then go on to take AP Research, which offers students even more independence in choosing research topics. AP Seminar is essentially an opportunity for advanced students to get some experience with the types of assignments and expectations that are common in college classes. Take this class and you'll be way ahead in the game! What's Next? Still planning out your schedule? Use this guide to help you decide which AP classes to take. If AP courses seem kind of intimidating, check out this article to learn just how hard they really are- and to decide whether you are up for the challenge. To learn more about creating a class schedule that'll give you the best chance of attending a top college, read this article on what a rigorous course schedule looks like. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now: