From the TOK class, we learned that the paradigm for biology is Darwin's theory of evolution. From this article, I can clearly see that the hypothesis and reasoning made to explain why killer whales have menopause are all depending on the premise that they are having it for good and necessity. The debate over whether the grandmother hypothesis sounds is still going through vigorous discussion within the scientist community. --Sissi (1/13/2017)

The reporting on Snowden shows that how bad our new system can be. Although it is arguable that this article can be false as well because we can never know the exact truth except the Snowden himself. Our flaws in logic and perception makes us very vulnerable to bad news. There was time in social media called the "Yellow News". During that time, the news publications weren't taking their responsibility as a guide to the general population. We surely need better news and prevent the era that we publish our news based on its "hotness" instead of accuracy. --Sissi (1/12/2017)

Internet has always been a big issue since more and more people, especially teenager spend most of their time on. Internet as a social media deliver information faster and wider than any other traditional media. The mode of information spreading is more of that the internet reveals issue and the traditional media such as television follows up and provide more detailed information. However, as internet develops, we also need to develop some rules and restrictions. We underestimate how dangerous internet can be if it is weaponized. However, there is a dilemma. Since internet is popular because of the unlimited freedom people feel online, as the police and authority gets involved in, people would ultimately lose that freedom. The censorship in China is a good example to see how people will respond to setting rules to the internet. There should some sort of balance that we can strive for in the future. --Sissi (1/11/2017)

This article really surprise me that some of my intuitions are wrong. I always thought that if we swallow the gum, then the gum will stick in our stomach and never go away. However, it will pass along as waste. This shows that for many people, some fields of science they learned about are usually second-handed. Many "scientific knowledge" we have are not first handed and they have been modified. Before we are using them as scientific knowledge, we need first to make sure that they are really science, not another myth. --Sissi (1/10/2017)

Although America is alleged to be the most free country in the world and always saying that it will liberate other countries and give them the freedom of speech, the speech is still not as free as it is supposed to be. Political correctness is an issue the governments all around the world won't step back from. I think we cannot be as free as we want because humans are social animal. As long as we are living in a society, we have to learn to negotiate and sometimes give up our own benefit or dream for the big picture of the society. It's always the people who held power and hold the society that place limits on free speech.

I don't know if the first Moon Landing is real or not, but this article reminds me of the conspiracy theory we learned in TOK. After reading through those reasons and evidences, the credibility of the first moon landing decreases. However, there are still possibilities that the moon landing is real. Confirmation bias may also play a role because I only noticed the "strange" part of the photo after I read the writing below. And also, I think that Richard Nixon must be one of the reason why people don't believe in the first moon landing. --Sissi (1/8/2017)

The censorship in China has long been a controversial issue that's widely discussed. I think it's very natural that those internet companies play the government the rules to enter the Chinese market because most companies are profit-driven rather than being all idealistic. However, I found the tone of this article very uncomfortable. He used the word "liberating" as if China is in bad condition or great suffer that need American freedom to save. Also, looking back to American history, American heroism plays a big part in what the American government did. They "liberated" Canada, "liberated" Vietnam, "liberated" Pakistan, and now America tries to "liberate" China. However, they never fully understand the pros and cons of censorship and how China is a totally different country to America. One's medicine can toxic for another. --Sissi (1/6/2017)

Speaking to ourselves is a action of reflecting on ourselves. I think this support the idea that our brain doesn't have a central executor that process the thought from the the other part of the gain. Our brain is more like a cooperation among different parts. So probably we don't have a unique self, we are the combination of our multiple selves. Being able to split ourselves also helps us separate our positive thoughts and negative thoughts. There is also a connection between the inner voice and religion because many people alleged to be hearing god but actually, it's just their inner voice. --Sissi (1/5/2017)

Negative thinking is the result of the logic of survival. It is sometime essential and beneficial for us. I always think that negative things are bad and useless, but even negative things have their reason to exist. I was very surprised to know that our emotion is just like a child in puberty. If we oppressed it too much, it will stand back against. Instead, we should try to be friends with our emotion and accept them. It's just like parents should be calm and reasonable when their children do something wrong. They should talk reasonable with their children and try to persuade them. --Sissi (1/4/2017)

Language can never truly express our feelings. Last year, I have read a war story called "How to write a true war story", talking about how literature can never be as true as reality. Absolute truth can't be preserved because our memory is so unreliable and plastic. It all depends on whether we believe it or not. --Sissi (12/31/2016)

I have once read about a story of a marathon runner. He overcome all the tiresome and pain by setting small goal throughout the long course. He would observe the course beforehand and memorize some significant symbols on the course. By having those small goals, it can release some mental pressure and make the course more approachable. I think this an example of deceiving our brain for good. --Sissi (12/31/2016)

Why does everybody think 2016 was a bad year? I think it is just because of the confirmation bias. The bad things that listed in this article do not happen only in 2016. There are deaths and war every year, the shout out that 2016 is a bad year appear particular after the election of Trump, so I think this presidential election is a catalyst for many people to reflect back on the bad things happened in 2016. Also I think saying goodbye to a year does not mean a new start for us because time is always continuous. Bad things won't disappear as a year goes by. --Sissi (12/31/2016)

The hypothesis that people with different culture may have different habits is very interesting. People always avoid eye contact with unfamiliar people. Probably in our nature, we think that making eye contact is an action of provocation. When I am speaking, I seldom make eye contact with others and eye contacts make me nervous and I sometimes feel that my brain was shut down and couldn't come up with a word. I feel like the primitive human nature still plays a huge role on our brain and reaction. --Sissi (12/31/2016)

It has always been debatable that to what extent can robot replace human. Foxconn has long been blamed on how it treats its workers. By replacing human by robots, the company can save a lot of money and avoid a lot of condemnations and lawsuits. I think robots are definitely going to replace human on dangerous and tired work, but it is very important that the society is prepared for that change. The government should improve the education so that people can explore other possibilities of what they can do. --Sissi (12/31/2016)

We know about the two candidates through the lens of social media, television, speeches. Most voters are seldom look for a subjective view on the two candidates, they just sit on the couch and wait for the social media to feed them information without any doubt. I think there are always reason why there are more people in support of Trump. --Sissi (12/31/2016)

Academe is losing its meaning now because the society only sees how many journals you have published but not what you actually write in the journals. I think the growing business of academic publication fraud reflects that our society values our certificates more than our skills. The numerous articles on those "good" colleges also put pressure on teenagers and parent that a title means all. However, that shouldn't be core of education. There is never a shortcut to success. --Sissi (12/31/2016)

We are always finding reasons to do something good for others. However, these barriers are just invented. We don't need reason to be kind and friendly. The digital age gives us access to more people, but it also limits attention and effort to form a friendship. Our brain is limited so there is attention blindness showing that we cannot handle too much information. What we should do is focus our attention on people in our community and actually make effort to form relationships and connections. Usually, people that's most realistic and close to us are not online. --Sissi (12/23/2016)

The gender stereotype is everywhere, even in the most popular games. I am astonished that I become so numb about this kind of story. I have just played this game recently and I didn't feel anything weird or strange. It shows how deep this kind of stereotype is planted in my brain. I subconsciously put this kind of story into the category of normal. What we feel is common or right might not be correct in another person's perspective. It is always mind-blowing to see that how unusually or inappropriate something I think is normal can be. --Sissi (12/22/2016)

Scientists use patterns to in the experiment to make hypothesis. I find it interesting that although correlation does not mean causation, it is still very useful for inductive reasoning. This article also talks about how confidence can affect ourselves, and how we can affect out confidence. The definition of confidence here states that confidence is our belief in ourselves. Why do we need confidence? Why do we need an internal statement to reassure us that our decision is right? --Sissi (12/22/2016)

Our brain changes during our lifetime to better fit our need. The decrease in gray matter in brain during pregnancy enables mothers to learn mothering skills fasters and be more focused on their own child. This aligns with the logic of evolution because newborns need a lot of attention and care from their mother. I am also very surprised to see that the similar thing also happens to teenager. The decrease in gray matter gives plasticity for teenagers to absorb new knowledge. It's so amazing that our brain is actually adjusting itself in different stages of life. --Sissi (12/20/2016)